To the extent that talking about something can help, it can be helpful. It brings it to the top of mind so maybe individuals err on the side of safety when they otherwise wouldn't. Or it reminds workers of policies already in place.

To the extent it conflicts with the bottom line, it's a waste of time. Unless the company is willing to legit sacrifice profits for the benefits of HSE, it's just a nothing bullshit paper you have to sign.

I actually disagree. Removing it is a democratic idea. We already have 2 houses of Congress which must agree to pass legislation and the president must sign it unless Congress can muster a supermajority.

Any voter has had 4 chances in the ballot box to represent their interest, we do not need to set artificially higher standards to prevent legislation from passing.

If voters sow the wind by electing lawmakers that support reckless or harmful policy, then voters should reap the whirlwind that results.

Harris healthcare plan in 2020 was to the left of Bidens, She called for Medicare for all. She dissagreed with Bernie about banning private insurance.

She was not against universal healthcare. I doubt she is now. If Dems sweep the house and somehow picked up 10 seats in the Senate (impossible) she might try to go for it.

It's not impossible in 2026 for Dems to make big gains in the Senate, but it is very, very unlikely.

Then why are you here?

If you don't believe in electoral politics that's fine. But you should be off organizing union drives, or mutual aid societies, or literally any other venue for democratic power.

Why would you care which corporate shill holds office?

Your presence here suggests that it does, in fact, matter who wins elections, or which team holds power.

I disagree, republicans don't let the filibuster stop them when they want to do something.

They can still pass their tax cuts because of reconciliation and they immediately changed the rules to lock in the supreme Court.

Classic example of Democrats pretending the other side has a respect for rules and tradition.

Manchin wasn't even in the Senate yet. Lieberman was an independent that endorsed Romney 3 years later.

There were senators from Louisiana and Missouri in that majority.

Also Franken wasn't seated until like June because of recounts and lawsuits. Ted Kennedy was on deaths door and passed away 2 months later. His replacement was seated a couple months after that and then Scott Brown won in fucking Massachusetts in January.

They ended up with something like 109 working days in which Democrats could override a Republican filibuster. They passed 2 major pieces of legislation. Dodd Frank and the ACA.

What, precisely, do you think Democrats should be doing right now to help the American people?

If they do their jobs well, they get rewarded with votes. It’s a simple question of not inverting the relationship between the public servants and the public.

Hard disagree. The public is not a monolith. It does not know what it wants, because most people want mutually exclusive things.

You could instruct the federal agencies to ignore court rulings, effectively undoing Marbury vrs Madison.

That's a constitutional crisis, but what is the court gonna do? Call the FBI? Send in the military?

You can ask the Cherokee people what the court does with an uncooperative federal government, but you won't find any in Georgia.

Maybe that's just fascism with our side in charge though.

It was a terrible decision, but only in hindsight. She was a popular governor and a political outsider, even by Alaska standards.

But she let the proto tea party get to her and just ran with her worst instincts.

Mcain's primary win was a rebuke of Bush. McCain lost to Bush in the 2000 primary. He ran again in 08 and that time he got it because he represented a different "maverick" path from Bush's Neoconservatism.

McCain was also a neoconservative, but his brand was a straight shooting veteran with principles.

But the voting base wanted more change than that. McCain was still a Republican. The people wanted the Opposite of Bush, as seen in the down ballot races giving Dems a supermajority. People were predicting the end of the Republican party in 2009.

We all know how that turned out. But at the time it seemed transformational.

Change from what?

What did people want to change?

What was wrong that we all wanted to change..... Away.... From?

Yeah it was deliberately vague bullshit, but I was there. We wanted to change away from Bush and war and bigotry and callous disregard for our fellow citizens.

Obama's genius was retorical, not substantial. This country doesn't know what it wants because we have vastly different ideas about what would be best even inside the Democratic party, let alone independents and Republicans. Laying out specific policy goals is mostly a trap. Because whoever you piss off cares a lot more about that than whoever you please.

Trump does the same thing by vomiting so much bullshit that voters can imagine he will give them whatever their hearts desire is because he said he would at some point. He won't, but his voters are mostly already praying to a sky angel so they have a lot of experience projecting love and benevolence for them onto a distant figure that doesn't care about them at all.

Oh absolutely. He would be a terrible VP pick and a prez run would flop. Not even WV likes him anymore.

Manchin could have switched parties anytime during his 18 years in office. He was a godsend when he ran the first time, and he's been a godsend ever since.

He's a piece of shit human, but he was the only democratic candidate with a chance at victory in West Virginia. His has been 85% better than any Republican that would have held his seat otherwise and it is infantile to pretend otherwise.

Manchin is infuriating, but he is no Sinema. He holds his office in a red state getting redder, not a pink state turning purple. He sometimes represents the wrong headed desires of his constituents and I can't hold that against him. Far more often he has voted for the best interests of the country.

That shows your ignorance.

We collectively decide what the constitution means.

Mostly the Supreme Court decides, of course, but we can vote for presidents that will pick justices that agree with us and congressional reps that will impeach justices that don't.

Congress shall make no law respecting can be interpreted in different ways. Every part of the constitution is open to interpretation.

I don't think you realize how much of a stink "California Governor" has in middle America.

It's bullshit. We should all be so lucky to live in a place like California, but fox News Propaganda has been working for decades convincing disengaged voters that Cali is a hellscape.

I think Newsom would make a fantastic President, but I am not convinced he has the best chance to win.

France put together a winning left coalition in 2 weeks.

How does the US being a bigger, wealthier, country mean we are weaker? I'm so tired of these arguments about what we can't do. If Biden dropped out 2 weeks before November it would be a disaster. As it is, he is listening to the legitimate concerns of the people.

She was a cop. She did the thing we wish all cops did and left the profession.

I still I still believe that Biden is more cogent than Trump any dementia patient can rant about nonsense for 2 hours. It takes more brainpower when you can't just rattle off whatever lies popped into your head 5 mid sentence.