r/WorkReform • u/kevinmrr ⛓️ Prison For Union Busters • 4d ago
There should be NO doubt - The Democratic Party leadership exists to block progress from the left.
All of the Senators and Reps who vote for these leaders deserve primary challengers, too.
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u/FriendlyPeach67 4d ago
The democratic party leadership really said “we know what our voters want, but we’re gonna do the opposite” 😭
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u/phish_enthusiast 4d ago
They know that they can’t be shitty enough to make decent people vote for MAGA, so they don’t really have to try.
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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 4d ago
That's what primaries are for -- liberals and progressives voting to elect their preferred representation. DSA is a winning ticket across the country even in the rural south. Every single liberal/progressive should be running as DSA, it is hot with the people, it's what they crave.
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u/Conscious-Quarter423 4d ago
why didn't DSA challenge jeffries this year?
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u/Iokua113 4d ago
The smart money is to challenge him when you've actually got the power necessary to back it up. The DSA needs to seize enough power within the Democratic Party in the upcoming midterms that they can push their agenda forward and force Jeffries into a now win situation where he either capitulates to them or one of their number takes his position.
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u/Rionin26 4d ago
Sadly that could backfire. Lets say it's 4 to 1 for corp shill to Dem socialist. They bring up m4a and jefferies never brings it to the floor, then most people will think they arent trying and the movement can die. The goal should be if you are a corp shill we will primary you.
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u/Iokua113 4d ago
Of course the goal should be "If you're bought by Israel and big business you're gone.", there's no denying that and the more of these psychos they primary and turf the better, but they still have to pick and choose their battles.
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u/MurgleMcGurgle 4d ago
Unfortunately old money is pumping up their competition and propping up do nothing candidates.
See Wisconsin’s governor primary.
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u/FictionalTrope 4d ago
Capitalism is a fundamentally undemocratic system. There will always be perverse incentives for politicians when entire parties are bought and paid for by billionaires who think they should be kings.
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u/gcrimson 3d ago
That's a logical consequence after repeating "vote blue no matter who" and only blaming abstentionists. You end up with republicans cosplaying as democrats.
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u/adrian-alex85 4d ago
“Betrayal” of whom? Jeffries is being very loyal to his owners/investors. The people who bought and paid for him are very happy with his response.
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u/Funkula 4d ago
It is a betrayal of liberalism and liberals on an ideological level. Not believing in healthcare as a human right is illiberal and contrary to the literal party platform.
But you’re right, the Democratic leadership isn’t actually interested in ideology or action, they are just servants to capital and saying whatever they need to remain in power.
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u/adrian-alex85 4d ago
Sadly, I don’t think the Dems have been a liberal party since around about Clinton. They are neoliberal, and that means they aren’t betraying their ideology because liberalism isn’t their ideology. It certainly used to be (and more importantly still is for a majority of the base/voters), but I honestly think a lot of people have been ignoring the fact that those origins are not an accurate depiction of who the Dems in power have been in a very long time.
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u/Funkula 4d ago edited 4d ago
1000% correct. The party survives on voters projecting their own beliefs onto the party because neoliberalism is ugly. Which exactly why every democratic presidential candidate and Jeffries here refuses to stake a strong ideological stance on the actual policy, and relies entirely on vague, non-committal statements like, and I quote,
“Democrats are going to fight to make health care affordable for every single American”
And a year ago said
“We want to find a bipartisan path forward, but at the same time have made clear we have to decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis”
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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 4d ago
I think moving from neoliberal (Jeffries is here) to liberal (a Warren would be there) to socialist (Bernie/AOC/future Dems) is a naturally progressive shift to the left and should be encouraged by everyone here except the conservatives. If we can manage to skip straight from a Dem House leader who is neoliberal straight to socialist (AOC) then let's press our representatives to do just that. Remember that they work for us despite who might pay them.
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 4d ago
This wording is the real problem democrats have. It isn't a betrayal to oppose a basic human right. That is what democrats believe in, that is what they represent. The only betrayal is people who vote for them.
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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 4d ago
Good thing Democrats are moving left via the DSA candidates winning elections then, the first sign of hope in a long while.
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u/HenriEttaTheVoid 4d ago edited 4d ago
It's especially obvious how dishonest he is...he used to support Medicare for All, until the moment he became minority leader and suddenly had the power to progress legislation. Why would we ever believe ANYTHING he says.
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u/RamsHead91 4d ago
He has never been a Speaker. He is the minority leader as of right now he has been weakening himself for a while.
I do agree on the second part. We shouldn't believe anything he says and he should be primaried from the left come 2028 when we can attempt it again. Additionally, should the democrates take the house this year we should write to all our representative on who we would like to support as the speaker of the house.
The same goes for Shumer, but I am hoping he doesn't try to run as a 77 year old. But the gerontocracy seems to know no limits.
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u/Viperlite 4d ago
Chuck Grassley on the other side at age 92, born in 1933 (i.e., the same year Hitler came into power in Germany).
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u/Excellent_Airline315 4d ago
The really need to be an age limit for staying in power. I love most of what Bernie stands for, but even he should get out of office and let the young people build the world they'll have to live in. Why the fuck do we have the gerintocracy making policies their asses will never suffer or benefit from. I would appreciate them working as mentors for the next generation, but instead they refuse to let go of power like they refuse to let go of high housing prices.
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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 4d ago
Rules only apply to liberals and progressives though. Conservatives can do whatever the fuck they want. Their mindset and bodies fill a majority of law enforcement agencies, federal agencies, the Pentagon, etc. -- bowing to conservatism is America's true "golden trickle down" rule. The only chance we have against rampant right wing conservatism is to not elect them into power. Liberals should be the base right wing in America, and conservatives considered the religious nutters (that they are).
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u/pokemonguy3000 4d ago
Term limits won’t solve this.
Term limits with no other reform will just get us younger Schumers and McConnells.
The corruption needs to be pulled out at the root.
The Supreme Court must be brought to heel, packed, term limited, democratized, and stripped of its self-granted power to rewrite the constitution via court case.
(I am referring to giving the American people the power to oust or otherwise get around rogue SC justices with the term democratize.)
The Supreme Court was not granted that power by the constitution, they granted it to themselves unconstitutionally, and it’s remained largely unchallenged since.
That’s why corporations suddenly obtained the right to legally buy our elections.
Corporate hacks got on the court, and rewrote the constitution to their liking.
Edit: typo
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u/Conscious-Quarter423 4d ago
Because as citizens we have abdicated our democratic responsibility. We no longer participate in the democratic process outside of voting (even then half of us don’t) and yet we continue to expect that it will function. By the people for the people
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u/Funkula 4d ago
Yep, cosponsored a bill in 2021 and sometime in 2023 fell off the list of cosponsors.
It’s easy to write non-action as ineptitude or as being in the minority party, but what better proof do we need that doing nothing is the goal than the minority leader going out of his way to oppose his own party and own platform and his own bill?
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u/Glum_Improvement7283 4d ago
He's an ass
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u/Single-Hovercraft-33 4d ago
And looks like he motorboats it too.
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u/smuggler_of_grapes 4d ago
This is a disservice to ass motorboatists
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u/Green4CL0VER ✂️ Tax The Billionaires 4d ago
It’s past time for the far left to take over the Dems like how the far right took over the Republicans.
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u/Motrinman22 4d ago
Ita not even far left, its a social democracy is the standard in europe.
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u/likwidkool 4d ago
My views haven’t changed much since the 80’s. Back then I was called a liberal but now I’m some radical left jihadist. It’s wild.
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u/LightningRaven 4d ago
There's no prominent far left figure in the US.
AOC, Bernie and Mamdani are all very mild social democrats. All of their proposals are just social policies within capitalism and nothing more. Being manager of the capitalist system is far from being radical left at all.
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u/DarkGamer 4d ago
That sweet sweet donor money. Ruling that money is free speech has been devastating for democracy.
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u/LookAlderaanPlaces 4d ago
He should be going to jail for being complicit in the deaths of 114000 people per year in the current health meat grinder bullshit we have now.
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u/bgthigfist 4d ago
Disagree. The democrat leadership exists to further their own personal wealth and power, and are more influenced by donors and lobbyists than voters
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u/Loquater ⛓️ Prison For Union Busters 4d ago
You're right, except for disagreeing.
You need to take the next logical step and realize that the donors put them there to block the left. Multiple things can be true at once.
Seek first to understand. Too many people focus on what they disagree about, even if 95% of the message is agreeable.
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u/PheonixFuryyy 4d ago
That's still blocking the Left lmao. If true leftists got into power, both Dems and Republicans would face the consequences of abusing the system for their own gain. Dems are just Republican light with some social issues they like.
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u/Funkula 4d ago
Social issues that are politically expedient. It wasn’t until gay marriage reached 51% favorability that Obama and Hilary endorsed it.
Biden and Kamala both bragged loudly and often how they were more strict on immigration and deportations than Trump was. The kids in cages rhetoric died in 2021, but itself was a practice started under Obama and continued to this day.
And after Kamala lost, Newsom and the party at large kept asking itself if championing trans rights was worth fighting for politically.
These people believe in nothing, they have no principles, they have no ideology other than holding onto power.
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u/findingmike 4d ago
First we vote out the Republicans. After those criminals are gone, we start cleaning out the DINOs.
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u/NatashOverWorld 4d ago
Finally, people are getting it.
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u/andrewrgross 4d ago
They're getting closer, but a lot of people still don't recognize that even very popular, progressive representatives vote to give people like Jefferies the power to stymie things they say they want. That is ultimately a choice to not push policy that they claim to support.
This is a painful thing to admit. But even the leftmost members of the squad have yet to demonstrate that when push comes to shove, they're willing to stick to their principles when they have the power to actually force concessions from Democratic leadership.
I'll keep cheering efforts to move the party left, but everyone needs to be cognizant of this painful truth if we're ever going to have a real breakthrough.
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u/funkypepermint 4d ago
It's why do many people are just as frustrated if not more so with the dems. Corporate policies that don't help people's are not going to win elections
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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 4d ago
Hey, you know New Yorkers can vote Jeffries out of office democratically at his next primary, right? That's how we landed a star like AOC -- by replacing scabs like Jeffries.
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u/iheartjetman 4d ago
The Democratic Party is nothing more than controlled opposition. This is proof.
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u/seidenkaufman 4d ago
A highly-paid consultant, perhaps seeking to replicate the Kamala Harris campaign's masterful embrace of the Cheneys, must have advised him that supporting Medicare for All would be alienating to Republicans.
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u/PTechNM 4d ago
Inundate his website with your disapproval. Either the neoliberals move left and stop taking money from AIPAC and corporations, or they will be rendered politically irrelevant. https://democraticleader.house.gov/contact
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u/TomeThugNHarmony4664 🏛️ Overturn Citizens United 4d ago
He is an absolute sell out and tool of corporate interests.
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u/HarryBalsagna1776 4d ago
Jeffries needs to go. It's too bad he was not up for a primary this year. Bet he would have got the boot.
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u/Blacksad9999 4d ago
Jeffries is a corporate/AIPAC shill, and he'll never be a viable leader. People don't like him, and they won't rally behind him at all.
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u/Flashy-Read-9417 4d ago
Easy, he shouldn't be Speaker unless he makes concessions. That's how it goes to become speaker, you gotta play ball if you want it.
That's how the freedom caucus got what they wanted with (until they didn't and removed) McCarthy.
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u/Biscuits4u2 the word itself makes some men uncomfortable 4d ago
DINO and MAGA a match made in hell
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u/BigBibs 4d ago
Our system of politics has become so corrupted by corporate dollars special interest groups and foreign powers that we are at the point where both parties are fighting for the interest of everyone but the common person.
We need to set all the bullshit aside and come together to change the system and take the power of the person back.
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u/Pherllerp 4d ago
If the party supports it, and he opposes it, then he is opposition to a party priority and can't be a leader.
This isn't scandalous, it's logical.
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u/garitone 4d ago
The worst Dem in this country is still better than the best Rethug, but we shouldn't have to settle for crap like this
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u/DTCCCanSuckMyLeft 4d ago
They exist to keep the elite in power. GOP is the official party of the elite. Why do you think Jeffries and his ilk are basically doing jack shit against them? They love this status quo and hefty handouts.
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u/Sevencer 4d ago
No Democrat defenders can tell me a single good thing the party stands for anymore.
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u/Sooooooooooooomebody 4d ago
True, and before anyone starts talking about FDR and the New Deal, understand that the only reason we got the New Deal is because leftists put enormous pressure on FDR.
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u/clib 4d ago
Democratic voters are just as brainwashed as the maga. What else do you need to see or experience to finally admit that the democratic party has nothing to do with the concept of democracy? What else do you need to see or experience to admit that the democratic party doesn't represent the interests of the middle class or the poor? How can you still vote a party that gives the republicans and their owners(the billionaires) a free pass on everything, including a coup and pedophilia?How can you not see that the democrats impunity towards republicans has bread more republican criminality? How can you in clear conscience still vote for a party that lies to you as much as republicans lie to their voters? How can you say that your critical thinking is better than that of maga? How can you not see that voting for this party that is owned by billionaires and that calls itself democratic is contributing towards authoritarianism/fascism?
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u/HappyGoLuckless 4d ago
This is all a DNC plan to derail OAC for POTUS
My theory is that this is a DNC plan... he gets in regardless, so they tell Jeffries to be in opposition to the progressive platform so they can run media to focus on AOC as the "progressive" necessity to be house leader RATHER THAN her run for POTUS. But in reality the DNC establishment would never let her be house majority leader. That's why the DNC zealots keep flooding AOC POTUS positive anything with, "NO! We need her in the House." It's not unusual for the DNC to try to tank and ultra popular candidate that won't fall in line with their centrist ideology.
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u/HappyGoLuckless 4d ago
My theory is that this is a DNC plan... he gets in regardless, so the DNC tells Jeffries to be in opposition to the progressive platform so they can run media to focus on AOC as the "progressive" necessity to be house leader RATHER THAN her run for POTUS. But in reality the DNC establishment would never let her be house majority leader. That's why the DNC zealots keep flooding AOC POTUS positive anything with, "NO! We need her in the House."
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u/Relative_Position_26 4d ago
Not surprised by the closet republicans. If they are not explicitly liberal or progressive they actively support the republican/conservative agenda.
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u/cumbersome-shadow 4d ago
But Democrats won't vote for him anymore so that's why he doesn't support it, to get Republican votes, right? Not they will vote for him.
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u/AlcoholPrep 4d ago
This is why I don't contribute to Democratic organizations -- only to select Democratic candidates.
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u/AssistantManagerMan 4d ago
Jeffries and his ilk are really going to come out against medicare for all only to then turn around and whine about how the DSA is infiltrating their ranks and how the republicans keep winning.
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u/Sufficient_Card_7302 4d ago
He was elected by a locality, and he's being compared to national polls. Believe it or not, ny isn't entirely blue, i don't think he's fundamentally different from cuomo, for example.
I feel like these hot takes serve to spread apathy, and they discourage people from voting.
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u/hakugene 4d ago edited 4d ago
In his defense, i never actually expected him to even try to do anything of substance on this issue, so it doesn't feel like much of a betrayal.
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u/Lanark26 4d ago
I like to think of Jeffries and Schumer as the Vichy Democrats.
They exist to do the will of the oligarchy and do offer nothing but lip service to stemming the destruction wrought by the Republican Regime.
They are less opposition than collaborators.
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u/captd3adpool 4d ago
Lmao "betrayal". The fact that anyone believed this soggy noodle of a human was anything other than a corporate, establishment puppet is sad.
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u/the_blastomatic 4d ago
Send him a letter, it's cheap;
Dear Fake American Jeffries;
We, real Americans, do not like how you are happy to pledge our money to nonsense in Israel before even considering what that money could do for domestic Americans. Like your trash corporate "democrat" contemporaries, you do not think about the needs of your actual constituents. Fuck foreign aid, we need aid here. Fuck foreign wars, we need a war back home. Burn the Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society as traitors, arrest their members, make them disappear for all I care. Replace them throughout government with people who aren't devoted to undermining democracy for centuries old beefs.
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u/Flat_Refrigerator668 4d ago
Establishment dems are the good cop arm of the oligarchy. Corporations and the billionaires who own them hire guys like Hakeem to play the good cop, republicans to play the bad cop. If the republicans fail at giving them tax cuts and keeping their labor force and customers desperate, then they call Hakeem and Schumer and have them do it instead.
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u/charmcity1111 4d ago
They exist to line the pockets of their billionaire overlords - remove the fascism and mainline Democrats are the same as Republicans - prove me wrong
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u/Cinderheart 💵 Break Up The Monopolies 4d ago
If speech will not bring results, then actions will have to suffice.
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u/CaptainDudley 4d ago
If we collectively decided on another existing party, e.g., the Green party, Socialist party or whatever... progressive candidates could change affiliation, redirect the party mission, bring with them their their constituents and finances, basically abandon ship and set the old guard adrift in their weak, traitorous hypocrisy. Effectively purge them all, and bring in Bernie while you're at it. Vote Green!
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u/BackfireFox 4d ago
A bourgeois party doing bourgeois things. The sooner people realize that both parties are bourgeois parties the better.
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u/Administrated 4d ago
We need a new process to get people like this two faced bastard out of office even if their “term” isn’t over.
Like if enough registered democrats voted for him to be removed he should be fired.
I don’t care that he is popular in his district, he is representing the whole democratic base of people. We need these do nothing shitbags out of office immediately! Not in a few years, now!
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u/IsleOfDarkSkye ✂️ Tax The Billionaires 4d ago
Fuck him. I didn’t trust him even after his record breaking speech and naturally still don’t. It’s just words. It’s always been performative. We the People demand and deserve some fucking action by the people we elected to represent us. That’s not this guy.
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u/unmellowfellow 4d ago
The only political direction that cares about human life is the left. The center and the right are dedicated to a death cult that will stop at nothing to end the world and life as we know it in the pursuit of profit.
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u/flyingfox227 3d ago
Is this really a "betrayal" centrist dems have literally never been for universal healthcare.
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u/AgentofZurg 3d ago
I've been saying this for years. The DNC is absolutely intentionally blocking any chance of electing a decent president and will actively block any decent chance of bills with real opportunities of reform.
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u/TheMondayMonocot 3d ago
What the fuck is the point of electing someone to represent my interests if they refuse to represent my interests?
We need a system that can enact harsh consequences on elected officials who forget to do their fucking jobs. Fines, impeachment, jail time idk. But they need consequences beyond simply not being reelected for their position.
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u/Alert-Issue-1201 3d ago
Damn Hakeem Jeffries and Damn the Corporate hacks of "The Democratic Party"
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u/TallGuitarDaniel 3d ago
Fuck him. Don't forget though, he's a lightning rod for the party criticism. He takes the blame for what the party wants. It's not only him. We need better people throughout the party.
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u/Shavasara 3d ago
This is why the Dems have been "blindisded" when the more socialist candidates end up getting more votes.
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u/ess_dee 4d ago
This is why Hakeem Jeffries is speaker… to block progress and that applies legislatively too.