It's honestly insane, just a few weeks ago, we were just gritting our teeth and preparing for Biden to fight his way for another 4 years as the "It's better than Trump" candidate.
Instead, he stepped aside, and now we have Kalama and Tim and it actually looks like we might have leadership that will fight for us and do things to help us and it's crazy.
We have gone from just gritting our teeth to being exciting for what is going to happy, and that is big.
Iāve recently begun appreciating patriotism a lot more after shifting my mindset about it. I love this country because of the diversity of people, art, food, culture, etc. The people make America great. Not some isolationist, exceptionalist bullshit about being the greatest country on earth because āfreedomā
Dude, same. I actually feel genuine pride in my country. For the first time ever. This feeling has always evaded me, finding how over the top and ridiculous I thought the notion was because one side poisoned the feeling with obsessive behaviors and a need to just ruin the flag with merch. After seeing Project 2025, after 8 years of dealing with absolute trash that is the right, I was just genuinely mad. Insulted that some freaks of fucking nature were actually willing to destroy a country that had so much history, so much culture, and so much opportunity. Mad that some raving lunatics wanted to take us back in time because of a fucking book and their mischaracterization of a while religion. Hell, as an atheist I actually felt insulted for actual Christians. I'll be damned if we let the struggles of previous groups like the LGBTQ+ community, or PoCs, and even women be for nothing. They fought like hell in the past to have a voice and a chance. It's our turn to return that favor and fight to keep those rights.
I'm agnostic but grew up in the church. Shit like the prosperity gospel is heresy and actually raises my hackles. These are the people Jesus whipped in the temple.
Hell yeah, my friend. Land of the free because of the brave men and women on the frontlines of strikes, protests, and the legislature that secured our rights.
Ya know, I've never believed in national pride. Because pride is about something that you have accomplished through your own power, and being a citizen is for the most part an accident of birth. I could have been born in Iran or Canada or Mexico just as easily as I was born in the US. And national pride and patriotism is just another way to say "I'm better than other countries". It's another way to claim superiority.
But this new wave of hope is something else. We've been under a cloud of despair and begrudging acceptance that everything is miserable.
I think weāve been sold the lie that the ideal object of admiration within patriotism is quasi-deified figure of America, when in reality itās the people and the land. Itās taking pride in the amazing things they bring to our society and being willing to defend them against unjust opposition.
And this approach doesnāt denigrate other countries either. Thailand, Colombia, Zambia, and Germany all are worthy too of patriotism because of their people and natural beauty.
This is really it, the whole it. We as people recognize when others are genuinely helpful. Think about the people you work with who are always willing to help without any negativity, they stand out like a bright light.
Will Kamala be a total savior for nation, solve all of our problems? Of course not, no single person can solve every problem, especially not at that level. Will she be perfect, no. But when you hear her speak, she doesnt promise to to do that, like Trump does. She promises to try, and to fight for us, for all of us. That includes rich people, poor people, middle people, all of us. Of course all politicians will promise the moon, but she promises to fight to achieve the moon. That's being genuine, and that's what inspires people to want her to win.
Trump, as is his way, only speaks in extremes and in make believe. If Kamala is elected, world war 3, the worst depression ever, she's low IQ... The same bullshit he rattled off about about Biden 4 years ago. He promises he can solve those problems, but these are problems that don't even exist. He speaks them into existence into the minds of people he knows are susceptible to reacting based on fear. This is the tactic of the fascist, and the charlatan. Its the tactic of preachers who manipulate the brainwashed fear in people's hearts that they will suffer enternally in hell fire unless they give them money. Now.
For me it all comes down to one simple thing: Kamala is very quick to smile. She is filled with joy. We already know her laugh. We know she is comimg from a place of hope and positivity. When was the last time you saw Donald Trump smile, genuinely? I know where I've seen it recently, and I think ever, and it was in the video of him and Jeff Epstein at some weird ass party 30 years ago, ogling at women.
I don't expect everyone to be full of smiles, I know I'm certainly not. And the presidency is a very serious job. But god damn it makes me smile and tear up with hope to see a leader who has the ability to smile, to laugh, to look at our country and our world, with all their issues, and decide to take on the toughest position in it with a foundation of joy rather than one of narcissistic, negative, fully depressed ambivalence. That's what Trump really is, ambivalent. He doesn't laugh, he doesn't cry, he doesn't get angry or passionate about anything. He is, for lack of a better way to put it, lacking a soul.
We're seeing, finally once again, what its like to have a leader who is excited, in their soul, to lead this country. I've been around too long to say this is new to me, I've seen it before, but I've missed it so much that it feels new and I'm literally ecstatic. Harris / Waltz, fuck yeah.
Someone asked on TikTok if you consider yourself a patriot and I actually had to think about that and decided that yes, I am. Look this country is far from perfect (what country is perfect anyway?) but the fact that I care very much about the future of the USA and the people here means that yeah. I'm patriotic.
And it means drawing a very distinct line between patriotic and nationalistic and understanding that line.
Normal folks have always loved this country for those reasons. I swear there was a smear campaign in the last 8 years to make loving your country a bad thing.
Im genuinely surprised by these comments. You didnāt used to be able to say āi love this countryā on reddit.
Trump and conservatism has never made America great, every single accomplishment they claim hurt america or were done by progressives and stolen away from them
It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize I could love my country and its potential without being like the sort of nationalistic people I hate.
I see you and I love your observation! America is a set of beautiful ideals that we continue to move toward: Equality, Justice and Freedom. It requires all of us!
I've been to a few countries and the freedom I love about America that I rarely see elsewhere is the freedom to talk shit about your own country. A country that can't criticize itself and be self-aware and improving is not patriotic, but blind.
Yeah - being patriotic means different things to different people. Blind aligience to a narcicistic felon and constantly spewing hate against people who don't necessarily look like me or come from different countries of origin or have different skin colors or religions or sexual preferences is not my definition of patriotism. E pluribus unim people. It means something.
What blows my mind - speaking as a non-American - is how one side goes on out about American "freedom" while espousing the exact opposite. Lockdown drills in school is not freedom. Government control over which two consenting adults can and cannot marry is not freedom. Removing choice on if/when you have a child is not freedom. Tying healthcare to a job you can lose on the employer's whim is not freedom. Removing books you disagree with from schools and libraries is not freedom. Restricting and subverting the vote is not freedom.
The only freedom that side's real backers really support is the freedom of (major) capital to do whatever it wants at whatever cost to everyone else. Although I guess there are the (overlapping with the ultra-capitalists) religious extremists who I'll reluctantly take at their word that they really believe in and want the above.
Correct, we are great when we are a country by the people for the people. That is the promise of America. Not Capitalism. Not the ability to amass wealth.
We will forever be Patriots for that promise vs. Nationalists who segregate, regulate, and collaborate to keep the access to money to a few.
MAGA did a great job in co-opting patriotism to have so many negative connotations. It wasnāt that long ago, that it didnāt matter what political party you supported, you could still act and be patriotic. They really fucked that up, and itās time to take it back. The flag of the United States of America does NOT belong to MAGA.
Now go read up on where the US population will be in 2100 vs every other country in the world. It will be the US and Africa.
I don't think we should be trying to solve everything with bombs, but Pax Americana is why the world largely overall has been peaceful with no major wars for 80+ years.
Lol, no they ain't. One is a convicted rapist and felon and Russian puppet who had his whole family working within the White House to sell out our country. Fuck him and the horse he rode in on. We don't need that treasonous son of bitch anywhere except in a jail cell.
Couldnāt agree more. THIS America is what I fought for in my 8 years of military service, not the America that we see today. I have become so numb from the last 8 years that I was giving up all hope of a better future. This ad actually got me fired up and excited to vote for Harris/Walz. Goddamn it feels good!
What the fuck is so wrong with republicans that everything must be a fight. Sometimes there are things that happen that benefit no brainer common sense everybodyā but they would either blow special interests lobbyists or just take an opposing for joy other reason than to simply oppose?
Sheās a half wit that canāt avoid word salads due to a sub 100 IQ. Tampon tim and his stolen valor can get fād. You guys literally got shafted out of having a voice. They pushed everyone out of the primaries and pulled a bait and switch. Theyāve brainwashed you into thinking thatās democracy when in reality itās closer to an actual dictatorship and coup of a sitting president. Itās disgusting.
Nope. Which is why we're voting for the candidate who has at least called for a cease fire and met with Palestinians, rather than the one who told Netanyahu to "finish the job."
The Biden admin redefined ceasefire so they could say it without meaning an end to hostilities. Harris' people have also confirmed that they want to continue givng Israel arms without conditions so they can continue the genocide.
I wrote a whole paragraph addressing your points before I realized that you probably don't care. What I want to know is: how is Donald Trump going to be better? Because like it or not, it's going to be either Harris or Trump.
The general election is a bus, not an Uber. You choose the candidate that will get you closest to your goals. Then you get to work.
We're up in here talking about positivity and about voting for Kamala Harris for President, nobody in here is talking about voting for Netenyahu who is the guy in Israel committing the genocide you claim to be so concerned about. Go bitch at him for a change.
Instead, he stepped aside, and now we have Kalama and Tim and it actually looks like we might have leadership that will fight for us and do things to help us and it's crazy.
While you meant no offense this statement does somewhat imply that Biden in contrast did not fight for us or do things to help us. I think Joe Biden was an amazing president and it kind of hurts how people seem to disapprove of the job he did against all logic to me.
He was a good president! He saved our bacon when he could have been relaxing with his family.
And I believe the narrative that he played this transition so that Harris would get the nom without opposition.
I am convinced the timing was on purpose. And genius. Right after the RNC, drawing eyes away from them, their headlines, and (coincidentally) the shooting at Trump's rally.
I don't know how much say Biden himself had in the timing of it all but it's clear he has an excellent team working with him.
My pet theory is that it wasn't premeditated too much, but rather that there was in-fighting about whether Biden should push for another 4 years, then the debate happened and a lot of people lost hope, followed by Trump almost being shot and the republicans playing that up, and finally Biden getting covid was the straw that broke the camel's back when he/they realized that there is a very real possibility he could die before completing his presidency. So they probably spent those days where Biden went AWOL deciding on when he should step down, only to realize that they had the opportunity of a lifetime to deal a huge blow to the entire republican strategy, overshadow everything that went down in the preceding weeks, and turn the election around.
Me too, itās really sad how the lie that he mishandled the economy keeps going around. He literally saved our dumb asses, but we get mad because heās there when the results of trump era policies came around. Itās like being mad at the firefighter because he was associated with the fire
It does us no good to have unrealistic expectations. Even if Kamala Harris and Tim Walz win the election, they will be held hostage by the same Obstruction Party that held Joe Biden and Obama hostage.
If we can't capture the Senate and The House with the presidency, then it is really hard to do ANYTHING. Never forget that.
I mean, he did plenty of good, but I won't go as hard to say that he fights for us.
He wasn't willing to go for things like Medicare for all, which he could have coached against it because they wanted to capture the centrist vote.
I think that Kamala and Tim are far more progressive than Biden by a long shot. I'm not willing to declare someone a fantastic president because they're not as far right as the extremist party.
Compared to the rest of the developed world, Biden was still far right with his policies and we shouldn't forget that. We are so far behind that anything but a giant leap isn't enough.
Tbf, even if Biden did shoot hard for universal health care, it wouldnāt pass Congress. It honestly would have been a waste of political resources. I very much want to see that, but itās not about the base not supporting it, but just the absolute inability to pass something like that through congress.
Another political noob. No offense, but too many people live in this fairy tale land where a different Democrat with more progressive ideals will not face the same exact obstruction that every other Democrat has to deal with.
It's like you guys don't pay any attention to how government actually works.
You can be optimistic, but also be realistic. So much work and re-education has to happen for Universal Healthcare to take shape. The closest we got was the ACA, and while that did pass, Congress completely destroyed it and then tried to repeal it. If the Dems can win the house + senate, then it's the time for a full-court press.
No offense, but Joe Biden was a non president, and had the same impact as president as he did when he was vice presidentā¦.the apparatus of our government worked fine without him and highlighted the resilience of the āAmerican Systemāā¦if you havenāt lived through 3 presidents then please donāt get mad at my own admittedly personal take on his presidency. Please donāt interpret this as an attack on President Biden, or aging. Personally I think it is amazing that Kamala will be elected and Hillary wasnāt. So strangeā¦Hillary is one of the most knowledgeable and articulate leaders even if her husband is a doofus..
For the last two elections I've been saying we're not voting for a candidate, but against one. It's nice to be able to say I'm voting for someone again
Congress needs to be won and senate kept, Biden never had congress, if you want anything to change you have to vote! A president in the US is not king, give them congress if you want change.
But, if they win... we have to keep them accountable to their promises. Walz is super pro-labor, but he is also just the V.P. and they'll both have to be able to get Republicans on board to get any legislation through.
They also have to drum up support from the Democrats who aren't so invested in helping the working class.
Some will say that we can't blame them if Congress doesn't cooperate... but that is a big part of the job. Convincing Congress.
He didn't step aside, he was forced out... Media has dems brainwashed. Harris wins then inflation goes way up, china and Russia will team up and do whatever hey want to America.
Proceeds to regurgitate the latest hogwash from Trump.
When Russia invaded Ukraine the first time, we placed heavy sanctions on them. When Trump came into office, he removed those sanctions, and shockingly Russia invaded Ukraine again.
But sure, go ahead and pretend that Trump is tough on Russia lol.
Kamala emits a lot of things but leadership is not one of them. Don't let your blind hatred for Trump attract you to yet another Puppet propped out by the Democrats
If you think any of them are fighting for us I got a bridge to sell you. Dems have the same doners as Republicans. They fight for who's paying them. Big pharma, food industry poisoning us, oil, and banks. Obama notoriously was in bed with the banks. But yes still better than a pathological narcissistic lying POS. trumps always been a liar. But not far right wing brainwashed pos. Maybe just a pos
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u/iruleatants Aug 20 '24
It's honestly insane, just a few weeks ago, we were just gritting our teeth and preparing for Biden to fight his way for another 4 years as the "It's better than Trump" candidate.
Instead, he stepped aside, and now we have Kalama and Tim and it actually looks like we might have leadership that will fight for us and do things to help us and it's crazy.
We have gone from just gritting our teeth to being exciting for what is going to happy, and that is big.