" #Democrats deliver ‘stunning’ flip in New Hampshire special election, latest in series of 28 upsets"

[a_minion@mastodon.social]

@benroyce @fathermcgruder I still find it funny in the 60's Mamdani would have been considered as Middle Left, On the ballot was UBI, and the Party head of the American Communist party was in the race. Even some of the Right supported civil rights for all, that included LBGTQIA and Trans, nobody cared about Drag Queens. Now tell me we have moved to far to the Left.

[davoyager@mastodon.social]

@benroyce Yeah there are bots everywhere. I'm just saying there are fewer. Threads and X are flooded with them

[fathermcgruder@jorts.horse]

@benroyce No, that is shill logic. Votes must be earned. No candidate, especially from a party that is barely a party, is entitled to anyone's vote.

[bbuck@mastodon.social]

@miss_rodent @benroyce
You’re so good at luring an old guy into a party that’s not a party yet. Thanks so much for your help. Mamdani is a lighthouse beacon that I will easily follow. There are many sparks of candidates I like. But currently there is one party that can defeat MAGA, especially with the Trump administration imploding. And it’s not the Mamdani Party.

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@fathermcgruder

There *is* something entitled to your vote:

Your society

You're not trans or an immigrant etc so Trump's malice doesn't threaten you

So you are privileged to play silly games like "teach dems a lesson" and allow your society to go to shit. Because it doesn't affect you (or you're too stupid to realize it affects you)

Centrist dems aren't listening to your "lesson." Not voting means you don't care

You have to show up and *replace* centrist dems in the primaries

#vote

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@bBuck @miss_rodent

Mamdani ran on the Working Families Party line

And the Democratic Party line

REST OF COMMENT WIPED OUT DUE TO ME BEING A PUNCH DRUNK IDIOT

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@davoyager agreed. There are less

[bbuck@mastodon.social]

@benroyce @miss_rodent
Sure. Blame it on the old guy. Maybe the Odd nonbinary lunatic squirrel thing wants to take a different approach in trying to get all of us onboard.

[jbluespruce@mstdn.social]

@benroyce @fathermcgruder Agree completely with Ben. Leftists didn’t like Hubert Humphrey in 1968 because he was too connected to Johnson’s escalation of the Vietnam War, so we got 8 years of Nixon, more escalation, more body bags, Cointelpro, murdered Black Panthers etc. Leftists didn’t like Al Gore in 2000, so we got 8 years of GWB, two devastating wars, a broken economy, John Roberts and Sam Alito, inaction on climate change…1/

[miss_rodent@girlcock.club]

@bBuck @benroyce NY elections have rules that allow a candidate to run for multiple parties at once, without splitting the vote and having a spoiler effect. National elections do not have this.
So, on the federal level, and in most states, yes, the dems are the only ones that can meaningfully challenge the republicans right noww.
But at the local level, things can be more complicated, and a lot of people register for parties based on local concerns rather than national ones.

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@bBuck @miss_rodent

COMMENT EDITED DUE TO ME BEING A PUNCH DRUNK IDIOT

[miss_rodent@girlcock.club]

@benroyce @bBuck I am not certain he meant to be antagonistic? I didn't read his comment as such, at least - either way, I checked his timeline before replying, I don't think he has anything against nonbinary people.
I call myself a "thing" in my bio - he was quoting my description directly.

[jbluespruce@mstdn.social]

@benroyce @fathermcgruder Leftists didn’t like Hillary in 2016 or Kamala in 2024…see the pattern? These were all close elections. If we had won even 1 of them, everyone’s lives would have been better, and leftists would have had more space to push for change. Now we are fighting to survive. And millions of people all over the globe are dead who would still be alive.

Voting is harm reduction at worst, transformative at best. There’s nothing evil about reducing harm.2/

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@miss_rodent @bBuck ok cool

Sorry

[fathermcgruder@jorts.horse]

@benroyce Dude you don't know anything about me or how or why I vote. That you assume I see voting or not-voting as a means stick it to someone or something reveals your own faulty understanding or disregard of material reality. If Democrats want leftists to vote for them, they just have to run candidates that clear some very low bars. These votes are much easier to get than those from conservatives.

[fathermcgruder@jorts.horse]

@benroyce Of course, losing campaigns still pay very well, as demonstrated by Kamala's. It's questionable that they really want to win sometimes.

[bbuck@mastodon.social]

@benroyce @miss_rodent
No worries. My dad was a civics teacher in high school. I know very well how messy politics can be. It was also very difficult to skip school.

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@bBuck @miss_rodent i apologize. I'm punch drunk. I deal with too many trolls

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@fathermcgruder

you get left candidates by showing up in the primaries and voting then in

centrist dems will learn nothing from low turnout. they represent the people who show up to vote. who are centrist dems

this idea that not voting convinces anyone of anything is a troll psyop from right wingers or geopolitical forces

the idea not voting does anything except tweak an entitled selfish perfectionist's ego- and help MAGA win, is a form of stupidity or insanity i find hard to understand

[jbluespruce@mstdn.social]

@benroyce @fathermcgruder After 50 years of activism and all of these disappointments, I have stopped looking to electoral politics as the main focus for transformative change. That comes from organizing in communities. Forcing elected officials to do the right thing. If you vote for the right people, they’re more likely to give in to the demands of communities, or do the least to block them. So I vote for the best possible available candidate and keep organizing. 3/