Party sticks to its guns on healthcare and says it’s willing to hold out – much to the delight of its progressive supporters

When he sat down to talk about the US government shutdown with reporters from a closely read political newsletter this week, Chuck Schumer sounded as if he was relishing his standoff with the Republicans.

“Every day gets better for us,” he told Punchbowl News. As the shutdown got under way, Schumer explained, the Republican part believed that Democrats would quickly fold and vote to reopen the government, but instead they had stuck to their guns for a week and a half, demanding an array of concessions on healthcare and other issues.

Outrage followed from Republicans, who printed out the Senate minority leader’s remark on posters and condemned it before press conferences. The shutdown has prompted federal agencies to close or curtail operations nationwide, and forced hundreds of thousands of employees to stay home without immediate pay. Schumer, Republicans argued, was being callous.

  • korazail@lemmy.myserv.one
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    14 days ago

    I’m going to expand on TrickDacy’s comment:

    Every both sideser is either extraordinarily lazy or a closeted right winger

    and instead state: It is OKAY to be mad at democratic politicians. Especially the spineless ones we have an abundance of right now. And there is certainly some rage we can all aim at the DNC as an organization, which appears to be trying to hamstring any actually progressive candidates.

    But there really isn’t a competition in the race for ‘who is most evil’ between D and R. One side is at least appearing to fight for worker rights, healthcare, equality, peace and other progressive/liberal goals. The other side is actively dismantling the government… like actively and they told us they were going to. There’s no both sides here.

    So, by ‘closeted right winger’, what I think Trick means is that anyone boldly claiming ‘both sides’ falls into one of a few categories:

    • lazy: Doesn’t “do politics” and gets their news from tiktok, fox, cnn, their buddy at work, and doesn’t put in the critical thinking to make their own decisions. “Both Sides” lets them get away with not caring enough and just moving on with life.
    • gullible: Believes they are thinking critically, but are swayed by media, social or conventional, into thinking that all politicians are shit, and if one is corrupt then they all are.
    • malicious: Knows they are being disingenuous, but knows the other categories exist. If they claim ‘both sides’ are doing something, then when one side actually gets caught doing it, the public just kinda shrugs it off. This also depresses voter turnout in general, because of the lazy group.

    So. What is your purpose in your post. Are you lazy, and just know that democrats also suck, but want to sound smart on the internet? Are you gullible, and really think that democrats would be just as bad if they had power? Or are you malicious, and trying to make the people that would otherwise “do politics” give up and become lazy?

    If you are not trying to make people give up, STOP. There is no both sides. There is the fascist, authoritarian, oligarchic, billionaire side, and then there are the people. If you want to make a real difference and move the needle, then the time is now, but it’s not in a forum post saying ‘both sides are bad.’ It’s going to be in your local democratic organization, trying to find candidates to run for local or regional offices and then supporting them. The people THERE are definitely on our side, since they are just us. And if we can build strong networks THERE, then we can push people into the national stage who will also fight for us.

    The democrats who act like republicans need a strong local network to primary them. Be the change you want to see.

    • Verdant Banana@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      and this is how the United States stays beholden to the will of the two parties whose allegiance is to the owner class

      football politics at it again

      my team sucks but they are our team we just need to be change we want to see they really are for us as much we are for them and we win because we stay blindly loyal to our team because our team is awesome look how well and how much they do

      already a clown statement and just adding more makeup

      democrats and republicans are definitely two different sides of the same coin with the same goals of benefiting the whole coin and we the people are not part of that coin nor the ones actually voting the politicians since the entire show down to the propaganda media is owned and controlled by the owner class