Knowing EC, it's very much the latter. In fact I suspect you should expect to be called a genocide supporter by them. Since you have dared not say something horrible about Biden.
I think that's a no true Scotsman kind of thing. Biden has done plenty of progressive policies. He's forgiven billions in student loan debt (and wanted to forgive more but R courts are political), he's passed infrastructure, and he's also passed some bills to keep the cost of medicine down.
Could he do more? Sure. If voters showed up at the midterms and gave him a D house, he could have done more. But they didn't.
Way too often, people let perfect be the enemy of good. Biden is good, not perfect.
Biden passed comprehensive student loan forgiveness, and it was struck down by the supreme court for bullshit reasons. He's using the mechanisms of government that he can control.
No I didn't forget. But that's not what you were talking about. You were talking about the student loans forgiven during Biden's term. That's being done under the PSLF program signed into law by G.W. Bush in 2007.
They did use them as best they could. They were hamstrung by a filibustering Senate, and two conservative Democrat senators (Sinema and Manchin) who refused to support getting rid of it, making killing the proposition of killing the filibuster DOA. As a result, their only choice to pass legislation was budget reconciliation, which aren't subject to filibuster. The issue is that reconciliation has several big limits:
The bill has to be related to government spending, revenue, and the debt ceiling. You can't toss in things like minimum wage increases or voting rights legislation.
You can only pass one of these bills per year (theoretically you can do more, but additional reconciliation bills have to go through the budgrt committee and with a 50/50 senate the GOP can just skip those meetings to deny quorum and keep it stuck)
Whatever passes still has to get at least 50 votes, which means either appeasing Manchin/Sinema or getting Republican votes (which ain't gonna happen)
And despite that, we still got the CHIPS act, an infrastructure bill, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which--even with Manchinema throwing as many grenades in the process as they could get away with--was the biggest climate change bill in our country's history. Not perfect, no, but a sizable step in the right direction, for once.
Billionaires are richer than ever. Housing is more expensive than ever. Food is more expensive than ever. Healthcare is more expensive than ever. Education is more expensive than ever. The planet is hotter than ever.
Are you referring to the pretty rainbow flags that McDonald's hangs once a year? Or the BLM posters in the middle of a gated community with all white residents?
I can be out and not fear for my life. I can even marry. My partner now only rarely gets "gook" or "chink" yelled at them.
99.8% of the time when this stuff comes out of folks it's because they are white and heterosexual and usually male.
For people secure in their white, hetero-normative privilege it's understandable that they only care about things that affect them... and there isn't all that much that affects them directly. But the truth is this is a VERY different world here in the US than when I was growing up. It's now a world that despite the noise from the MAGA crowd I can exist comfortably and securely as opposed to having to hide in a closet.
Whenever I have this discussion with folks who aren't gay or trans or BIPOC, it never occurs to them that there is a difference. Universally it turns out that since they aren't affected by these huge cultural shifts, they also don't look at the changes that make life easier for other groups. The simple fact that federal workers now have a $15 minimum wage means that a number of my peers now are not starving working for public lands agencies. That a number of labor laws have been enacted (including recently the non-compete thing) that makes discrimination against protected groups doesn't affect people like you because you are not typically discriminated against. In some cases the pandemic relief for you folks was just a nice bonus to spend on luxuries, not groceries. The grants for schools didn't matter because if you have kids they go to nice schools already.
I'm not going to argue with you - it's impossible. But please understand that your incredibly narrow view of the world is not shared by those who have experienced this seismic shift over the last 2-3 decades.
Ok. You're telling me this is incremental progress because what you've gained is worth more than everything else that's gotten worse. Fine. I'll accept that in the context of this conversation.
How much more expensive does housing, education, healthcare and food have to get before we can focus on it?
How hot does the planet have to get before we can focus on it?
When do we stop focusing on a specific experience someone has because of their race, gender or whatever else because the overall experience of everyone has gotten so bad we need to address it?
Nice. I can't even see your goal posts any more. You went from "there has been NO progress" to "well there has only been progress that matters to you". Despite the fact that I literally pointed out instances where things have gotten better for many groups of people.
I said there has been no incremental progress and I stand by that because personally setting what you've described against higher housing costs, education, food and healthcare along with rising temperatures means we are all worse off including you.
Don't confuse my willingness to set aside my own personal perspectives as moving the goal posts. Us arguing over who's right there isn't going to result in anything productive and you know it. So I set aside my personal perspectives and asked you to expand on yours.
Your response suggests you've never actually thought about it.
Billionaires are richer than ever. Housing is more expensive than ever. Food is more expensive than ever. Education is more expensive than ever. The planet is hotter than ever.
Thanks to everybody who didn't vote Dem.
Healthcare is more expensive than ever.
Not for people who have Obamacare vs before Obamacare.
Yeah this "you're throwing a tantrum because you didn't get everything you wanted" is rich coming from the people who got Joe Biden elected in the 2020 primaries. It's pure projection on their part. They would throw a tantrum if they didn't get everything they wanted. The moment progressives start dominating primaries these people will stop showing up to vote in the general election.
It's pure ego. They've built their personality around being "the good guys" compared to Republicans so when someone comes along and says "we need to do more" it's a crisis for them. They can't let anyone accomplish more than they did because it would force them to admit they became complacent.
Democrat voting Boomers are still Boomers at the end of the day. Selfish pieces of shit.
Yeah this “you’re throwing a tantrum because you didn’t get everything you wanted” is rich coming from the people who got Joe Biden elected in the 2020 primaries.
How do you know that? I voted Bernie and I think you're throwing a tantrum.
They would throw a tantrum if they didn’t get everything they wanted.
I voted Bernie. Not throwing a tantrum. I'm thrilled that Biden is the most progressive president since LBJ if not FDR.
That’s EXACTLY what they do. Every four years. The Bernie bros did the same thing in 2016, and again in 2020. And these clowns think they’re pulling some new grassroots movement. They have no idea that they’re already considered to be non voters.
They’re doing nothing. And by that I mean, they’re doing a LOT more nothing than even they think they are. Their little “protest” is completely meaningless.
Unless their intent is to get trump elected, and for some- this is the case.
The Bernie bros did the same thing in 2016, and again in 2020. And these clowns think they’re pulling some new grassroots movement.
A greater percentage of Sanders supporters voted for Clinton than Clinton supporters voted for Obama. Clinton supporters formed a PAC to get McCain elected.
They’re doing nothing. And by that I mean, they’re doing a LOT more nothing than even they think they are. Their little “protest” is completely meaningless.
Since they can be safely ignored, why aren't you ignoring them?
Unless their intent is to get trump elected, and for some- this is the case.
Why do centrists pretend that those to their left are all the way to their right?
Maybe 2024 is the year people realize you can't shame voters to the polls. 2016 should've been the year that lesson was learned, but alas, here we are.
The party that sues to keep 3rd parties off the ballot, is a private corporation that can select their own candidates, and gives voters no choice but their hand selected candidate is the party of democracy?
is a private corporation that can select their own candidates
You want the Republicans and Democrats to be public corporations? The Democratic charter has specified since the 1950's that voters chose the candidates.
Nope. A lawyer argued to win his court case that the DNC could legally CHANGE their own bylaws to abolish primaries. Which is technically true. The RNC can also do that due to the lack of government regulation.