Omar says Israel policy divisions won’t stop her from supporting Biden in November

Either they're wedge-driving russo/right-wing bots, or they're grandstanding only to shoot themselves in the foot on an issue they claim to care about.

Any rational person understands more people will suffer in both Gaza and Ukraine under Republican leadership. Period. That's it. End of story. It's election season, time to fall in line to save Democracy... Again.

In two years, 587 children have died in Ukraine. In 5 months, 12,300 children have died in Gaza. These are not comparable. Israel's conduct is far and away worse than Russia's in terms of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

No, not everyone realizes that. You wouldn't believe how many posts I've seen railing against "genocide" go on to claim that Trump would be tougher on Netanyahu. Saw one a couple days ago that even claimed that because Putin is such an ally of Iran and therefore Hamas that he'd be better for the people of Gaza. Which is just a mind fuck I can't even understand being able to type.

This is like suggesting the firefighter has to earn your trust before you let them carry you out of the burning building.

I’m not good at detecting sarcasm in text; less so when there’s no text.

I see a performative monkey. Was that the intent?

You could understand if you wanted to. It's the majority view held by the intelligence and foreign services of most western powers and virtually everyone in Washington. It's not like they are hiding the explanation.

Try to see the bigger picture and what this proxy war means for the world. If thirty thousand deaths make you too sad to vote for Biden and that results in reelecting Trump, how sad will you be when Iran shoots its shot against Israel and we're here on Lemmy talking about thirty million deaths and a cascade of failed states throughout the Middle East and eastern Europe fueled by the unprecedented humanitarian crisis and masses of refugees?

What does it mean for the world and for human rights everywhere if the western powers allow the only democracy in the middle east to fall to actual, for-real, far right religious extremists, who will actually, for-real genocide every Jew in the middle east in favor of an Islamic religio-ethno dictatorship?

How does ceding Israel to actual fascists advance the interest of lasting peace or human rights, especially if it ends up reelecting Trump, who will never leave office if he gets in again?

Maybe instead of throwing away democracy in America and the middle east, we can maybe appreciate that 30,000,000 is more than 30,000?

Maybe it makes more sense if we use America's persuasive power to see Netanyahu and his party defeated at the ballot box? Wouldn't that be much better for the world?

Biden isn't the roadblock to peace in Gaza. He didn't cause the situation or prolong it in any way. Israel has all the weaponry and fighters it needs to turn Gaza and the West Bank into a sheet of glass in about ninety minutes if it wanted. Even with conventional weapons, they could carpet bomb the entirety of Palestine many times over before the loss of US support disrupted Israeli's defensive posture as to Gaza.

It is Israel's posture as to Iran that dictates America's course, and frankly it's not that hard of a choice given the stakes. Continued support is continued leverage, whereas ending support ends any leverage America may have over what Israel deeply considers to be, more or less, a local police matter.

https://www.axios.com/2024/03/14/us-settler-sanctions-west-bank

The U.S. Department of Treasury announced new sanctions Thursday against two illegal outposts in the occupied West Bank that were used as a base for attacks by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians, three U.S. officials told Axios.

Why it matters: It is the first time U.S. sanctions are being imposed against entire outposts and not just against individuals.

The move comes as the Biden administration ratchets up pressure on the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a range of issues, including settler violence against Palestinians and the war in Gaza. There were nearly 500 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians between Oct. 7 and Jan. 31 of this year, according to the UN humanitarian office (OCHA).

If they fully drop all support for Israel then multiple countries are likely to start war against Israel, possibly Iran and 2-3 others. That will cause the entire region to destabilize

Malcolm X put it well:

The white conservatives aren't friends of the Negro either, but they at least don't try to hide it. They are like wolves; they show their teeth in a snarl that keeps the Negro always aware of where he stands with them.

But the white liberals are foxes, who also show their teeth to the Negro but pretend that they are smiling. The white liberals are more dangerous than the conservatives; they lure the Negro, and as the Negro runs from the growling wolf, he flees into the open jaws of the "smiling" fox.

That said, many people have a mistaken view of voting.

They think “I’m picking someone who represents who I am as a person, and so who I pick is a reflection of my very soul.”

Or at best, they think “I’m picking someone who will act in my best interests. I may not like them as a person, but the actions they take are at least a good approximation of the actions I want them to take.”

The reality is more like “I’m picking someone who will inevitably act in the interest of those in power. I need to pick someone who has the right vulnerabilities. They don’t have a good rapport with certain powerful entities, so they don’t mind pissing those ones off if it means they can score some votes as a result.”

You’re not picking someone to lead your side. You’re picking who you’d rather negotiate with from their side.

I too have seen exactly this from that user.

Feel free to respond to this but fyi I’m not going to read it.

your refusal to even acknowledge one thing you think Biden has done well.

Because everything he's "done well" has been pretty much the same shit they've always done. It's not enough. You can blame Republicans all day long but we need something to change and Democrats are the only option available to progressives and leftists. But every single time there's an opportunity to demonstrate looking towards the future and making these changes Biden has passed that up. Here's some examples:

Called on congress to block the rail strike: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/biden-calls-on-congress-to-block-potential-railroad-strike
Walks back his own campaign promise for $50k forgiveness: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/539139-biden-balks-at-50k-student-loan-forgiveness-plan/
Goes around congress to sell weapons to Israel: https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/29/politics/biden-congress-israel-military-aid/index.html
Forced federal workers back to office: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/13/politics/in-person-work-biden-administration/index.html
Increased the defense budget: https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/28/politics/defense-budget-biden-administration/index.html

These behaviors put me as a voter in a no win situation. If I support Biden after all this what am I doing besides giving establishment Democrats and moderate voters a blank check opportunity to say "See? Everything is fine.". They will completely ignore the fact that I and other voters compromised our principles in order to prop up a candidate we hate for what he's done.

On the other hand I can protest vote 3rd party or write in. And of course that comes with it's own risks.

At what point will moderates and establishment Democrats have a moment of self awareness and admit that this isn't a sustainable model? Personally I had hoped 2016 would be that wake up call but instead I'm seeing people try to turn it around as if it's progressives and leftists who need to change.

You’re saying that here, but you have repeatedly said you’re voting third party

Nope, never.

But thanks for blocking me! I know you're going to sign out to check this, but it's still nice to know I'll never get another response from you.

If you bet banned for personal attacks, please don't forget to also block me on your new account or any alts you currently have

If the weatherman says a tornado is going to hit your town tomorrow, would you start getting upset at them for causing a tornado?

Or would you be appreciative that someone gave you a heads up while there's still time?

Because I see a lot of people frantically ringing alarm bells. For years at this point.

The primary still isn't over despite the DNC pulling delegates from NH.

There's still time to not run Biden. And I know that's unlikely.

But there's still also time to make noise and hope Biden and the DNC sees reason and move left so trump doesn't win

But telling people:

Shut up and vote Biden

Isn't going to get Biden enough votes to beat trump. He's sitting at less than 1/3 approval with voters...

We can't just stick our heads in the sand and hope that's enough.

If you want to be sure we beat Trump, start making noise and praying Biden actually listens.

Sure, but there are only 4 options when November comes: 1) vote for Biden, 2) vote for Trump, 3) vote 3rd party, or 4) don’t vote.

Due to how the US system works, options 2-4 only help Trump

Doubt this claim. Using this logic (voting for 3rd party is a vote for Trump) a vote for 3rd party is a vote for Biden as well. Not voting trump only helps Biden. I won't be voting for Trump or Biden, so i guess by not voting for either I'm voting for both of them and an committing voter fraud so at least you won't have to worry about me in 2028s election as I'll be in jail.

We should be having a proper competitive primary now instead of a coronation. In 2019, we were told Biden wasn't looking for two terms. We got bait-and-switched.

According to four people who regularly talk to Biden, all of whom asked for anonymity to discuss internal campaign matters, it is virtually inconceivable that he will run for reelection in 2024, when he would be the first octogenarian president.

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/11/biden-single-term-082129

Man, if only we had an earlier election where we have a say in who the general candidate was....

But I'm sure if Biden doesn't move left and trump wins, you're going to do the rational thing and blame Biden and his campaign team for their words and actions.

I mean, it would be ridiculous if instead you blamed all the people who held their nose and voted D but spent 4 years telling everyone that Biden isn't popular enough to beat trump again. And he needs to do more to reach out to Dem voters.

and the general election is eight fucking months away, so it’s 100% justifiable to vote however the fuck I want to in the primary.

Which I did, and I voted uncommitted. And I will vote for not Trump in November. But don’t mistake my enthusiasm for “not living in a fascist theocratic state” for enthusiasm towards Biden, because it’s not and never will be.

Question: If they run an even worse candidate next time, which considering the trend of them all, they will; Will you finally allow leftists to stop blindly voting for a party that doesn't reflect their values?

At what point will the responsibility be on the dems to appeal to us, instead of us blindly backing the blue against our better wishes?

And since DNC pulled NH primary delegates for something only republicans can change and Biden supported it...

We can't even use your point to convince people.

This sham of a Dem primary might be our last.

Do you think NH republicans learned their lesson and will change NH state law so the NH Dem primary doesn't have to be first?

Or do you think they'll leave the law in place so in 2028 the DNC cancels the NH primary again?

The only people that can fix it are NH republicans and the DNC. And the DNC seems fine with just not letting NH Dems have a say in who the candidate is.

What's stopping the DNC from canceling other states that vote progressive like NH was?

They've already argued in court they can do what they want, because primary is nonbinding and they can just ignore it anyways.

This is the danger of just blindly supporting Dems no matter what. They keep acting more and more like Republicans

Supporting the nominee for president does not preclude criticism.

Is nothing going to change after the election if Biden wins? Probably not, no.

But in this situation, right now, that's a good outcome given how profoundly things will change if the other person wins.

I don't know how to make it understood that no matter what criticisms you have about the way Biden and the Democrats have been running this country, absolutely none of them, not a single one, is more important than preventing Trump from winning, because literally everything goes to shit forever if he wins again.

As soon as conservatives got Faux New, neoliberals have been trying to get the same unquestioning support from their voters.

The issue is if Dem voters wanted that shit, they'd be republicans.

The people running the DNC don't understand basic psychology because when they finished their educations, psychology was still pretty new, and the only big studies was shit like Zimbardo that threw out the scientific method and had researchers meddling with experiments to get the desired result.

Imagine if Verizon hired a guy that stilled used a beeper instead of one of those newfangled mobile phones.

Sounds ridiculous, right?

But that's what we're doing with politics and psychology

They'll all forget how long they've been told to 'wait until next time' too. Everything happening now happened in 2020. 2016. Fer the love of God, wipe the CNBC outta yer eyes eh?

Populist vote would solve a lot of problems.

That is a risk you run when you commit assisted genocide.

Jokes on him, he'll have to find him first. Daddy! Come home, we have milk.

With a proportional representation system the parties hold all of the power and the only thing that matters is the negotiations that happen behind closed doors to form a coalition.

If the party you voted for isn't part of the ruling coalition then your vote didn't matter. Sure you got someone sitting in a seat in a legislature that shares your opinions on things but the agenda is already been determined by those who negotiated the coalition.

And while you may thinking that it's possible that a party that shares your views might get into the ruling coalition, but it's just as likely that a small far right party could get into a coalition, which is exactly what happened in Israel's proportional representation system.

Or as we saw in the EU's proportional representation system, a fringe separatist party can gain notoriety and expand their influence on the population and you end up with a Brexit.

"First past the post" or as I like to call it, a community representation system, has individual representatives control the seat. That individual representative can leave the party and will still hold the seat. Which means the party has to keep the representatives of the communities happy. And those representatives have to keep their communities happy. If a minority group in a community is willing to organize they can influence the representative, and that representative can influence the party. The power dynamics flow from the people upwards.

Proportional representation systems only look good from the perspective of a spreadsheet. From the perspective of power dynamics (which is all important in politics) they're terrible systems. You get to vote for a party that completely conforms to a checklist, but that party may have zero impact on real policy. Sure you have to make an effort to influence your representative in a community representation system, but shouldn't the people willing to make the most effort have the most influence?

enjoy the downvotes. lemmy is apparently full of limp-wristed pacifists. oh well. let them learn the hard way what happens when you are too chicken shit to stand up for what's right.

Then I want you to call me.

But there's no reason to believe you'll reach the extinguisher, it's pretty much impossible in first past the post.