• Didros@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    And some people vote for Republicans only for a single issue, mostly guns. There suddenly being a pro gun, socially left party as an option would do more damage to the republican base than having another four years of Joe Biden. Honestly at this point I think we start a grass roots effort to elect Queen Latifah without her campaigning.

    • Sordid@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      Only about 30% of Americans own a gun, and only a fraction of those are single-issue Republican voters. Establishing such a left-wing party might put a dent in the Republican base, but it would sunder the Democratic one and ensure unopposed Republican rule likely in perpetuity (they’d just seize power; already they’re barely managing to keep the mask of democracy from falling off).

      The whole gun issue is a total distraction that does nothing other than galvanize the Rep base. The Dems should just avoid stirring the hornet’s nest and ignore it altogether.

      • Didros@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        I don’t think you are putting the right context on that 30% own a gun (and around half that don’t could see themselves owning one in the future).

        In 2020 American’s came out to vote in larger numbers than has been seen in over 100 years and still only 2/3rds of people voted. So of that 66.6 percent about 51% voted for Biden. So that means about 33.79% of Americans voted for the democrat presidential candidate… in the largest turn out in modern history.

        The NRA sways a lot of people with threats that the democrats want to “take their guns” but Republicans don’t hear that as a funny eye roll phrase. They 1000% think electing a Democrat is electing someone who will send the army to search their house and steal their property. They fully believe that is months from happening at all times.

        • Sordid@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          The NRA sways a lot of people with threats that the democrats want to “take their guns” but Republicans don’t hear that as a funny eye roll phrase. They 1000% think electing a Democrat is electing someone who will send the army to search their house and steal their property. They fully believe that is months from happening at all times.

          That’s my point precisely. These people keep believing that the Dems are about to seize their guns regardless of how many Dem administrations come and go without it happening, so there’s no point trying to persuade them or reason with them. (At this point one might draw some parallels with expecting the imminent second coming of Jesus, which is also a popular belief in these circles.) Even if a pro-gun leftist party were established, these people would just be fed propaganda that its pro-gun stance is a scam, and they’d buy it hook, line, and sinker and vote against it. These entrenched right-wing voters are beyond saving, and focusing on them is a waste of time and resources that would instead be better spent mobilizing the apathetic left-leaning masses.

          • Didros@beehaw.org
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            1 year ago

            mobilizing the apathetic left-leaning masses.

            And how does voting for Joe Biden help us reach them? We need democrats to believe they need to reach left, not right. But they are a center/right party at this point and expecting them to go left because you want them to is lunacy.

            Republicans got you believing that voting for democrats that support them is your only option.

            • Sordid@beehaw.org
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              1 year ago

              It is, that’s how a two-party system works. The Democratic Party needs to be reformed from within. Creating competition for it only ensures the failure of both and the rise of conservatism to power.

                • Sordid@beehaw.org
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                  1 year ago

                  What part of “the Democratic Party needs to be reformed” did you find unclear?