• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    99% of American voters have no problem with this whatsoever

    If you’ve ever actually rolled up your sleeves and dealt with the American political system, what you’ll quickly discover is that

    1. Half your municipal candidates are just six real estate agents in a trench coat

    2. Half your state candidates are the failsons and legal counsel of whichever rich assholes currently own the bulk of the real estate

    3. Virtually all of your federal candidates are Ivy League schlubs who worked for someone in the party at the state or federal level in the last ten years

    And these are the ones with the money, the time, and the social networks to productively run for office. Everyone else running is either a protest candidate with no name recognition or a delusional wacko with more money than sense.

    These are the options on your ballot for the 99% of American voters who end up supporting on paper. The “true believers” tend to be the 20-30% of folks who try to research individual candidates and come back with heads full of hagiography. Whether they’re people who got juiced up on Beto O’Rourke or Ted Cruz, they’ve got a mythological understanding of the candidate based on an endless deluge of propaganda produced by the party.

    Then you’ve got the 1% of people who really truly do the ugly work of getting people elected. And they do get a look behind the curtain. But they either stomach the horror and truck on for ideological reasons or make a play for the cash option and just look for ways to monetize the rot.

    In the case of Israel, there’s enormous amounts of money to be had in the rot. Between weapons contractors, financial interests, real estate developers, and ideologically driven lobbyists, the Israel platform has oodles of cash to float itself. Nevermind the geopolitical interest of having a western allied power guarding the Mediterranean entrance to the Suez Canal.

    This isn’t a “voter” problem, because there’s no real anti-Israeli option for voters available. 99% of American voters never get to choose another policy, because all the money is pointed in the direction of the Israelis.

    • jeffw@lemmy.worldOP
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      6 months ago

      Eh, I only really agree with 3. Maybe in major cities you might be right about 1 but I’ve met a lot of state and local folks and most of them are just legit people who care.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I’ve met candidates who care. I’ve campaigned for them. But they’re unlikely to be the heavy fundraisers or the ones close with the governor/legislative leadership.

        I’ve been on the other side, too, and watched the more machine style politicians operate. A heavy focus on fundraising. The candidate is constantly courting local mega-donors and hosting/attending events. Your roll as a campaign worker is a lot like the roll of an MLM organizer - everyone is trying to recruit everyone else and your position in the hierarchy is heavily predicated on how much money/how many volunteers you can bring into the organization.

        There are certainly true believers running for office. But they’re just the bottom rung of the patronage network. Only as useful as they are freely loyal. As soon as they start showing independence or asking for more than their position affords them, they’re targeted for a primary by a less demanding party acolyte.

      • voracitude@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Yeah, your “unwillingness” to “accept excuses” is making a massive difference. Thank god you’re here to call us all names, or we might decide to participate in our society come November to stop a literal fucking Nazi with the only tools available to us.

        But I digress; please continue. Alienate the people you nominally agree with on at least some points, and change the world all by your onesies. I cannot imagine how you could possibly fail, with this attitude.

          • voracitude@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            You have no idea how I vote so you can stuff your childish name-calling. If you knew anything about anything you’d know the primaries are non-binding formalities, and if you’d been around for any length of time you’d remember the DNC told us all very clearly they don’t give a fuck for the primary vote anyway. If they did we’d have had Sanders instead of Clinton in 2016.

            I’m gonna block you now because I have no more patience for you. Go be wrong about shit in someone else’s inbox.