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Just a reminder as to why we are here... [1]

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Date: 2025-06-06

It's a popular pastime in progressive circles to blame the Democratic Party for the mess we are in, but that is just progressive civil society organizations shirking their responsibility for the mess. It's basically denying the agency of voters and civil society organizations such as Unions, Business Associations, etc, to blame political parties instead.

News flash: political parties do not elect themselves to office, voters elect them.

So how do voters go about making that decision. Part of it is the messaging of the parties, but let's face it. No one believes a thing any political party says which is why I find it somewhat humorous when folks argue Democrats suffer from a failure of messaging. I mean they are not wrong, but they just miss the point.

Newsflash: Third party messaging is what matters, which is to say, messaging from civil society organizations like, you know, progressive organizations.

So, line up all the right wing civil society organizations over the past few decades. Review their messaging. You will find that while they on occassion criticized Republicans for accommodating Democrats, almost never do they promote the notion that there is no difference between the parties. In fact, they look at those accommodations as tactical necessities in a larger project.

Never do they urge voting for a third party. They make clear that the left and Democrats are an unmitigated evil that eclipses any failing of the Republican Party. They have no doubts that they are at war with socialism/communism and they'll say and do anything to win.

It's like the Islamic notion of taqiyya. It literally means prudence in Arabic, but in context it is the practice of dissimulation and secrecy in religious belief and practice. Compare rhetoric like defund the police, and prudence.

Did the right ever come out in support of the shitshow we see today prior to today? Nope. Is it the inevitable result of their world view? Yep. Were they willing to vote for it to thwart the left? You betcha.

To quote David Frum, if conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism, they will abandon democracy.

Now flip that on its head. Did civil society organizations on the left understand what they were up against and tailor their 'messaging' accordingly? Did they ever understand that the Democratic Party, for all its shortcomings, was the only thing standing between us and fascism? Were they willing to accept incremental progress in implementing their agenda?

The culmination of the right's project we see today began in the 1970s. They chipped away cycle after cycle, turning out to vote despite not getting all they wanted the previous cycle. Heck, Liz Cheney was a darling of the right up until MAGA finally became ascendant, and she became an impediment to their agenda and apostate. Taqqiya.

Has the left grasped that reality as to how our system works? Clearly not. I think the 2016 and 2024 elections, and almost every midterm following a Presidential cycle that put a Democrat in the White House bears that out. The left always end up promoting the notion that abstention is reasonable, and by abstention, I mean staying home or voting third party for some reason or another.

Take the Neo-liberalism shtick which is basically the sin of recognizing there are market based solutions that can complement or replace direct government regulation. The left always treated that as a retreat by Democrats. Maybe it was but the right felt the same about Republicans. The EPA was created under Nixon, and the right hated it. HMOs were created to postpone universal health care under Nixon, and the right hated it.

Did they tell right leaning voters the parties were the same in response to Nixon's sops to the left? Nope. Did they urge right leaning voters to abstain? Nope. Now, compare that to the left's response to the ACA.

Make no mistake, we are in a battle between ethno-nationalist fascism and liberal democracy. The latter is what makes advancing the progressive agenda possible. That is what David Frum was driving at. I am still stunned that there were progressives who for whatever reason were urging people to abstain in 2024 when the choice between fascism and liberal democracy could never have been never starker.

I mean the 'we need a primary' shtick to dismiss the fact that Harris was an excellent candidate as if it were some establishment plot the frustrate the will of the people? Seriously? That was a reason to urge people to abstain?

I call bullshit.

Then there was the 'Genocide Joe' bit. Fair enough that the hell Israel brought down on gazans thanks to Hamas was beyond shocking, but Genocide Joe was just a flat out false narrative that just felt good to those unwilling to think it all through. As the saying goes, for every complex problem there is a simple solution that is wrong.

Extending it to Harris because she could not do what the left demanded of her, publicly break with the policy of the administration she belonged to, was nothing short of ridiculous guilt by association for guilt that was questionable in the first place. There's a stunning ignorance of history when it comes to the eternal struggle against fascism that feels bad so it's brushed under the carpet.

We funded Joseph Stalin to defeat fascism in WWII. Now there was a true true Genocide Joe. He makes Bibi look like a piker.

But re-litigating the specifics is quite frankly irrelevant at this point. What's relevant is the continued predilection of the left to promote narratives that encourage voters to abstain.

Newsflash: There is nothing Schumer, Democrats, Sanders, AOC or anyone else other than Republicans can do about the shit show unfolding before our eye thanks to voters, and Republicans who refuse to do anything. Be upset with voters for our circumstance, and Republicans for inaction, not Democrats.

if you want to blame anyone other than voters or Republicans, blame those who encouraged voters to abstain in 2024 for whatever reason, no matter how legitimate you might feel their gripe may have been. Let me put it this way. Any organization unwilling to openly urge people to vote for TACO Belle, but advocated abstention, perpetrated a fraud on voters and are as responsible for are current circumstances as those who openly urged people to vote for the Belle.

We have a two party system. You may not like it, but it is what it is. One is fascist, and the other is liberal democratic. To abstain or encourage people to abstain under such circumstances is the equivalent of pretending that death camp a couple of miles away in the forest has nothing to do with you because you didn't vote for the government that put it there.

I apologize for the harshness of the tone of this diary, but I am fed up with glib progressive bullshit about Schumer who I profoundly dislike and do not respect, and Jeffries who I respect but think needs to up his game, while ignoring the fact that progressive darlings like Sanders and AOC both of whom I like and respect but who like the leadership I mentioned have done nothing of consequence to thwart TACO Belle. Why haven't the latter two done anything of consequence? Is it because they are mealy mouthed pols in the pocket of the Oligarchy?

No. It's because like all Democrats there ain't shit they can do under these circumstances, and these circumstances are a result of the failures of our civil society, not our political parties.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/6/2326420/-Just-a-reminder-as-to-why-we-are-here?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

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