Biden speech live: president says best way to save US democracy is ‘to pass torch to new generation’

jordanlund@lemmy.worldmod to politics @lemmy.world – 390 points –
Biden speech live: president says best way to save US democracy is ‘to pass torch to new generation’
theguardian.com
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...do you actually believe that's what's happening, or are you just too naive to accept any progress that isn't the full scope of your ideals?

That is exactly what's happening. The only ones that are ever going to gain any influence within the party are the ones that have vowed to uphold the status quo. The status quo that has been built by generations prior.

We stand on the shoulders of giants.

Or as the young people say, we didn’t just fall out of a coconut tree.

What a weirdly sycophantic way of praising what is arguably the most corrupt House, Senate, and Supreme court this country has seen since the robber baron days.

I'm interested in how you square the circle between this fantastic view of American exceptionalism with the clear statement that voters have made that they absolutely DO NOT WANT politicians like Biden or Clinton leading them, and basically stand in disgust of institutions like the House and Senate, where House members are clearly using their positions to increase their personal wealth.

It seems that your tribe and my tribe are not the same.

64000 people just donated over $120 million to the inherent nominee in 3 days, me being one of them. You call that corruption whereas I call it hope.

If you need to be a cheerleader to belive things, thats fine. I also donated. I also signed up to volunteer like I have for progressive and democratic campaigns for the previous 12 years.

But I also need to have clear eyes when it comes to the political context I find myself in. We need to pick up the ball that the Democrats dropped by insisting on Biden for as long as they did, drive it down field, and put it in the goal. But I'm not going to live a lie about who the Democrats are, and who they have been, for literally decades. I can't afford that. The cost of living in a fantasy about who the DNC is, how they manage their party, and how they use different demographics of voters only when its convenient for them is simply too high. I've needed them to be a better party for years and they keep choosing to not live up to who we, the voters, need them to be.

Democrats need to do better and they can't keep relying on marginalized demographics and minorities to come in here and save their asses every time they fuck up (like they've been doing with this entire primary where they just about handed the whole damn thing to Trump).

I can chew gum and walk: I can both support the nominee and dial the numbers, and also have a criticism of a party that treats its voters with the level if disrespect it has.

Poignant, but I disagree.

I think you are treating the presidency as a dictatorship. Even though you even say in your comment that the party is segmented, you are treating the party as one monolith. I think you know each faction has their own special interests.

Hell, I’ll even tell you mine. I spend my times and resources focusing on climate change. It’s been my primary political motivation since the first Earth Day that I can remember, planting trees with my Mom and watching Captain Planet thereafter.

If I had it my way, I’d have the military spend at least 25% of their resources on that alone and require all citizens to complete 40 hours per year volunteering for environmental activities that impact their local community. I’d take back the word “sustainability” to mean impact to the climate.

If it were up to me that would be my main focus until we resolved the issue as I think it’s the biggest trial to humanity of our times. Those people are my faction.

I’d do that at the expense of many other initiatives; those others would likely die on the vine.

But I’m competing with so many other important activities supported by their own special interests. Now I wonder, which one gets prioritized? Likely the one by the faction that is screaming the most or the easy one that gets broad support and improves popular sentiment.

Now, if we were a dictatorship, we could get your and my issues resolved….but I don’t want to live in a dictatorship, so all I can do, living in our current moment, is cheer and vote and wait for my turn.

And I’ll do it with vigor, because the alternative is a big step in the wrong direction.

You see what we got last time a presidential candidate talked about hope. We got fucked and corporations got richer

Where do you see anyone here praising the Supreme Court?

Biden won the primary and then the election. The clear statement you'd like there to be wasn't made, even if we think issue polling means we think the electorate is further left. The only clear statement against Biden is against the mentally fading present day Biden, but that's not because of the kind of politician he was.

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