House Democratic lawmakers reportedly used a closed-door meeting earlier this week to vent their frustrations with progressive advocacy groups that have been driving constituent calls and pressuring the party to act like a genuine opposition force in the face of the Trump administration’s authoritarian assault on federal agencies and key programs.

    • Donkter@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      Yeah it’s a clever lie that’s perpetuated that says progressives have no where to go if they try to break from the Democrats. But secretly a more progressive platform would actually draw over a lot of disaffected libertarians and lite conservatives who only vote conservative because they’ve been convinced that they should only vote in opposition to Democrats instead of in favor of anything.

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      We need a Democratic Tea Party movement very badly.

      Unfortunately, I already know the people who would lead it would also never get past making the rules of who’s included, what kind of tea we’ll be using, and if it’s ethically sourced, and if any members have any problematic tweets in their past, what particular brand of socialism everyone subscribes to, and of course, what we’re actually demanding from the government.

      Say what you want about the right, but their superficial, Ork-like focus on goals gets them moving. Too bad those goals are usually things like “Vote against our best interests as much as humanly possible.”

  • lennybird@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    I am only donating to AOC until she and her fellow progressives gain a larger voice in the direction of the party. I’ve unsubbed from a lot of Democratic lists, too.

    I advise all to do the same (as she can allocate these money to elsewhere if she wishes), while also contacting the DNC at https://democrats.org/

    • Willowbae3@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      Here’s a thought instead of blowing your money supporting candidates that already have access to massive amounts of cash, donate it to the Trevor project, planned parenthood or literally any nonprofit.

  • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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    The Democrats in question would likely say they’re upset progressives are getting mad at Democrats as if they have the power to pass bills or do much of anything. Yelling “do something” isn’t helping when your party doesn’t have any power.

    Ironically the most power Democrats have is thanks to the filibuster, which Progressives campaigned against for years.

    • Doorbook@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Do nothing even though the conservatives and rich tech companies are taking over the federal government!

      They have millions, they can do many things to make conservatives work harder every single time, they can run protest, they can amplifiy their voices behind one leader, they can do alot of things…

  • Steve Dice@sh.itjust.works
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    I’m sure they’ve already ran the numbers and realized getting power to exploit the people from winning is far less likely than getting it from switching sides.

    • Cyrus Draegur@lemm.ee
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      5 hours ago

      I could swear this shit is like the plot from The Producers. They’ve monetized their incompetence and realized that they can make more money from losing elections than from winning. They collect billions in donations from desperate people and then launder it, squandering it on ineffectual “vote blue” spam while awarding lucrative no bid consultancy contracts with friendly party aristocracy insiders for massive kick backs and “speaking fees”.

      Kamala “I’m Speaking” Harris never intended to do anything OTHER than speaking. Seems the democrat establishment doesn’t want any of us remembering that TALK IS CHEAP.

  • fikran@lemm.ee
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    2 hours ago

    I voted 3rd party in the election in a swing state and would do it again today.

    The Democrats need to internalize the political cost of supporting Israel. If they want to win, they have to drop Israel.

    • caboose2006@lemm.ee
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      Are you happy with the current administration’s Israel policy though?

    • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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      I don’t think that is a lesson to take away here

      A party with more support for Israel won so if that was the issue then it seems they didn’t support Israel enough

  • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
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    Luckily, if the world survives Trump the Democrats won’t matter anymore because America won’t matter. The rest of the world was pretty pissed off at the USA before, but still allowed America to keep its leverage because challenging it would be too much effort. Trump, however, is actively destroying that leverage through his trade wars and his cancelling of foreign aid at the same time that he’s stripping his own government of its ability to function through his purges.

    The only pillar of American influence that Trump isn’t destroying directly is the country’s media exports, and they were already in the process of collapsing before Trump was re-elected.

    You got your high position in the world in the first place due to the fact that you were the only major power left standing after the world wars. Those circumstances won’t happen again (well, world wars might, but not ones that leave the USA unscathed.)

    • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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      The US has been going all-in on hard power while soft power declines. There’s a lot of rich individuals who benefit from military contracts but don’t care as much about actually maintaining the empire. The big risk is that Americans are going to recognize this disparity and start WWIII in an effort to leverage the one area that the US has an advantage to retain hegemony.

    • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world
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      That’s great for the rest of the world, be we still have to deal with this mess somehow.

    • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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      5 hours ago

      and his cancelling of foreign aid at the same time

      I don’t think Trump nor President Musk understand how much power the US weilds, just purely on foreign aid. By gutting all of it, we removed a large portion of the US’s foreign power (Which, IMO, is a pretty good result).

    • Doorbook@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Same foreign policy, same bullying strategy, but now they are: 1) public about it, 2) Targeting countries that help them being who they are for the last 70 years.

  • Allonzee@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    The US needs a left-wing Party.

    This has been half a century of Fascists vs neoliberals, center-right “free to be LGBTQ as you die of poverty in the gutter” vs so far right we’re building Concentration camps.

    Unfortunately our people have been poorly educated by design as well as brainwashed into believing profit comes before humanity. " Herp derp Anything less is socialism and therefore evil!"

    This is only “freedom” for the rich to trample the poor. Freedom without social responsibility is a rampage. We need revolution, revolution that does far more to Wall Street than merely occupy it , or we need to accept living in hell until the capitalists destroy the climate enough to destroy civilization all together.

    Don’t worry, just a few more decades of the same at most for nature to do what we’re failing to. This will end within a human lifespan, the choice is if it will be with or without a habitable planet for Humans.

    This isnt the usual ebbs and flows of history, There is a very literal deadline of humanity’s own greedy making.

    • frog_brawler@lemmy.world
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      Don’t worry, just a few more decades of the same at most for nature to do what we’re failing to. This will end within a human lifespan, the choice is if it will be with or without a habitable planet for Humans.

      That’s the plan. That’s why billionaires are buying up properties in places that are currently too cold and remote for masses of people to want to live there (Montana, Greenland, etc).

      They know climate change is real and it is 100% reflected in Homeowners insurance rates in FL and other high risk places. I’m fairly certain that it’s not the leftist types that get into starting insurance companies.

      Also, the whole Covid thing… I am pretty sure there was a concerted effort that would cull our numbers a bit.

      So yea, we’re all going to die probably — unless you’re rich enough to afford to move to somewhere that will have a more hospitable climate when we cross the 3 degrees Celsius threshold next year.

  • onecarmel@lemmy.world
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    Yeah I have completely lost faith in the Democratic Party. Seems like they don’t mind Trump because he benefits their wallet.

    • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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      Democrats biggest donors are wealthy Republicans.

      Hakeem Jeffries is one of the biggest sellouts. Him climbing the DNC ladder is a sign that Democrats will do yet another 2016 in 2028.

      • Doorbook@lemmy.world
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        AIPAC as well if trump supporting Israel publicly they will never replace. And if both party turn out to be “end of life” lunatic who want kingdom of Israel then they will never change or push against a President who is pushing for the same goal even though he clearly doesn’t believe in anything.

        • fikran@lemm.ee
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          That’s why its important to introduce Israel as a political liability for the Democrats.

          Demonstrate that they lose elections because of their support for Israel.

  • ofcourse@lemmy.ml
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    21 hours ago

    Progressives need to start their own party. The establishment DNC is so entrenched with big donors and lobbyists that it is unable to serve the people. Their balancing act of appeasing both the right and the left is just serving to alienate everyone because the final policies get so diluted. They have become too stuck in the quagmire of their own doing. I don’t see the DNC being able to change any time soon and through their inaction, will only enable more devastation of the country.

    The new Progressive party should align with the DNC as the opposition during this administration but simultaneously run more like minded candidates in the next elections with their own separate fundraising campaigns. That’s the only hope I have for meaningful change to happen.

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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      There’s a free app called 5 calls. It helps you to call your representative with a script. Progressives need to get on this. I’m aware it’s a pain, but the script makes it a lot easier especially when you get an answering machine instead of a person.

      • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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        It’s rather naive to think that phone calls will change anyone’s mind in office. Money speaks, not phone calls.

          • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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            It’s rather naive to throw out centuries of political theory because you can’t be bothered to write / call / show up.

            Following centuries of political theory have led us to this point.

            In fact the only thing they pay attention to more than calls is people physically showing to their offices.

            Not really. The only thing they pay attention to is the amount on the check.

            If calling really changed things, I’d be getting emails from TheDemocrats asking people to jump on a phone bank. All they are asking from me is “More Money to fight Donald Trump!”

              • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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                Not anymore… I blocked them after the 15th begging for “$50 dollars is all we need to defeat Trump!” on November 10th…

    • TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.world
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      The problem is you get the NDP/Liberal vs. Conservative effect when you do this. If you have 30% of the population vote for your Leftie, and 30% vote for the other Leftie, in a given congressional district, the Republican can win with 31%, despite 60% voting against the Republican. We need RCV before we can do this, and people need to understand that they MUST put the other party as choice 2 or we are back to ending up with a Republican.

      • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world
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        The thing you’re missing is that you’ll tap into a whole new category of voters that have never had anyone to vote for before.

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        If Democrats are so scared of splitting the vote, they don’t need to run a candidate. It’s not like they’re particularly interested in winning anyway.

      • WarlordSdocy@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        This is why a new party needs to be built from the ground up, starting with local races that are uncontested or use ranked choice voting already.

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        I fail to see your point. That sounds like you have a 61 majority for the Republicans. The “Liberals” are aiding the Republicans getting power, as the article points out.

        Also the Democrats are a pink washed far right party, by standards outsidr the US.

      • ofcourse@lemmy.ml
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        That is indeed a problem that needs to be resolved, and likely through ranked choice voting. But as a country, we tend to focus too much on the presidential election. Change will have to start in the congressional elections - both at federal and state levels. The issue of votes splitting will be a lesser issue in these elections except in a few large districts. That will also be where smaller fundraising campaigns would go further.

        • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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          18 hours ago

          Change starts at the dog catcher. That’s how the maga morons did it. They ran for every single down ballot race, all the way to the bottom.

          • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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            That’s how the maga morons did it.

            Hell, in my city, the local Dem committee helped the MAGA morons, by running against their own primary winner (A socialist). They were even dual dropping lit for the Chosen One they had in mind, plus the sheriff who is a MAGA nutter.

      • Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee
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        18 hours ago

        They just need to put the Trump party last (or whatever the shittiest party is at the time)… They can put anyone they want 2nd

    • Anti-Face Weapon@lemmy.world
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      Tell this to Bernie and other progressives. Seriously, if we call and email them, they might decide they even enough support to do such a thing.

    • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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      19 hours ago

      100% agreed, it’s time for a new party. Republican-lite is killing our nation.

    • Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee
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      The DNC leadership are elected by people who are elected by us. Almost no one votes in those elections… Probably no one even knows they exist. But a well timed strategy of getting like 50 progressives to show up to each election and vote for progressive leadership is all it would take to replace every liberal in the party leadership with progressives… No reason to leave 2 conservative parties intact

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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      You should check out the Axios article they cite before you write them all off. The supposed “gripefest” is just Dems talking about how they’re recieving hundreds if not thousands of phone calls a day.

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      It really pisses me off that the ONLY outreach I saw were requests for money. Hundreds of them (many may have been scams, not sure).

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        19 hours ago

        The Democratic Party doesn’t get paid to win elections.

        It gets paid to run campaigns.

        The Republicans have decided that that is unreliable and have simply gone with open corruption.

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      They have to raise money so they can spend money to raise money. Then they’ve raised twice as much money even though they only have half of it.

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    23 hours ago

    “Forcing recorded votes is possible. Frequent quorum calls are possible. A wide variety of dilatory motions are possible. In short, harassing the majority is possible. If they think it’s a bad idea, say so. If they say it’s not possible, they’re lying.”

    I like how politicians voting is considered a time out. It’s their job, jfc.

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    19 hours ago

    When they win elections, they refuse to use power to help people, but instead blame Repub obstruction. When they lose they wag fingers, but mostly just go along with Repubs (ie, confirmations) and they FUNDRAISE. Then they use that funding to defeat left dems in primaries.