I really despise this kind of both sidesism. Because the sides are demonstrably different.
I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding here. From an European perspective you do basically only have one party. It ranges from quite a bit to the right to the right extreme. You don't get to choose through elections - the two wings of the party decide whom you get to choose from. That's not to dissimilar to the system in obvious dictatorships like Iran, where the candiates are pre-selected by the powers that be.
Obviously voting for the quite a bit to the right neoliberals is less bad than voting for the extreme right fascists. That goes without saying. But don't pretend like there is a real choice here.
From a perspective ignorant to the competing factions within our parties and their influence, I understand. However, I'm not going to pretend it's an accurate or useful perspective.
I had a similar discussion with a Chinese person criticising their ruling party.
From a perspective ignorant to the competing factions within our parties and their influence, I understand.
This is almost exactly the same thing they said.
I'm not trying to put down the USA. I'm trying to make people aware that improvement is needed and that their democracy isn't as democratic as it should be, or as they might think it to be.
That's the beautiful part. I don't blame CCP members doing their best to make things better in a shitty system. We must all do what we can to improve things for everyone with the hand we're dealt. That's all we can ever do and all we can ask of each other.
There are things worse about the American system than China's, but the ability to criticize our government means there's more we can do to organize ourselves and undermine the popularity of plutocrats. Our system sucks, but I can't stand people who take that as a reason to sit at home doing nothing.
Before I went further and further left, I’d agree that both sides are different, since I could easily see where they were different.
The further left I got, the more similar they looked, since the left wing and right wing of the tiny american overton window is not far apart at all, to the point you could possibly call them different wings of the same party.
Sure, that comparison has fallen apart with American fascism entering the mainstream, and for people wedged by the anti-lgbt republicans the differences are very obvious and simple. Even for a radical leftist like myself, there is an obvious better party, but I feel like my hand is forced. I’m voting for a party that doesn’t support my views (other than some social issues) solely because the alternative is fascism, and that’s a shitty feeling.
Unfortunately, people who have no representation within the US politics, notably leftists, see that both parties have the same views on most issues they truly care about. For example, someone who wants the repeal of the patriot act will notice that both parties support it (even though there are some democrats dissenting). Someone who wants real climate protections will be disappointed to notice that the changes supported by the democrats is not going to do much, if anything at all. Granted, they don’t support the rolling back of protections. God forbid you are a socialist and see the most socialist person in congress is Sanders. Even worse if you are an anarchist and see that everyone (or at least everyone I know of) is pro big-government (especially the so called libertarians). I could go on with police reform/abolition, indigenous rights, prison reform/abolition, healthcare, military policy, Palestine, and others.
I really despise this kind of both sidesism. Because the sides are demonstrably different.
I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding here. From an European perspective you do basically only have one party. It ranges from quite a bit to the right to the right extreme. You don't get to choose through elections - the two wings of the party decide whom you get to choose from. That's not to dissimilar to the system in obvious dictatorships like Iran, where the candiates are pre-selected by the powers that be.
Obviously voting for the quite a bit to the right neoliberals is less bad than voting for the extreme right fascists. That goes without saying. But don't pretend like there is a real choice here.
From a perspective ignorant to the competing factions within our parties and their influence, I understand. However, I'm not going to pretend it's an accurate or useful perspective.
I had a similar discussion with a Chinese person criticising their ruling party.
This is almost exactly the same thing they said.
I'm not trying to put down the USA. I'm trying to make people aware that improvement is needed and that their democracy isn't as democratic as it should be, or as they might think it to be.
That's the beautiful part. I don't blame CCP members doing their best to make things better in a shitty system. We must all do what we can to improve things for everyone with the hand we're dealt. That's all we can ever do and all we can ask of each other.
There are things worse about the American system than China's, but the ability to criticize our government means there's more we can do to organize ourselves and undermine the popularity of plutocrats. Our system sucks, but I can't stand people who take that as a reason to sit at home doing nothing.
Before I went further and further left, I’d agree that both sides are different, since I could easily see where they were different.
The further left I got, the more similar they looked, since the left wing and right wing of the tiny american overton window is not far apart at all, to the point you could possibly call them different wings of the same party.
Sure, that comparison has fallen apart with American fascism entering the mainstream, and for people wedged by the anti-lgbt republicans the differences are very obvious and simple. Even for a radical leftist like myself, there is an obvious better party, but I feel like my hand is forced. I’m voting for a party that doesn’t support my views (other than some social issues) solely because the alternative is fascism, and that’s a shitty feeling.
Unfortunately, people who have no representation within the US politics, notably leftists, see that both parties have the same views on most issues they truly care about. For example, someone who wants the repeal of the patriot act will notice that both parties support it (even though there are some democrats dissenting). Someone who wants real climate protections will be disappointed to notice that the changes supported by the democrats is not going to do much, if anything at all. Granted, they don’t support the rolling back of protections. God forbid you are a socialist and see the most socialist person in congress is Sanders. Even worse if you are an anarchist and see that everyone (or at least everyone I know of) is pro big-government (especially the so called libertarians). I could go on with police reform/abolition, indigenous rights, prison reform/abolition, healthcare, military policy, Palestine, and others.