• ObjectivityIncarnate@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Reminder that he won election, and four years later re-election, in landslides, even if you go by popular vote.

    Now, there’s one thing you might have noticed I don’t complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky. They don’t pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It’s what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you’re going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain’t going to do any good; you’re just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it’s not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here… like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There’s a nice campaign slogan for somebody: ‘The Public Sucks. Fuck Hope.’

    • vga@sopuli.xyz
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      3 months ago

      Then again, also George Carlin was produced by those American things.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        1980 election results Candidate Party Electoral Votes Popular Votes ✓ Ronald Reagan Republican 489 43,901,812 Jimmy Carter (I) Democratic 49 35,483,820 John Anderson Independent 0 5,719,850 Ed Clark Libertarian 0 921,128

        Reagan did well in the Electoral College in 1980, it was a much closer race in the popular vote.

    • EnderMB@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      There is a saying in politics - “You get the politicians you deserve”.

      Americans won’t want to hear this, but you deserve Trump, Biden, Harris, the continual lack of affordable healthcare in your country, and a level of disdain for the average worker that would make many western countries’ skin crawl.

      To the right’s credit, they have usually been good at sniffing out extreme views and rallying around “their guy” across many countries/systems. The left are notoriously bad at this, and it hampers legitimate issues like those raised above because you’ll fight each other over issues that are less important than basic shit like a higher minimum wage, paid vacation that aligns with the rest of the world, universal healthcare, employment protection, etc. The system is unfair in America, but it’s unfair everywhere else, so it’s ultimately just an excuse for inaction/apathy.

      At best, it’s just a sign that the average voter doesn’t want these things. That could be an education thing, or the average person just being against others getting help, but it again points to the saying - you get what you deserve.

    • rayyy@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      The average American knows less about U.S. politics than the average drunk, laying in a gutter, in Sweden. The average American grabs a insanely false sound bite from Fox, trots off to the local bar and spreads that misinformation (bullshit to be more accurate), to his buddies all night. Democrats need to do simplistic, easy to remember sound bites, not policy discussions, to attract the average voter. This has been the Dem’s downfall.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Now calm down my friend. We can’t blame the public for such ills. Just like we can’t blame the consumer for end-stage capitalism.

      “It’s not our fault! There should be laws against such things!”, scream the downtrodden masses. The masses who vote for and finance the means of our downfall.

      “You don’t understand! We must legislate morality!”

      Funny. When we were 80s punkers we laughed aloud at notions of legislating morals. “What a waste of time you idiots!”, we laughed. Ha. Ha.