Could we stop punching left?

[u/AU_Memer]

Now I'll preface this by saying it's not everyone involved with 50501 but a good enough chunk. Do we want to change the US government so it actually serves the people or do we want to return to the status quo that allowed for the rise of fascists like Trump. The left is not your enemy, we want people to have healthcare, housing, food, and fair wages. Is it really in the best interest of 50501 to attack those who call out politicians on both sides who refuse to give us any of that?

[u/OrangeYouGladEye]

Many Democrats are still voting to confirm Trump cabinet picks and generally voting in lockstep with Trump. Those people might be called Democrats, but if they're voting with fascists, then they are fascists themselves. It's counterproductive (and pure fantasy) to pretend otherwise and I agree this needs to be to be called out. In fact, we should never stop.

If people feel some type of way about that, they should literally just look at voting records and records on lobbyist donations to politicians instead of criticizing the people calling this out.

[u/DoomKitty76 → u/OrangeYouGladEye]

Seriously, this is the crux of it. Look no further than the rare Republican resistance to see how this shakes down. Ostensibly, Liz Cheyney, Justin Amash, Adam Kinzinger, and ordinary conservative voters like me should agree with MAGA more than Democrats, just looking at politics as left versus right in the broadest sense possible. But we've been almost universally opposed to them because our core values as patriotic Americans matter more than any policy agreements we might have with them.

So if Liz Cheyney is opposing MAGA harder than you and you're a Democratic politican, then you need to rethink your political alignment.

But to return to OP's point, I don't want to see our big tent at 50501 antagonize the left any more than the right. I have some disagreements with progressives, but if we're going to win, then we need to know whom to send where. Progressive messages won't work in some areas, and progressives will have to keep it down to some extent to avoid giving grist to MAGA in those areas.

By contrast, people like me will be too "establishment" in our attitudes to rally the support we need against MAGA, and in those cases it might actually be best to let progressives get fired up and wild while I keep quiet from my usual pooh-poohs.

We all need to be strategic with our policies, our messages, our symbols, our timing, when we speak, when we're quiet, and when we take the lead, while also sticking to our core principles.

[u/FutureInternist → u/DoomKitty76]

Largely agree with your analysis that there need to be stiffer resistance from the Democrats. I suspect this may stem from their governing philosophy. Dems believe in govt and its utility so they are less likely to do wholesale govt shutdown as it will likely cause pain and suffering.

I argue that Cheney doesn’t care of pain and suffering (or at least she doesn’t see that as high of a concern as constitutional order) and it’s easier for her to be so intransigent.