This is basically it. Classic liberalism is everything from Margaret Thatcher to Bernie Sanders. The MAGA movement has regressed to fascism–a form of corporate authoritatianism.

So are almost all progressives.

You can’t. He’s trying to use liberal as an epithet when he means neoliberal. If we’re being pedantic, liberal refers to the full gamut of people who think there should be an open and free society, which usually includes a market and certain property rights. The conservatives use liberal as an epithet to decry the left and now the left is using it to decry the middle.

It would be funny if it wasn’t being used to convince naive progressives to sit out elections and let fascists seize power because the center left “only” wants 85% of what they want. You’re seeing it really ramp up because the US is closing in on a big election, and convincing dipshits to sit out elections is easier than convincing anyone the right can govern.

They’ve really managed to enshittify the site beyond even what I expected back when the API changes went live. I guess it was expected. First Digg shot itself, now Reddit…

That’s why you vote for change in the primary. When it comes to the general election, if the choices are Status Quo, Literal Fascism, and shooting myself in the dick, I’m going to vote for the Status Quo, even if I’m not a huge fan. You’re happy to let Literal Fascists win, it seems. That’s why our country is in this predicament.

I understand your frustration, but if you stick to this, you will be abstaining entirely from the electoral process.

Once again, there are only three choices:

1. Party that can win.

2. Other party that can win.

3. Shooting yourself in the dick.

You seem to be a #3 voter. Is feeling good about shooting yourself in the dick really better than effecting real change? Nah.

As you said, it doesn’t matter because you don’t live in anything resembling a swing state, but for those of us who do: please vote strategically. Vote for whomever you like in the primary. (And DO vote in the primary, for fuck’s sake!) Vote for Bernie Sanders. (I did!) Vote for the DSA candidate. (I often do.) Vote for the green party, or libertarians, or write in your cool uncle. Whatever! The primary is your time to vote for who you really want. But when it comes to the general election, please vote for the left-most nominee of the party that has a realistic shot at winning. It doesn’t always feel good, but there are exactly three options in a first past the post general election:

1. Voting for the party that can win.

2. Voting for the other party that can win.

3. Not participating. You might think your write-in or third party is distinct from Option #3. I regret to inform you that it isn’t.

If we were to do this for a decade or so, the GOP would evaporate and the Dems would eventually split into a neoliberal pro-business party and a progressive pro-labor party. Do I want Newsom to be the nominee? Fuck no. I hate that prick. But if he’s the one running against Marco Rubio or whoever? Yeah, I can hold my nose and fill in that bubble.

If we fail to do this, we only empower fascists. Look around.

(And BTW, the party more likely to give us Ranked Choice so we don’t need to do this is, you guessed it, the Democrats…)

Four legs good! Two legs bad!

The president isn’t supposed to go after anyone. His DOJ is supposed to enforce the law, and they had indicted thousands of J6ers in what seemed to be the lead-up to The Big One, where charges are brought against the ringleaders. You can say they did this too slowly, but it was literally the biggest case the FBI had ever prosecuted. Spare us this both sides crap.

Seems to work fine in Scandinavia.

I’m a progressive. Fetterman is in the Senate because of grassroots support from Progressives. That Democrats stumped for him only proves that Democrats will support whomever they need to support to defeat Republicans. Progressives like me thought Fetterman was the man before the stroke made him a Republican. (I didn’t know about that whole racist shotgun interaction in 2020 though.)

I remember people liking him because he was an asshole on our side, sticking it to Republicans. I guess an asshole on your side is still, at the end of the day, an asshole. In other words, by no means should Democrats nominate Gavin Newsom for president.

As much as I liked the “massive brain damage causes conservatism” narrative following Fetterman around, I’ve been hearing more and more that he was always a duplicitous asshole.

Our country needs a way to recall public servants when they betray constituents. Six years is too long to wait.

Also notable:

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised

• Brannigan 3:5

You dropped this \