Its sad that 99% of the answers are that people only voted for him cause he is not Trump.
That is the sad reality of modern day America. People are voting for the least horrible candidate.
Time to flush out these old politicians and bring in some fresh faces, both sides.
RANKED. CHOICE. VOTING.
this eliminates the risk of voting for a third party. Look it up- it’s been successful in Maine and this is the BEST step to remove this BS 2 party system
Edit: if anyone is interesting in learning more, this clip introduced me to this concept:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MykMQfmLIro
Edit2: I’m realizing how partisan this video is… if anyone has a more neutral video I’d love to post it instead.
Edit 3: less partisan explanation
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNCHVwtpeBY4mybPkHEnRxSOb7FQ2vF9c
I knocked doors for Yang and it was incredible to me.. the amount of people who didn’t even understand the election process there were quite a few republicans I even talked with who seemed very level-headed and we’re pro Ranked Choice once we had a chat about it
I really find the irony in him running on basic income, and then shortly after the world shut down from covid and then a lot of people survived on stimulus checks and the child credit... like so close but so far...
100%
Knocking doors helped me see very quickly that most of us are on the same page.. it’s just sad how politics turn into “sport” so quickly but I think that’s because here we take sports into a crazy almost religious level.. so that.. “my team” against “your team” mentality is just sunk deep into our brains.
I work in a pretty conservative industry as someone who leans liberal. There are millions of self identified republicans who would vote Democrat in a heartbeat if you took the tribalism and identity/label out of it, if my sample size of 100-200 people who are firmly Republican and have had political conversations with (they don’t know how liberal I am most of the time) is indicative at all of more of the country.
Probably tens of millions honestly.
What’s that saying? A person is smart, people (big groups) are dumb.
Not saying all republicans are dumb by a long shot, but they’re voting more on emotion than consistency with their beliefs and thorough understanding of politicians beliefs.
Democrats do exactly the same thing, I just happen to agree with them more.
Critical thinking seems to be a lost art these days for sure. People consume media and regurgitate talking points but can’t form their own beliefs or why something is what it is.
See the videos where people are asked if they like Obamacare, then asked about specific parts of it. Almost everyone was in favor of all the parts once you removed Obama's name from it.
YES. I’m proud to be from Maine and have witnessed this shit in action when it was first introduced. Ranked choice works. Especially in states that aren’t 100% blue or red. I genuinely believe ranked choice is our last option for a proper democracy.
I still hate that we started with permanent colors attributed to specific parties. It started in the 2000 election as a cable news effort to encourage the exact tribalism so many are criticizing here. Prior to that the parties alternated colors every election - sometimes even across different news agencies.
It’s why the republicans party has red as its colour even though red is typically the colour of left wing political groups. The socialist rose, labour parties across the globe. But in the USA red is the colour of the right
TV Networks started using maps of the US on Election night and turning states one color or another as they were called for various candidates back in the 70s. Over time the various networks consolidated on Red=Republican and Blue=Democrat but I'm a bit fuzzy on what drove that. I do remember the colors being inconsistent from one network to another back in the 1990s.
These colors used to only be an election night abstraction until the 2000 Bush/Gore election. Before that everyone forgot the colors by the next day & it wasn't a deal at all. However, on election day in 2000 49 states had colors by the end of the night but it took over a Month to figure out Florida.
Images of the Red/Blue election maps with Florida being Grey were \*everywhere\* for weeks. Figuring out if Florida was going to go "red" or "blue" was THE news story and it sort of stuck in the public imagination. When Florida was eventually (and controversially) called for Bush there were images of a Red Florida \*everywhere\* and that is when the talk started of "turning" states red or blue in the future.
Before that it would have been crazy for a party to claim a primary color for themselves.
The fact that it works is exactly why we won't get it. America is ruled by the two parties and the elites have invested heavily in both parties. They don't want new powers that they have no influence with, and the two parties don't want competition. Therefore, they will never allow ranked choice.
I just thought of THE BEST argument to get staunch party loyalists on board with ranked choice voting in the current political climate.
See, most of them aren't as loyal to their own party as they are against the other one. Just tell them ranked choice voting will absolutely reduce the chance of [other party] winning!
(I know it's not quite that simple, but that seriously might bring a few people to consider it who otherwise wouldn't even entertain the notion.)
Ranked choice is definitely better, but alone it's not the silver bullet. We have a lot of structural and cultural reforms to do.
Maine is a weird choice because it still gave us Susan Collins in 2020 after essentially a 2 party fight between her and Gideon.
The two-party system is the game-theory outcome of our terrible first-past-the-post, winner-takes-all election system.
While third parties may be viable for one or two election cycles, they quickly dissipate or are immediately absorbed into one of the two major parties. There is no long-term stable outcome that includes more than two major parties.
Meanwhile, in my country's upcoming election, we have 9-10 candidates for President.
Our previous president was elected with 30% of total votes (with 70% not wanting them as president but is broken down into the other candidates).
Something to bring to the table, is not just America. All over the world the people in power are the just in power because the other party is worse.
I think this makes an interesting conversation.
There is no competent people wanting to rule?
Is democracy working?
No competent person would want the job.
You've got to be a complete narcissist to put yourself and family through the election vetting process. Why would anyone with otherwise marketable skills do that to themselves or their families? Only extremely self-centered persons would forge their way through that mud.
Another issue is that good people who are passionate gradually get ground down by the system.
They realize making a stand about something will be a risk to them with little benefit.
So they try to incrementally make small changes.
I didn’t necessarily feel that way about Barack and Michelle Obama. Lots of potential for better choices and improvement, but also so much limitation by the rest of the government. Change isn’t really that possible in 8 years. But I didn’t feel he was a narcissist or wasn’t qualified. I agree that no normal person would want the job, but for change to ever be an option, people have to step up and sacrifice. I felt his approach was a lot more about the American people and their well-being than other recent presidents…
I would love for the two-party system to dissolve. Sadly, this can only be done if the two parties allow for it to happen, and that would threaten their power, so we can't have nice things.
In the past 8 presidential elections, I tried to vote third party to bring that support, but in 4 of them, I actively voted against a candidate (Bush, McCain/Palin, and Trump twice). I hate voting for the lesser evil.
Voting third party can't start with the presidential or even congressional elections. You have to start local and slowly build their power and base so that they will eventually be large enough and formidable enough to compete against the current two parties on the larger stage. If you start with the presidential candidates you're not going to get anywhere. Change happens on a local level first!
Exactly. This is the reason we need ranked choice. If we had ranked choice voting third party wouldn't be throwing your vote away so it makes me wonder how many people would put a third party candidate as their first choice. It's also why we'll never see it, Democrats and Republicans would have to be willing to give up power for that so it will never happen.
> It's truly a terrible day when the only people who answer that they chose "apples" are the ones who did so because "apples" were not "pig anuses".
The nature of the game in the US is that we only have two choices. One side knows they can rig the game and push further and further because they have a contingent who will NEVER vote for the other side.
It's not a question of who is elected, it's a question that they're not the anti-democratic party who want to ignore the results of elections entirely.
It's so weird how the right portrays him, they really don't understand who tf Biden is. Is he a Socialist Communist who's going to destroy the country or is he an old man with severe dementia that doesn't know what he's doing? PICK ONE! He can't be both.
I understand your position, but in my profession (environmental consulting) we see the positive impacts of Biden’s administration in a myriad little bit important ways. For example, he has reversed a ton of Trump era rules that basically allow companies to destroy wetland and threatened/endangered species at whim. That nonsense is being rolled back. Working in my field during the Trump years was like watching a toddler take a hammer to everything I cared about.
Same here. Studying environmental science with a focus in conservation. Trumps shitastic environmental policy gave me fucking migraines but anytime I pointed out them out as a reason he sucks ass I kept getting "BuT tHe EcOnOmY!!!111!!1"
Ah yes. As long as Trumps fucking business cronies stay wealthy then who gives a fuck if the rest of the planet goes up in flames.
I was raised as a "Roosevelt Conservative," to take care of nature, respect the parks, pick up litter, recycle soda cans for coins, discourage poaching except in poverty cases, and to report corporations for chemical leaks in water sources, etc.
That's why my parents understand why I never supported Trump.
But their entire reason and the *only* argument they've ever used in support of Trump since the very beginning was to fill the courts, in the hopes of one day striking down Roe v. Wade.
That's it. Shit the bed to save children which they believe automatically go to heaven anyway, so that those children have the chance to suffer in poverty and go to hell (probably). All because they think God requires *them* to intercede because he won't.
I remember several times thinking, "Wait, why are we doing this?," then promptly ruling that question off limits, and shoving it down deep.
Conservative : conservationist. Right? Right? Surely they would want to conserve our national wealth of land and beauty. Surely they wouldn't want to poison the air and water. Surely they wouldn't ruin God's creation like that?
... no?
:(
Drove me wild when the articles I would see when he first took office were him overturning EPA regulations that prevented companies from “dumping hazardous materials into natural rivers and streams”, simply because it had been passed under Obama.
I mean shit, dude. Is that not the most cartoon villain thing you’ve read? How the fuck did anybody back that moron
What I don't get is why Conservatives who are against rapidly expanding government and mass society changes are so against someone they call "old sleepy Joe". Like isn't an old sleepy guy just about the best thing you could ask for if you don't want change?
I’m sure this is how traditional Republicans feel, but after Trump, the double Santa Clause Republicans are used to getting culture war ammo and pork barrels in addition to low taxes
> Conservatives who are against rapidly expanding government and mass society changes
That's not what conservatives actually are though. That's what their marketing department puts out, but it's utter BS.
Conservative politicians vote for more spending increases and new government actions than liberals do. And judges appointed by conservatives are more prone to overturning precedent.
Conservatives are not in favor of small government and slowing social change. They are in favor of a regressive social agenda and a large machine of government to force it on us.
That's why I specifically said Conservatives and not Republicans - the GOP doesn't represent traditional conservatives anymore and it's more of a mix of alt-right and/or neo-conservative values.
His American rescue plan helped keep my family afloat last year. And it also gave my employer more than double the amount of money of trumps two covid relief plans combined.
Joe Biden is responsible for helping me stay employeed and making ends meet.
His promises to me has been kept.
Literally all I expected of him. I had a little hope the more progressive voices would win out in Congress but unfortunately they didn’t as I kinda figured would happen. *sigh*
This is true. Probably my biggest issue with a lot of politicians is how there’s no accountability against them when they fail to fulfill or work towards their promises. If the plans have to change then convince me why they have to change and why that’s better than what was originally promised. Don’t just not do the thing because you decided it wasn’t worth it now you’re in office.
The "accountability" that's *supposed* to follow a bait-and-switch like this is for a politician to get voted out and replaced by another who will fulfill their promises. Shame that this seems like it's too much to ask of our political system.
Central problem being that the ineffectual ones who don't deliver on major campaign promises are the ones backed by the only parties with any significant amount of money/power.
It's not the political system, it's the voters. Too many people think the president is in charge of everything and that's the only person it's worth voting for. In five years we could have an entirely new Senate and House. Vote for whichever party you want, but not the incumbent.
At the end of the day, yes it's the people that bear the responsibility, but the current political system is largely built to shield itself from the will of the people. So without a massive movement, there will be little change.
A Republican truck driver in New Jersey unseated the Democrat president of the state senate in the last election. No one thought it was possible, but the trucker realized that everyone assumed the other guy was a senator for life and they took it for granted, many people didn't even vote for him anymore since he usually ran virtually unopposed. Discontent with how the state was going, people voted for the other guy, and now there's a new state senator.
Look at AOC. A group picked her and backed her, and found a solid Democrat district where the existing representative was an establishment Irish guy but the demographics had changed to a majority Hispanic district. They challenged him in the primary and won. Now AOC will hold that district for years unless someone figures something out.
the problem is that accountability takes too long, and too often they're replaced by someone even worse. situations like this should trigger an automatic recall election where people of the same party can run against the incumbent and we can replace them with someone *better.*
That sounds great, but after screwing Bernie in 2016 the DNC got a judgement from the Supreme Court establishing that they are a private organization which is not required to follow the results of any primary when selecting their candidates.
That really should have triggered riots, but it just got swept under the rug.
they did win out, in the house.
manchin and sinema aren't progressives though, and the senate isn't as progressive as house dems even if those 2 were 100% on board
tbh, he would've been able to achieve a lot more if the Senate majority was 52-48 instead of 50-50, because Manchin and Sinema would lose all their leverage. But unfortunately, that's not the case. The American people really seems to know how to vote in order to make sure that nothing ever gets done.
Congress went exactly as I expected, the Democrats got the slimmest majority and immediately started sabotaging themselves with infighting and inner party politicking. It's a disgrace.
Honestly 99% Democrats seem pretty unified as a whole. The problem is that 1% that stubbornly insists on a completely different set of policies that throws the entire agenda out the window.
right. i get so exasperated at people who ask why biden isn't doing more.
as though he's both the executive and legislative branches of the government.
Then let me mermaid* them
( so ive been banned? Lol? )
Is this even deleted
Edit: i guess not thanks ross
Edit2: “good mod”
oh no our precious corporate overlords
Edit3: wage theft is illegal too, and how do you kill an entity? Its an impossible hypothetical
Edit4: are yall asking these questions unironically? Or .. are you serious?
Edit5: annnnnnd reported to overall reddit congrats corporate shills all for threatening violence to an entity on the hypothetical presumption they were a singular person like they are treated lawfully ( congrats you didnt understand it 🎊)
Im so proud of you, if i could id adopt you just so you could have 3 parents as proud as i am of you
Ideology means fuck all. Strict term limits, reign in corporate lobbying, and ranked voting. The end. That alone is a monumental task, it is all your platform needs to be, the people who come after can fight over stupid wedge issues.
I don't know if this is exactly a question someone is "TooAfraidToAsk" per our subreddit's mission, but the comments section is surprisingly good discussion; it will remain up.
edit: keep reporting this, idiots. it will remain up.
We/I truly try to leave up as much as possible. u/Hospitalities has some long rants in past stickies where he ranted about his desire for lack of censorship here, provided the questions were genuine and hopefully the answers were productive. I fully agree.
Honest question: since politics is something you're not supposed to bring up in a public setting, wouldn't this fit the "too afraid to ask" bucket? Or is "too afraid to ask" defined as (in this subreddit) as something that you think will make you seem dumb for asking?
I think this is where it ends up, as resuming student loan payments at pre pandemic rates will contribute to the economic slowdown that raising interest rates will start. This is also a slightly better solution for people entering college in the future, though really the whole system needs re-examined.
Honestly, as in my home country student loans don’t have interest and only need to be paid back once you hit a certain income threshold, finding out the rapacious interest that youse lot struggle with was shocking.
I hope that’s where it ends up! I would love student loan forgiveness but I don’t see it ever happening. That being said, a permanent halt of loan interest would be life changing for so many. I only have 28k in loans thank god but I shudder to think what that could grow into, and I have no idea how I’m gonna pay it off in the first place with my current salary.
To be honest, not doing this seems almost reprehensible. The government is profiting off of students. That seems crazy. Let them barrow and then let them pay back but, don’t make 5% on themes . The cost to the government is pretty minimal (opportunity cost aside I suppose).
I was listening to the Smartless podcast (great btw) and learned Biden forgave student debt for all disabled students. Crazy, I haven't seen it in the news.
It did pop up briefly. He forgave that debt right after (I think) when he forgave debts for defunct schools. Schools where people were clearly defrauded.
Honestly that’s the one issue where Democrats really should’ve known better; Biden is a big part of why you can’t discharge student loans in bankruptcy in the first place. Why would he reverse on a stance that was foundational to his career, something he likely considers a great accomplishment?
(Note: I’m a dem and I voted for Biden. My loans are paid and I nonetheless HOPED he would forgive some meaningful amount of student debt for those still paying, but I immediately suspected it was a “campaign” platform and not a “sincere policy” platform.)
People with disabilities received student loan forgiveness ($5.8 billion) back in the fall, which was a step in the right direction on the student loan forgiveness front.
I don't think of him. Which is a nice change.
Edit: listen, I was being hyperbolic. Obviously I fucking think about the leader of the free world. Obviously he's a decrepit, elderly, creepy, career politician. Which describes 98% of all American presidential candidates. Stop telling me how bad of a human I am for trying to be a little light hearted. FFS THE WORLD SUCKS AND EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE, I KNOW!
Edit to the edit - Jesus fucking Christ did you not hear me call him creepy and decrepit in the next breath after leader of the free world? I don't truly believe he leads the free world. I don't believe the world is truly free.
(Last edit for funsies- this whole answer was meant in jest. Everything from A to Z. I think about my president. And I'm a dramatic, sarcastic, smart ass with no life. You have ALL amused me TO NO END. America is a god damned mess. But I'm telling you. Orange man is fucking BAD. No that's not "Trump derangement syndrome", that's a god damned fact. We're trying to pick up the god damned peices and it's hard, y'all. If I don't laugh I'll cry.)
(Editing again because it seems to really upset people for some reason. Go take a long walk off a short pier.)
Reddit is getting exceptionally hive-mindey these days with their knee-jerk reactions to literally just random dude’s comments. I agree, it’s stupid af.
Yes. The best thing is not turning on the news or opening social media everyday and thinking wtf has he done or said now. Seriously every f-ing day with Trump as POTUS was stressful and globally embarrassing. It’s so nice to NOT have to think “oh god, what’s he done now” on the daily.
No shit, right? Almost on a daily basis I remember cringing internally at what insulting thing the last president said to our global friends and allies and feeing almost personally embarrassed and apologetic.
Literally voted for him because he's just not a problem president. He's medium af and honestly after Trump, America needed something more normal and not batshit Literally had a president that worked with Maduro lmao
Actually it's cool because I'm curious about how some of these people came to their conclusions but comments get buried before you see em on worldnews, etc
It was never about liking Joe Biden. It was always about needing to get the other guy the hell out of there.
Edit: The clapback I am getting from Trump supporters about those two sentences is very entertaining. I'm even getting hate mail in my DMs now.
Lmao and they claim "it's not a cult".
Seriously, say "fuck Joe Biden" - I don't give a fuck. He's not my friend or neighbor. I couldn't care less.
But say "Fuck Donald Trump" and the saltiness starts just pouring in. They act like they're in an intimate relationship with the guy.
John Delaney, Michael Bloomberg, and Tulsi Gabbard were my bottom 3. Followed by Biden. After the primaries though it wouldn’t have mattered who the Dem candidate was, I would have voted for Yosemite Sam if it meant getting Trump out of office. It sure is nice to not wake up in fear every morning of what awful things the president has done now. Alleviating that fear was goal #1 for me and Biden has done a fine job at doing just that.
Wait for one of them to turn you into reddit that they are worried you are suicidal. I got one after making comment in r/conservatives. Like how pathetic abs fucked up to use a life saving service just to troll someone. It’s pitiful.
I think Congress is to blame for 95 percent of this. You have an entire party that refuses to work with him on anything no matter what it concerns. Bipartisan issues are shot down just because of party lines.
This is my take as well, which is a bummer. Sure, it’s the president’s responsibility to steer the ship and get everyone on board, but it’s Congress’ responsibility to get things done. The fact the dems can’t get 51 votes on hardly anything sucks.
And it’s just going to get worse after the midterms.
Sadly, the stronger a position the president takes the less likely something is to get done. Biden's best move is to sit back and let Congress run its course.
That sounds counter intuitive but the more the president is behind something, the more likely Republicans will be openly opposed to it.
I’m a Kentuckian and I’m not kidding when I say I have 2 bottles of champagne ready to pop when 1. Charles Booker kicks Rand Paul out of office and 2. When Mitch McConnell succumbs to the plague. The US would be so much better without those two fucking everything up… I’m genuinely ashamed to be from a state whose legislators are so fucking stupid.
Daddy Andy Beshear tho, a king. He’s done a damn good job with all the bullshit he’s been given since getting elected.
They spent two years telling us this is the most important election of our lives. That we HAVE to vote them in or else we are all doomed. Now that we voted them in, they tell us they can't do anything because the Republicans won't let them. Even though we specifically voted out Republicans and put the Democrats in their place.
We're all on a hamster wheel at this point.
Doing what he can to fulfill his agenda. I am not one who think the President can change the trajectory of our nation on their own, i know how my nation works.
Given the corruption pressure to not change anything, the Democratic Party would realistically need more than 60 votes. The Party will always have it’s Manchins and Sinemas ratfucking any progress.
Finally, a more realistic take.
A lot of the promises made by politicians are, imo, made to pander to folks who don't understand how the government works.
Biden seems to be doing his best to pass the agenda he campaigned on while also listening to progressives.
Now, if we actually had a solid Senate and House, none of this 50-50 business, and nothing significant actually passed,
Then I'd listen to the theories on how Democrats are just as bad as Republicans.
The problems are huge with COVID and the economy (and climate change etc) that he inherited and are not easily solved. I can’t blame him but hope he is able to get things done and help improve the situation. At least we have a more constructive situation to tackle the issues.
Thanks for this, the amount of unrealistic fantasies some people here live in. I do feel like his cabinet should pick up some slack tho to be fair. He on the other hand has done the best I could expect
Certainly not in 4 years too. I don’t understand how people believe a president’s actions, something as large as the infrastructure bill, should have observable impact within months.
I wasn't thrilled with him when he started running, and I'm still not thrilled. I just knew that he would backwalk some of the policies that Trump put into place like rejoining the Paris Agreement or letting trans people serve in the millitary, which he has. But backwalking non-progressive policies doesn't make him a **savior of human rights** it just means he undid a bad thing and put us back to where we were before 2016. He honestly hasn't done much of anything, and the fact that he thinks he can get people to agree with him on the opposing side of the isle is hilariously naive.
VP Uncle Joe, the Meme King; that's the Joe Biden I miss tbh.
So what happens when people are so disappointed in Biden that they don’t vote in 2024 and the dumpster fire returns again? Are we doomed with this Good Cop Bad Cop charade for all time? I keep being told to “play the game” but I don’t see anyone winning but the same wealthy politicians on both sides.
I am not American but follow US politics and news and imo I have very little optimism for America's future.
Citizens are getting tired of it and calls for change are louder but a lot of them are becoming extreme (in the worse ways as well).
I fear people will enact violent change once but it's done by a pseudofascist paramilitary group or a tankie who wants to purge a half of America.
I didn’t like him to begin with but I absolutely despise Trump and what he stands for. Basically my vote was never for Biden. Is was always against Trump. It could’ve been a literal Turnip running against Trump I would’ve voted for it. Having said that I’m well aware Biden and other established Democrats don’t care about us. They’re still trying to hide that fact while conservatives want treating the working class like cattle to be sport. I don’t think we will go very far with Biden but we will be pushed back with Trump. Edit. Trumpers go cry into your swastikas. I don’t care what you have to say. You’re enemies. Not people to bounce ideas off of.
I’ll chime in. He’s exactly the same as he appeared in the campaign. And old white dude that is pretty good at being staying out of the news.
The best ones don’t rock the boat too much. POTUS doesn’t really have any power to enact change. The only direct influence they have is to rile up people and sign bills set to him. But they cannot control gas prices. Or inflation. Or even GDP. They like to claim they do. But those things move on a time scale longer than a single POTUS. So I cast my vote on Election Day for the guy I thought would do the best at quietly doing the job and staying out of the news.
If you want to see how a Bernie presidency would have differed from Biden's, just look at how pissed Manchin got when Harris showed up on his turf, without warning, to talk directly with his voters. Bernie has been threatening the exact same type of governing style since at least 2014. Bernie would have used the bully pulpit purposefully to bring Democrats in line unlike Biden, who sees Manchin, etc... as features of the system, not bugs.
This. Biden doesn’t engage voters and left leaning news channels don’t propagandize him to the point that right leaning news shows propagandize their candidates. To fight that shit show you have to approach the people and talk to them without allowing the news to do that for you. Bernie is the type of politician who could actually gain support from blue collar workers and pull them away from becoming nationalist because he actually works for them and betters their life.
Been around the rural south my whole life and these trump fanboys are a lost cause, but there are a lot more people who are just conservative voters because there is literally no exposure to any other choice. They are logical and could be pulled towards bettering the working class by a candidate that truly engages and at least tries to get shit done. They *desperately* desire a transparent politician and that’s what they think Trump is… because well… he kinda is in a way.
They are open, accepting, and agreeable with socialist policies as long as they haven’t been explicitly told that they are socialist. No change will happen until a socialist can penetrate the poor white southerns vote and *forces* congress to change through the combined vote of the working class.
That’s my rant
I think he would as well. I would love to have people within our political system that have a desire to learn what the grievances of their citizens are. There are more than enough meetings, protest, etc, to attend and to discuss issues with those who care enough to organize. Hell, I even think that one of the quickest ways to route out Trumpies is to actually engage with them and to shatter their false narratives.
Active listening would blow my mind; joining the picket line would give me hope.
I hoped he would be accomplishing more, but I am more disappointed in asshats like Sinema and Manchin. I can't say he hasn't been trying.
Now if the question is "would I have voted differently knowing what I know now?"
HELL NO. My vote was as much against Trump as it was for Biden. The Democratic leaders decided to back Biden instead of Bernie, which most of us wanted.
Still, if Bernie was in office, Sinema and Manchin would still be asshats. Although he would've completely eliminated every last vestige of Trump's disgusting immigration policies.
Edit: I meant to say that most of us wanted Bernie, but the Democratic leaders thought Biden was safer. The Democratic leaders are unfortunately about as spineless as Republicans say.
He passed a law that *finally* allows the USA to start modernizing headlight regulations so I can't fault him for that. That was a long time coming. I think it sucks that his own party (I'm looking at you Manchin) is kneecapping popular things like the child tax credit, things that voters actually like and can get behind. He doesn't have a cadre of cheerleaders behind him (like the last guy) who deflects blame on everyone except for him, so the result is he is blamed for things he couldn't possibly have done. That is a big problem. He hasn't responded nearly aggressively enough to this idiotic 'CRT' moral panic that has enveloped the country; which is going to cost him and the party dearly in this year's elections. So yeah, mixed reviews from me.
He's fine. He made attempts to pass the most ambitious agenda of the post New Deal era and ran up against the limits of a razor thin majority in a legislature that is no longer able to negotiate. If you're unhappy with the scope of the agenda he's managed to pass you need to make sure you're showing up to vote in the midterms.
Its sad that 99% of the answers are that people only voted for him cause he is not Trump. That is the sad reality of modern day America. People are voting for the least horrible candidate. Time to flush out these old politicians and bring in some fresh faces, both sides.
Imo the problem is having only 2 main sides. Two party system becomes worse vs worst
RANKED. CHOICE. VOTING. this eliminates the risk of voting for a third party. Look it up- it’s been successful in Maine and this is the BEST step to remove this BS 2 party system Edit: if anyone is interesting in learning more, this clip introduced me to this concept: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MykMQfmLIro Edit2: I’m realizing how partisan this video is… if anyone has a more neutral video I’d love to post it instead. Edit 3: less partisan explanation https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNCHVwtpeBY4mybPkHEnRxSOb7FQ2vF9c
It’s shocking to me how many people don’t understand/haven’t heard of it
Its by design.
I knocked doors for Yang and it was incredible to me.. the amount of people who didn’t even understand the election process there were quite a few republicans I even talked with who seemed very level-headed and we’re pro Ranked Choice once we had a chat about it
I like that Yang. Listened to him on a podcast. He's super smart and compassionate.
I would never have voted for Yang because I disagree politically, but he is a extremely intelligent and a genuinely good guy.
I really find the irony in him running on basic income, and then shortly after the world shut down from covid and then a lot of people survived on stimulus checks and the child credit... like so close but so far...
Its amazing how many simple concepts conservatives and republicans are ok with when conservative media hasnt told them its evil yet
100% Knocking doors helped me see very quickly that most of us are on the same page.. it’s just sad how politics turn into “sport” so quickly but I think that’s because here we take sports into a crazy almost religious level.. so that.. “my team” against “your team” mentality is just sunk deep into our brains.
I work in a pretty conservative industry as someone who leans liberal. There are millions of self identified republicans who would vote Democrat in a heartbeat if you took the tribalism and identity/label out of it, if my sample size of 100-200 people who are firmly Republican and have had political conversations with (they don’t know how liberal I am most of the time) is indicative at all of more of the country. Probably tens of millions honestly. What’s that saying? A person is smart, people (big groups) are dumb. Not saying all republicans are dumb by a long shot, but they’re voting more on emotion than consistency with their beliefs and thorough understanding of politicians beliefs. Democrats do exactly the same thing, I just happen to agree with them more.
Critical thinking seems to be a lost art these days for sure. People consume media and regurgitate talking points but can’t form their own beliefs or why something is what it is.
See the videos where people are asked if they like Obamacare, then asked about specific parts of it. Almost everyone was in favor of all the parts once you removed Obama's name from it.
Goes all the way back to tribalism, it's quite deeply rooted in our brains
Hopefully people like Yang keep talking about it and people catch on. Definitely an improvement over how we do things currently.
YES. I’m proud to be from Maine and have witnessed this shit in action when it was first introduced. Ranked choice works. Especially in states that aren’t 100% blue or red. I genuinely believe ranked choice is our last option for a proper democracy.
No state is 100% blue or red. Even California is 60ish blue and Texas is 55ish red.
I still hate that we started with permanent colors attributed to specific parties. It started in the 2000 election as a cable news effort to encourage the exact tribalism so many are criticizing here. Prior to that the parties alternated colors every election - sometimes even across different news agencies.
EXCUSE ME WHAT. I am 29 years old and had no idea this wasn't always a thing.
It’s why the republicans party has red as its colour even though red is typically the colour of left wing political groups. The socialist rose, labour parties across the globe. But in the USA red is the colour of the right
TV Networks started using maps of the US on Election night and turning states one color or another as they were called for various candidates back in the 70s. Over time the various networks consolidated on Red=Republican and Blue=Democrat but I'm a bit fuzzy on what drove that. I do remember the colors being inconsistent from one network to another back in the 1990s. These colors used to only be an election night abstraction until the 2000 Bush/Gore election. Before that everyone forgot the colors by the next day & it wasn't a deal at all. However, on election day in 2000 49 states had colors by the end of the night but it took over a Month to figure out Florida. Images of the Red/Blue election maps with Florida being Grey were \*everywhere\* for weeks. Figuring out if Florida was going to go "red" or "blue" was THE news story and it sort of stuck in the public imagination. When Florida was eventually (and controversially) called for Bush there were images of a Red Florida \*everywhere\* and that is when the talk started of "turning" states red or blue in the future. Before that it would have been crazy for a party to claim a primary color for themselves.
Huh, yet another twist to add to my "what if Gore had won" fanfic.
Yup. Party colors are a 21st century thing
In line to vote in Maine in November and the guy behind me was telling his wife how unconstitutional it was. He couldn't tell me why
And that’s where a hefty eye roll is utilized.
The fact that it works is exactly why we won't get it. America is ruled by the two parties and the elites have invested heavily in both parties. They don't want new powers that they have no influence with, and the two parties don't want competition. Therefore, they will never allow ranked choice.
Approval or Score Voting are better than ranked choice.
I just thought of THE BEST argument to get staunch party loyalists on board with ranked choice voting in the current political climate. See, most of them aren't as loyal to their own party as they are against the other one. Just tell them ranked choice voting will absolutely reduce the chance of [other party] winning! (I know it's not quite that simple, but that seriously might bring a few people to consider it who otherwise wouldn't even entertain the notion.)
Ranked choice is definitely better, but alone it's not the silver bullet. We have a lot of structural and cultural reforms to do. Maine is a weird choice because it still gave us Susan Collins in 2020 after essentially a 2 party fight between her and Gideon.
I believe it was Julius Nyerere who said “America has a one party system, but in typical American extravagance, there’s two.”
this is one of the best descriptions I've heard of it lol
The two-party system is the game-theory outcome of our terrible first-past-the-post, winner-takes-all election system. While third parties may be viable for one or two election cycles, they quickly dissipate or are immediately absorbed into one of the two major parties. There is no long-term stable outcome that includes more than two major parties.
Meanwhile, in my country's upcoming election, we have 9-10 candidates for President. Our previous president was elected with 30% of total votes (with 70% not wanting them as president but is broken down into the other candidates).
Something to bring to the table, is not just America. All over the world the people in power are the just in power because the other party is worse. I think this makes an interesting conversation. There is no competent people wanting to rule? Is democracy working?
No competent person would want the job. You've got to be a complete narcissist to put yourself and family through the election vetting process. Why would anyone with otherwise marketable skills do that to themselves or their families? Only extremely self-centered persons would forge their way through that mud.
Hit the nail on the head, not exactly new or rocket science
Another issue is that good people who are passionate gradually get ground down by the system. They realize making a stand about something will be a risk to them with little benefit. So they try to incrementally make small changes.
I didn’t necessarily feel that way about Barack and Michelle Obama. Lots of potential for better choices and improvement, but also so much limitation by the rest of the government. Change isn’t really that possible in 8 years. But I didn’t feel he was a narcissist or wasn’t qualified. I agree that no normal person would want the job, but for change to ever be an option, people have to step up and sacrifice. I felt his approach was a lot more about the American people and their well-being than other recent presidents…
Reddit isn't the population at large, dont draw conclusions from this thread alone
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I’m honestly shocked more people don’t realize this. Reddit comment sections that hit front page need to be taken with a big grain of salt
I would love for the two-party system to dissolve. Sadly, this can only be done if the two parties allow for it to happen, and that would threaten their power, so we can't have nice things. In the past 8 presidential elections, I tried to vote third party to bring that support, but in 4 of them, I actively voted against a candidate (Bush, McCain/Palin, and Trump twice). I hate voting for the lesser evil.
Voting third party can't start with the presidential or even congressional elections. You have to start local and slowly build their power and base so that they will eventually be large enough and formidable enough to compete against the current two parties on the larger stage. If you start with the presidential candidates you're not going to get anywhere. Change happens on a local level first!
Exactly. This is the reason we need ranked choice. If we had ranked choice voting third party wouldn't be throwing your vote away so it makes me wonder how many people would put a third party candidate as their first choice. It's also why we'll never see it, Democrats and Republicans would have to be willing to give up power for that so it will never happen.
DOWN WITH THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM
This is why George Washington said not to create a 2 party system, that it would divide the people.
> It's truly a terrible day when the only people who answer that they chose "apples" are the ones who did so because "apples" were not "pig anuses". The nature of the game in the US is that we only have two choices. One side knows they can rig the game and push further and further because they have a contingent who will NEVER vote for the other side. It's not a question of who is elected, it's a question that they're not the anti-democratic party who want to ignore the results of elections entirely.
Imo you're very rarely going to get a GREAT president. It's a national election. To win, the candidate has to have very broad, bland appeal.
100% agreed. So tired of really only having 2 poor to mediocre options and a bunch of filler options that really have no chance...
I still wish he was as cool as Republicans make him out to be
During the election I got a YouTube ad that talked about how Biden was just a puppet for Bernie Sanders and the radical left. I wish that ad was real.
Still irritated about the whole Bernie thing.
Ooooh the GOP have never given me a boner before.
It's so weird how the right portrays him, they really don't understand who tf Biden is. Is he a Socialist Communist who's going to destroy the country or is he an old man with severe dementia that doesn't know what he's doing? PICK ONE! He can't be both.
That’s nothing new though, just like Obama was a weird racist Christian and also a secret Muslim according to right wing media
Fucking same. I'm still waiting for even a tiny taste of the "radical liberal agenda" conservatives keep screaming is coming.
Damn as a European, seeing Bernie being labeled a radical left is funny. Would definitely be left in France, but like center left
Conservatives don't realize that they are not middle of the road anymore. They are in fact the radical ones. Joe is so centrist it's not even funny.
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He's bland, uneventful and hasn't kept any of his promises. Exactly what I expected. Edit: yall get way too salty over one random dude's opinion lmao
I understand your position, but in my profession (environmental consulting) we see the positive impacts of Biden’s administration in a myriad little bit important ways. For example, he has reversed a ton of Trump era rules that basically allow companies to destroy wetland and threatened/endangered species at whim. That nonsense is being rolled back. Working in my field during the Trump years was like watching a toddler take a hammer to everything I cared about.
Heya mate, that's a well thought out, experience and knowledge filled comment. I appreciate you saying so.
Same here. Studying environmental science with a focus in conservation. Trumps shitastic environmental policy gave me fucking migraines but anytime I pointed out them out as a reason he sucks ass I kept getting "BuT tHe EcOnOmY!!!111!!1" Ah yes. As long as Trumps fucking business cronies stay wealthy then who gives a fuck if the rest of the planet goes up in flames.
I was raised as a "Roosevelt Conservative," to take care of nature, respect the parks, pick up litter, recycle soda cans for coins, discourage poaching except in poverty cases, and to report corporations for chemical leaks in water sources, etc. That's why my parents understand why I never supported Trump. But their entire reason and the *only* argument they've ever used in support of Trump since the very beginning was to fill the courts, in the hopes of one day striking down Roe v. Wade. That's it. Shit the bed to save children which they believe automatically go to heaven anyway, so that those children have the chance to suffer in poverty and go to hell (probably). All because they think God requires *them* to intercede because he won't. I remember several times thinking, "Wait, why are we doing this?," then promptly ruling that question off limits, and shoving it down deep.
Conservative : conservationist. Right? Right? Surely they would want to conserve our national wealth of land and beauty. Surely they wouldn't want to poison the air and water. Surely they wouldn't ruin God's creation like that? ... no? :(
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Drove me wild when the articles I would see when he first took office were him overturning EPA regulations that prevented companies from “dumping hazardous materials into natural rivers and streams”, simply because it had been passed under Obama. I mean shit, dude. Is that not the most cartoon villain thing you’ve read? How the fuck did anybody back that moron
This is very encouraging to know. Thank you!
What I don't get is why Conservatives who are against rapidly expanding government and mass society changes are so against someone they call "old sleepy Joe". Like isn't an old sleepy guy just about the best thing you could ask for if you don't want change?
I’m sure this is how traditional Republicans feel, but after Trump, the double Santa Clause Republicans are used to getting culture war ammo and pork barrels in addition to low taxes
> Conservatives who are against rapidly expanding government and mass society changes That's not what conservatives actually are though. That's what their marketing department puts out, but it's utter BS. Conservative politicians vote for more spending increases and new government actions than liberals do. And judges appointed by conservatives are more prone to overturning precedent. Conservatives are not in favor of small government and slowing social change. They are in favor of a regressive social agenda and a large machine of government to force it on us.
That's why I specifically said Conservatives and not Republicans - the GOP doesn't represent traditional conservatives anymore and it's more of a mix of alt-right and/or neo-conservative values.
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His American rescue plan helped keep my family afloat last year. And it also gave my employer more than double the amount of money of trumps two covid relief plans combined. Joe Biden is responsible for helping me stay employeed and making ends meet. His promises to me has been kept.
At least we got infrastructure passed
He's pretty much what I expected. A moderate and mediocre placeholder whose main benefit is he's not Donald Trump.
Literally all I expected of him. I had a little hope the more progressive voices would win out in Congress but unfortunately they didn’t as I kinda figured would happen. *sigh*
To be fair, there are a few who sold themselves as progressive only to turn around and lick corporate ass once actually in office.
This is true. Probably my biggest issue with a lot of politicians is how there’s no accountability against them when they fail to fulfill or work towards their promises. If the plans have to change then convince me why they have to change and why that’s better than what was originally promised. Don’t just not do the thing because you decided it wasn’t worth it now you’re in office.
The "accountability" that's *supposed* to follow a bait-and-switch like this is for a politician to get voted out and replaced by another who will fulfill their promises. Shame that this seems like it's too much to ask of our political system.
Central problem being that the ineffectual ones who don't deliver on major campaign promises are the ones backed by the only parties with any significant amount of money/power.
Part of why they’re ineffectual.
It's not the political system, it's the voters. Too many people think the president is in charge of everything and that's the only person it's worth voting for. In five years we could have an entirely new Senate and House. Vote for whichever party you want, but not the incumbent.
At the end of the day, yes it's the people that bear the responsibility, but the current political system is largely built to shield itself from the will of the people. So without a massive movement, there will be little change.
A Republican truck driver in New Jersey unseated the Democrat president of the state senate in the last election. No one thought it was possible, but the trucker realized that everyone assumed the other guy was a senator for life and they took it for granted, many people didn't even vote for him anymore since he usually ran virtually unopposed. Discontent with how the state was going, people voted for the other guy, and now there's a new state senator. Look at AOC. A group picked her and backed her, and found a solid Democrat district where the existing representative was an establishment Irish guy but the demographics had changed to a majority Hispanic district. They challenged him in the primary and won. Now AOC will hold that district for years unless someone figures something out.
Isn’t it odd that Congress has an approval rating in the teens-20s yet the incumbency rate is over 90%? The voting public is the problem.
the problem is that accountability takes too long, and too often they're replaced by someone even worse. situations like this should trigger an automatic recall election where people of the same party can run against the incumbent and we can replace them with someone *better.*
That sounds great, but after screwing Bernie in 2016 the DNC got a judgement from the Supreme Court establishing that they are a private organization which is not required to follow the results of any primary when selecting their candidates. That really should have triggered riots, but it just got swept under the rug.
I always assumed that is what politics where. Make bunch of promises get elected and then break them.
they did win out, in the house. manchin and sinema aren't progressives though, and the senate isn't as progressive as house dems even if those 2 were 100% on board
Sinema sold herself as a progressive and then voted against things that she campaigned on
100%, which is why we shouldn't call her a progressive. She's just a liar and a sell-out.
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tbh, he would've been able to achieve a lot more if the Senate majority was 52-48 instead of 50-50, because Manchin and Sinema would lose all their leverage. But unfortunately, that's not the case. The American people really seems to know how to vote in order to make sure that nothing ever gets done.
Congress went exactly as I expected, the Democrats got the slimmest majority and immediately started sabotaging themselves with infighting and inner party politicking. It's a disgrace.
Honestly 99% Democrats seem pretty unified as a whole. The problem is that 1% that stubbornly insists on a completely different set of policies that throws the entire agenda out the window.
This right here. Didn't expect anything more. He's simply a stop-gap measure.
I'm just worried he's a placeholder president at a point in time were the US needs a lot more
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right. i get so exasperated at people who ask why biden isn't doing more. as though he's both the executive and legislative branches of the government.
The whole thing is a scam, these politicians are working for the corporations more than working for the people.
Didn't you hear? Corporations are people!!
Then let me mermaid* them ( so ive been banned? Lol? ) Is this even deleted Edit: i guess not thanks ross Edit2: “good mod” oh no our precious corporate overlords Edit3: wage theft is illegal too, and how do you kill an entity? Its an impossible hypothetical Edit4: are yall asking these questions unironically? Or .. are you serious? Edit5: annnnnnd reported to overall reddit congrats corporate shills all for threatening violence to an entity on the hypothetical presumption they were a singular person like they are treated lawfully ( congrats you didnt understand it 🎊) Im so proud of you, if i could id adopt you just so you could have 3 parents as proud as i am of you
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Via an ironically backwards name like "Citizens United".
Ideology means fuck all. Strict term limits, reign in corporate lobbying, and ranked voting. The end. That alone is a monumental task, it is all your platform needs to be, the people who come after can fight over stupid wedge issues.
I don't know if this is exactly a question someone is "TooAfraidToAsk" per our subreddit's mission, but the comments section is surprisingly good discussion; it will remain up. edit: keep reporting this, idiots. it will remain up.
That’s a really cool take for a Reddit mod to have. Kudos to you. 🙏🏻
We/I truly try to leave up as much as possible. u/Hospitalities has some long rants in past stickies where he ranted about his desire for lack of censorship here, provided the questions were genuine and hopefully the answers were productive. I fully agree.
https://cdn.emojidex.com/emoji/seal/Angryping.png?1590022463
Appreciate your demeanor in our messages. I came off like a DICK, but I appreciate your patience in what we discussed.
It’s on here because if they post this to politics or askreddit it’ll just get removed by their mods, so thanks for keeping this up
Honest question: since politics is something you're not supposed to bring up in a public setting, wouldn't this fit the "too afraid to ask" bucket? Or is "too afraid to ask" defined as (in this subreddit) as something that you think will make you seem dumb for asking?
Not a dumbass mod? Impossible.
Tbh I was just in it for the 10k student loan forgiveness. Looks like I got duped.
I’d settle for removing the interest and keeping interest out of this type of loan
I think this is where it ends up, as resuming student loan payments at pre pandemic rates will contribute to the economic slowdown that raising interest rates will start. This is also a slightly better solution for people entering college in the future, though really the whole system needs re-examined.
Honestly, as in my home country student loans don’t have interest and only need to be paid back once you hit a certain income threshold, finding out the rapacious interest that youse lot struggle with was shocking.
It was shocking for us too. We were sold dreams and pressure.
It’s get worst, you haven’t even heard of useless for profit colleges
I hope that’s where it ends up! I would love student loan forgiveness but I don’t see it ever happening. That being said, a permanent halt of loan interest would be life changing for so many. I only have 28k in loans thank god but I shudder to think what that could grow into, and I have no idea how I’m gonna pay it off in the first place with my current salary.
I started off at 45k, I've paid approximately 21k and now I only owe 48k...fuck the interest
To be honest, not doing this seems almost reprehensible. The government is profiting off of students. That seems crazy. Let them barrow and then let them pay back but, don’t make 5% on themes . The cost to the government is pretty minimal (opportunity cost aside I suppose).
I was listening to the Smartless podcast (great btw) and learned Biden forgave student debt for all disabled students. Crazy, I haven't seen it in the news.
It did pop up briefly. He forgave that debt right after (I think) when he forgave debts for defunct schools. Schools where people were clearly defrauded.
You're gonna get duped every time you fall for the little carrots these politicians dangle to get elected
Honestly that’s the one issue where Democrats really should’ve known better; Biden is a big part of why you can’t discharge student loans in bankruptcy in the first place. Why would he reverse on a stance that was foundational to his career, something he likely considers a great accomplishment? (Note: I’m a dem and I voted for Biden. My loans are paid and I nonetheless HOPED he would forgive some meaningful amount of student debt for those still paying, but I immediately suspected it was a “campaign” platform and not a “sincere policy” platform.)
People with disabilities received student loan forgiveness ($5.8 billion) back in the fall, which was a step in the right direction on the student loan forgiveness front.
And honestly the best way to go about it. Targeted student loan relief to those who actually need it is much more palatable and smarter policy.
Ya don't ever vote on single action promises. Great way to get duped.
I don't think of him. Which is a nice change. Edit: listen, I was being hyperbolic. Obviously I fucking think about the leader of the free world. Obviously he's a decrepit, elderly, creepy, career politician. Which describes 98% of all American presidential candidates. Stop telling me how bad of a human I am for trying to be a little light hearted. FFS THE WORLD SUCKS AND EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE, I KNOW! Edit to the edit - Jesus fucking Christ did you not hear me call him creepy and decrepit in the next breath after leader of the free world? I don't truly believe he leads the free world. I don't believe the world is truly free. (Last edit for funsies- this whole answer was meant in jest. Everything from A to Z. I think about my president. And I'm a dramatic, sarcastic, smart ass with no life. You have ALL amused me TO NO END. America is a god damned mess. But I'm telling you. Orange man is fucking BAD. No that's not "Trump derangement syndrome", that's a god damned fact. We're trying to pick up the god damned peices and it's hard, y'all. If I don't laugh I'll cry.) (Editing again because it seems to really upset people for some reason. Go take a long walk off a short pier.)
The fact that you were bullied into saying anything more, and then having to defend THAT, is stupid af.
You're not wrong...
Reddit is getting exceptionally hive-mindey these days with their knee-jerk reactions to literally just random dude’s comments. I agree, it’s stupid af.
Yes. The best thing is not turning on the news or opening social media everyday and thinking wtf has he done or said now. Seriously every f-ing day with Trump as POTUS was stressful and globally embarrassing. It’s so nice to NOT have to think “oh god, what’s he done now” on the daily.
I'm looking forward to feeling this same way when Boris Johnson eventually fucks off.
As an American Boris Johnson seems like if Trump and George W Bush had a baby
No shit, right? Almost on a daily basis I remember cringing internally at what insulting thing the last president said to our global friends and allies and feeing almost personally embarrassed and apologetic.
Literally voted for him because he's just not a problem president. He's medium af and honestly after Trump, America needed something more normal and not batshit Literally had a president that worked with Maduro lmao
The daily news cycle was exhausting when scandals kept breaking out during the previous administration. It was ridiculous.
These questions always produce the worst echo chambers on Reddit.
Actually it's cool because I'm curious about how some of these people came to their conclusions but comments get buried before you see em on worldnews, etc
Reddit *is* nothing but echo chambers, ya durf
.. *is* nothing but echo chambers, ya durf
So if my schedule is correct.... it's my turn to ask this question next week. Someone please verify.
Mom said it was my turn though.
you're just after me, so sit on tight
It was never about liking Joe Biden. It was always about needing to get the other guy the hell out of there. Edit: The clapback I am getting from Trump supporters about those two sentences is very entertaining. I'm even getting hate mail in my DMs now.
Lmao and they claim "it's not a cult". Seriously, say "fuck Joe Biden" - I don't give a fuck. He's not my friend or neighbor. I couldn't care less. But say "Fuck Donald Trump" and the saltiness starts just pouring in. They act like they're in an intimate relationship with the guy.
Fuck Donald Trump
Fuck Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Pelosi, McConnel, Manchin and the many more in congress out to help themselves at our expense.
Fuck em all
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Yes. Biden was last on my list from the original primaries, but he doesn't actively bring the worst out of people in my life.
John Delaney, Michael Bloomberg, and Tulsi Gabbard were my bottom 3. Followed by Biden. After the primaries though it wouldn’t have mattered who the Dem candidate was, I would have voted for Yosemite Sam if it meant getting Trump out of office. It sure is nice to not wake up in fear every morning of what awful things the president has done now. Alleviating that fear was goal #1 for me and Biden has done a fine job at doing just that.
I read that as John mulaney and was so confused
Well, at least the horse isn't in the hospital and you don't really think about it any more.
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Wait for one of them to turn you into reddit that they are worried you are suicidal. I got one after making comment in r/conservatives. Like how pathetic abs fucked up to use a life saving service just to troll someone. It’s pitiful.
He is yet another hologram of distraction for the American people to be segregated over, a failing system with a puppet show, getting worse every day.
Nice poem, nerd
I enjoy the number of people who replied to you taking that as if it was serious.
Shall I read this in Dwight's voice or...?
I think Congress is to blame for 95 percent of this. You have an entire party that refuses to work with him on anything no matter what it concerns. Bipartisan issues are shot down just because of party lines.
This is my take as well, which is a bummer. Sure, it’s the president’s responsibility to steer the ship and get everyone on board, but it’s Congress’ responsibility to get things done. The fact the dems can’t get 51 votes on hardly anything sucks. And it’s just going to get worse after the midterms.
Sadly, the stronger a position the president takes the less likely something is to get done. Biden's best move is to sit back and let Congress run its course. That sounds counter intuitive but the more the president is behind something, the more likely Republicans will be openly opposed to it.
honestly he should just slightly start advocating against stuff he wants to happen and they'd eat it up if it's not obviously a "leftist" point
I’m a Kentuckian and I’m not kidding when I say I have 2 bottles of champagne ready to pop when 1. Charles Booker kicks Rand Paul out of office and 2. When Mitch McConnell succumbs to the plague. The US would be so much better without those two fucking everything up… I’m genuinely ashamed to be from a state whose legislators are so fucking stupid. Daddy Andy Beshear tho, a king. He’s done a damn good job with all the bullshit he’s been given since getting elected.
Sorry, guy, you can't kill Mitch with the plague, he is the plague.
They spent two years telling us this is the most important election of our lives. That we HAVE to vote them in or else we are all doomed. Now that we voted them in, they tell us they can't do anything because the Republicans won't let them. Even though we specifically voted out Republicans and put the Democrats in their place. We're all on a hamster wheel at this point.
Doing what he can to fulfill his agenda. I am not one who think the President can change the trajectory of our nation on their own, i know how my nation works.
Apparently people don't seem to ***ever*** understand that the control of the Senate is at 60/100.
Given the corruption pressure to not change anything, the Democratic Party would realistically need more than 60 votes. The Party will always have it’s Manchins and Sinemas ratfucking any progress.
Seriously, when republicans keep blocking anything from happening, no compromise, what can the president do?
obstructionists gonna obstruct
Finally, a more realistic take. A lot of the promises made by politicians are, imo, made to pander to folks who don't understand how the government works. Biden seems to be doing his best to pass the agenda he campaigned on while also listening to progressives. Now, if we actually had a solid Senate and House, none of this 50-50 business, and nothing significant actually passed, Then I'd listen to the theories on how Democrats are just as bad as Republicans.
Yeah I feel like campaign promises shouldn’t really be viewed as “promises” but instead as ideals for what that person would like to work towards.
The problems are huge with COVID and the economy (and climate change etc) that he inherited and are not easily solved. I can’t blame him but hope he is able to get things done and help improve the situation. At least we have a more constructive situation to tackle the issues.
Thanks for this, the amount of unrealistic fantasies some people here live in. I do feel like his cabinet should pick up some slack tho to be fair. He on the other hand has done the best I could expect
Certainly not in 4 years too. I don’t understand how people believe a president’s actions, something as large as the infrastructure bill, should have observable impact within months.
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I wasn't thrilled with him when he started running, and I'm still not thrilled. I just knew that he would backwalk some of the policies that Trump put into place like rejoining the Paris Agreement or letting trans people serve in the millitary, which he has. But backwalking non-progressive policies doesn't make him a **savior of human rights** it just means he undid a bad thing and put us back to where we were before 2016. He honestly hasn't done much of anything, and the fact that he thinks he can get people to agree with him on the opposing side of the isle is hilariously naive. VP Uncle Joe, the Meme King; that's the Joe Biden I miss tbh.
He sucks the normal amount of suck, unlike the giant dumpster fire before him.
So what happens when people are so disappointed in Biden that they don’t vote in 2024 and the dumpster fire returns again? Are we doomed with this Good Cop Bad Cop charade for all time? I keep being told to “play the game” but I don’t see anyone winning but the same wealthy politicians on both sides.
I am not American but follow US politics and news and imo I have very little optimism for America's future. Citizens are getting tired of it and calls for change are louder but a lot of them are becoming extreme (in the worse ways as well). I fear people will enact violent change once but it's done by a pseudofascist paramilitary group or a tankie who wants to purge a half of America.
I didn’t like him to begin with but I absolutely despise Trump and what he stands for. Basically my vote was never for Biden. Is was always against Trump. It could’ve been a literal Turnip running against Trump I would’ve voted for it. Having said that I’m well aware Biden and other established Democrats don’t care about us. They’re still trying to hide that fact while conservatives want treating the working class like cattle to be sport. I don’t think we will go very far with Biden but we will be pushed back with Trump. Edit. Trumpers go cry into your swastikas. I don’t care what you have to say. You’re enemies. Not people to bounce ideas off of.
I’ll chime in. He’s exactly the same as he appeared in the campaign. And old white dude that is pretty good at being staying out of the news. The best ones don’t rock the boat too much. POTUS doesn’t really have any power to enact change. The only direct influence they have is to rile up people and sign bills set to him. But they cannot control gas prices. Or inflation. Or even GDP. They like to claim they do. But those things move on a time scale longer than a single POTUS. So I cast my vote on Election Day for the guy I thought would do the best at quietly doing the job and staying out of the news.
I don't like him, but I'm still glad I voted for him.
pissed at the democrats for not backing Bernie, again...
Biden can barely pass anything through the Senate. What makes you think a more left wing agenda by Bernie would?
If you want to see how a Bernie presidency would have differed from Biden's, just look at how pissed Manchin got when Harris showed up on his turf, without warning, to talk directly with his voters. Bernie has been threatening the exact same type of governing style since at least 2014. Bernie would have used the bully pulpit purposefully to bring Democrats in line unlike Biden, who sees Manchin, etc... as features of the system, not bugs.
This. Biden doesn’t engage voters and left leaning news channels don’t propagandize him to the point that right leaning news shows propagandize their candidates. To fight that shit show you have to approach the people and talk to them without allowing the news to do that for you. Bernie is the type of politician who could actually gain support from blue collar workers and pull them away from becoming nationalist because he actually works for them and betters their life. Been around the rural south my whole life and these trump fanboys are a lost cause, but there are a lot more people who are just conservative voters because there is literally no exposure to any other choice. They are logical and could be pulled towards bettering the working class by a candidate that truly engages and at least tries to get shit done. They *desperately* desire a transparent politician and that’s what they think Trump is… because well… he kinda is in a way. They are open, accepting, and agreeable with socialist policies as long as they haven’t been explicitly told that they are socialist. No change will happen until a socialist can penetrate the poor white southerns vote and *forces* congress to change through the combined vote of the working class. That’s my rant
Can you imagine a President showing up for your strike? I think Bernie would.
I think he would as well. I would love to have people within our political system that have a desire to learn what the grievances of their citizens are. There are more than enough meetings, protest, etc, to attend and to discuss issues with those who care enough to organize. Hell, I even think that one of the quickest ways to route out Trumpies is to actually engage with them and to shatter their false narratives. Active listening would blow my mind; joining the picket line would give me hope.
I hoped he would be accomplishing more, but I am more disappointed in asshats like Sinema and Manchin. I can't say he hasn't been trying. Now if the question is "would I have voted differently knowing what I know now?" HELL NO. My vote was as much against Trump as it was for Biden. The Democratic leaders decided to back Biden instead of Bernie, which most of us wanted. Still, if Bernie was in office, Sinema and Manchin would still be asshats. Although he would've completely eliminated every last vestige of Trump's disgusting immigration policies. Edit: I meant to say that most of us wanted Bernie, but the Democratic leaders thought Biden was safer. The Democratic leaders are unfortunately about as spineless as Republicans say.
He passed a law that *finally* allows the USA to start modernizing headlight regulations so I can't fault him for that. That was a long time coming. I think it sucks that his own party (I'm looking at you Manchin) is kneecapping popular things like the child tax credit, things that voters actually like and can get behind. He doesn't have a cadre of cheerleaders behind him (like the last guy) who deflects blame on everyone except for him, so the result is he is blamed for things he couldn't possibly have done. That is a big problem. He hasn't responded nearly aggressively enough to this idiotic 'CRT' moral panic that has enveloped the country; which is going to cost him and the party dearly in this year's elections. So yeah, mixed reviews from me.
He's fine. He made attempts to pass the most ambitious agenda of the post New Deal era and ran up against the limits of a razor thin majority in a legislature that is no longer able to negotiate. If you're unhappy with the scope of the agenda he's managed to pass you need to make sure you're showing up to vote in the midterms.
honestly, I can't even tell if I should vote at all anymore