this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2023
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A tweet from the George Takei Twitter account which states:

"A Democrat was in the White House when my family was sent to the internment camps in 1941. It was an egregious violation of our human and civil rights.

It would have been understandable if people like me said they’d never vote for a Democrat again, given what had been done to us.

But being a liberal, being a progressive, means being able to look past my own grievances and concerns and think of the greater good. It means working from within the Democratic party to make it better, even when it has betrayed its values.

I went on to campaign for Adlai Stevenson when I became an adult. I marched for civil rights and had the honor of meeting Dr. Martin Luther King. I fought for redress for my community and have spent my life ensuring that America understood that we could not betray our Constitution in such a way ever again.

Bill Clinton broke my heart when he signed DOMA into law. It was a slap in the face to the LGBTQ community. And I knew that we still had much work to do. But I voted for him again in 1996 despite my misgivings, because the alternative was far worse. And my obligation as a citizen was to help choose the best leader for it, not to check out by not voting out of anger or protest.

There is no leader who will make the decision you want her or him to make 100 percent of the time. Your vote is a tool of hope for a better world. Use it wisely, for it is precious. Use it for others, for they are in need of your support, too."

End Transcription.

The last paragraph I find particularly powerful and something more people really should take into account.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You have to be elected to become a delegate and for that to happen you need contributions from either grassroots campaign or Democrat PACs who will not support anyone that goes against what their donors want. That's why very few Democrats are in any way "left" politically, and why they don't run candidates that will certainly win against Trump. The donors who fund the party don't want what you and I want, they don't even necessarily care who wins because the corporations who donate to these PACs also donate to Republican PACs, it's capitalism and if it's one thing the two parties have a consensus on it's the neoliberal consensus.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're showing how clearly you don't understand voting or primaries

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

You vote for delegates who in turn vote for the candidate, delegates are darlings of the party's interests not yours. You can't change the party through this self-reinforcing process, no matter how many times you say you can the party simply is what it is.