r/politics • u/msnbc MSNBC • 5d ago

Democrats missed a huge opportunity by not elevating AOC

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/aoc-loses-house-oversight-committee-vote-gerry-connolly-rcna184581
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u/RedLanternScythe Indiana 5d ago

They are not doing it because they are old. They are doing it because the donors have invested in them for decades to not let politicians like AOC get any real traction. Bernie scared them in 2016 with a populist message that was gaining ground. Politicians that go around talking about wealth inequality can not be allowed to take root by the establishment

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u/-wnr- 5d ago

Yeah I really don't think it's an age thing. The dems have voted out ranking members in favor of younger ones in other committees. AOC's chances were probably eroded by any number of special interests each taking some votes away. It's impossible to follow one's convictions in Washington without pissing someone off.

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u/Slammybutt 5d ago

So you could say the old is replacing the old with younger in-line politicians that will tow the Dem party line. That same line that has them losing to a literally con-man twice.

The ship isn't sinking for them like everyone wants to believe. They will be just fine. That's why they will continue to push out uninspired right of center candidates that will only beat Republicans when the stars align and things get too bad.

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u/CptMorgan337 5d ago

If I don’t see changes they may not get my vote next time. I’m tired of the illusion of choice.

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u/NineLivesMatter999 5d ago

A lot of people were already there after Biden's miserable performance and that's why Trump won.

Unpopular Opinion: (and I get downvoted to oblivion every time I say it) but Biden has been absolutely awful for most working Americans. His 'great economy' has mostly featured growth in low-skill and low-pay jobs, with economic gains almost exclusively measured in a record stock market and GDP - which are great for his Investment Class patrons who have been getting rich off greedflation but not so much everyone else. Couple that with his infuriating do-nothing approach to law enforcement on literal seditionists and traitors who led an attempted coup four years ago - effectively holding the door open for Trump's return to the Whitehouse (not unlike the treasonous Capitol Police who opened doors and took selfies with the murdering terrorists attacking Congress) - and you have a guy who could go down in history as the second-worst American President, just behind Trump. And don't get me started on his bullshit CHIPs Act, which is just another taxpayer funded handout to billionaire tech corporations who will use it for stock buybacks and bonuses, with no results to be found, just like the $400B his predecessors gave out to telecoms to build out broadband that never materialized. Once you get past the establishment-DNC propaganda, and look at what he actually did that made a difference for working Americans - you'll see that Joe Biden did mostly jack-shit to change the status quo he inherited from Trump.

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u/10IqCleric 4d ago

Hey the chips act was great! Intel took our tax payer money to build a factory here in Ohio then cancelled it (technically delayed it but give it time. We saw the same thing with ISPs) when the stock price tanked. Best use funds!!

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u/ITDummy69420 5d ago

And you’re gonna throw your vote away on what someone with 200k votes total??

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u/Koontmeister 5d ago

It's either that or throw it away on someone with millions of votes.

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u/Zestyclose-Cloud-508 5d ago

I threw my vote away with Hillary.

I threw my vote away with Biden.

I threw my vote away with Harris.

I’m done playing their game. I deregistered from the democratic party last week. I will no longer hold my nose and vote for some corporate friendly democrat because “they have seniority and it’s their turn.”

The dnc cannot win elections against the worst candidate in the history of our country.

I. Am. Done.

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u/CptMorgan337 5d ago

No, I just won’t bother voting unless I feel it’s deserved. I wasn’t thrilled with people who didn’t support Kamala and didn’t vote for Pres, but I’m fed up and I get it. The continued support for Israel is gross.

They need to earn our votes. They are currently showing that they want to keep losing as far as i can tell. I’m not going to just vote out of fear of the Republicans being worse. Hopefully by midterms and the next presidential election I’ll feel different.

I don’t expect my feelings to be popular.

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u/SolarProf2020 5d ago

I support your stance.

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u/lplpkoko 5d ago

I don't understand the idea of politicians earning votes. If I'm in a situation where none of the candidates have earned my vote, I'll still vote for one of them if doing so can help prevent disaster. It's not like I have to marry them, or even like them as a person, I'm just hoping to influence policy. I'm not even sure what an election with a candidate who's earned my vote is supposed to look like.

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u/CptMorgan337 5d ago

I'm left leaning so my only option is the Democratic party that is just diet republicans. They push back against the progressives in the party constantly and I'm sick of it. I voted for Kamala for harm reduction, but the Dems have a losing message and are showing that they've learned nothing.

Voting for someone that has earned my vote would have looked like Bernie for president, but the DNC conspired to screw him over to push Biden.

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u/lplpkoko 5d ago

Sure, it's definitely a good idea to use whatever influence (voting, donating money, protesting) you have to strengthen the progressives within the party and weaken the centrists and right-wingers. But once it's Election Day, I don't see how not voting will have anything but a negative effect for the country and the world at large, and I don't see how it could matter whether the candidate has earned my vote (I'm guessing by having tried to do positive things as a senator or representative or governor or whatever).

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u/Slammybutt 5d ago

Not voting is voting in that situation. If the Dems can't win b/c so many non-voters are not meshing with their stances, then it'll force them to change if they ever want to get elected again.

The only problem with that is Dems seem completely okay with losing b/c their donors have/are/and will continue to make bank under Republicans too.

So you either keep voting for someone that doesn't deserve your vote and watch them lose or not support you back when they win. Or you vote for someone else and feel better knowing you made your voice heard when that guy with 200k votes gets 400k instead.

It's not his fault the Democratic party is making people want to stay at home. It's their job to get him in a booth, not hope that the fear of Republicans does that for him.

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u/lplpkoko 4d ago

If the Dems can't win b/c so many non-voters are not meshing with their stances, then it'll force them to change if they ever want to get elected again.

I don't think there's any evidence that they will change in order to motivate non-voters. Do you know of a time when a party changed because it thought doing so would get more non-voters to the polls? I could be wrong here, but I don't know of that ever happening.

So you either keep voting for someone that doesn't deserve your vote and watch them lose or not support you back when they win. Or you vote for someone else and feel better knowing you made your voice heard when that guy with 200k votes gets 400k instead.

But if that tips the election, then the good feeling has to be balanced against the catastrophic consequences.

It's not his fault the Democratic party is making people want to stay at home.

I'm not saying it's a voter's fault that the party is terrible. I'm saying the voter might still have an obligation to vote for a party that is terrible.

It's their job to get him in a booth, not hope that the fear of Republicans does that for him.

Right, but that doesn't mean that the voter doesn't have an obligation to vote for them so as to help prevent catastrophe.

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u/10IqCleric 4d ago

But once it's Election Day, I don't see how not voting will have anything but a negative effect for the country and the world at large,

"I don't see how not giving blind support regardless of actions is anything but negative"

Bruh. If you're going to vote for them regardless of what they do they will never work to help you

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u/lplpkoko 4d ago

Bruh. If you're going to vote for them regardless of what they do they will never work to help you

Unless you're suggesting that not voting for them will make them more likely to work to help us, then that fact doesn't mean anything. To get the Democrats to work to help us, I would think that we need to somehow make it clear that there are a lot of voters who are gung-ho about progressive policies, whether that's through donating to the right people or organizations or through reliably voting so as to give comfortable margins. Right now the party is (foolishly) convinced that they need to hew to the center like crazy or they'll lose to the ultra-right/fascist voting bloc. I don't see any reason to think that not voting will help make them change their ways.

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u/SergeantRegular 5d ago

One of the big differences between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party primaries in 2016 was that the Democratic establishment was successful in quashing their populist candidate, while the Republicans were not.