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this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2026
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Late Stage Capitalism
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Republican House, Senate, Supreme Court, Executive Branch. What would you like for them to do? They're already getting arrested at protests outside ICE facilities, they're attempting to rally support via public statements and open letters, and progressives are starting to win primaries in preparation for the midterms.
You want Senator Kelly to show up to Congress with a rifle or something?
Dems should stop collaborating. Stop working with fellow fascists. Stop meeting with them every day at work.
It's not that hard really.
Yeah, or something.
Blocking unanimous consent on everything in the Senate until their demands are met would be nice.
Idk if you've noticed but almost everything is passing on party line votes. Bills only need a simple majority to pass the Senate and the House, and Republicams have a simple majority. Democrats have done a few successful filibusters to prevent bills from making to the vote, but it's not possible to do for every bill.
You don’t understand. I don’t mean a filibuster.
Daily business in the Senate operates under unanimous consent. That way, they avoid voting for things like setting schedules and super minor nonsense.
It takes only a single Senator to force votes on everything to grind the Senate to a halt.
This is the way, if you're one of the morons (or outright collaborators) who still thinks civility is important.
Bog eveything down with procedural bullshit. It's what Mitch would do.
I generally agree with that. That's a good step they should take. Assuming you're American, you should contact your Senator so they know their constituents want that.
Yeah
I don't know anything about government since I went to American public schools.
BUT, I'm sure there's something they could do. It's weird how conservatives always get what they want whenever they want (and wealthy people) but everything else under the sun is never possible.
How fucking convenient.
That's either a problem with the system or our representative government and the way it functions within the system.
If the well runs dry, do you die of thirst or find another source of water? The American way seems to be that you're supposed to just sit and die of thirst with quiet dignity instead of walking to the stream a mile over to take a drink because it's owned by Joe Blow. Joe Blow's power over that land rests on the American government but they're all like 'sorry guys we didn't get enough votes to let you take a sip!'
But then they'll give Joe Blow power to take over every over stream in the county and then unanimously tell you to vote harder the next election in 2 years, and maybe then you'll get a jug.
This is a cop out answer. When Republicans are the majority they get everything they want, when Republicans are the minority they get everything they want. There's 2 possible reasons, and it's likely both. Democrats are complicit in what Republicans are doing, and/or they are completely ineffective in governing. Either way they don't represent the working class and need to be abandoned
I forgot the Republicans wanted the CHIPS Act, Inflation Reduction Act, ACA, Lina Khan as head of FTC, etc. etc. They definitely didn't attempt to block all of those because they get everything they want, always.
There's a third option: making things better is slow and complicated, but tearing things down is fast and easy.
ACA was literal Republican legislation, it’s just Romneycare at the federal level. That Dems celebrate this as a victory is exactly what folks are talking about when they say “Republicans always get what they want.” When Biden came out against universal healthcare because he felt the need to protect ACA, I knew I had been played.
Passed with 17 Republican senators.
Was literally the renegotiated and severely cut down version of the Build Back Better Act.
Was filibustered for years and only passed in reconciliation as a watered down version filled with pork for private insurance.
21 Republican senators voted to affirm her.....
The problem with Democrats is that there are always around 3-4 of them that will reliably vote with Republicans on most issues. The build back better deal was killed by Joe manchin and krystin simea. The ACA was allowed to be fillibustered to death by a couple pro life senators for years. All these bills were already watered down to entice Republicans before they hit the floor, Republicans still refuse to play ball every time, and the next bill Democrats still fall over themselves to reach across the isle every bill.
The DNC is just unwilling to whip their party members into shape like the Republicans.
Claiming progress is slow is also a copout. The oligarchy loves for people to believe that progress takes time. The moments that have had the biggest impact on society, that benefited the working class did not take time. They like you to believe in incrementalism so that you don't see that those small little baby steps are marching to the right
Could you name some of those moments?
Ok
ACA was Romney's bill.
Downvoting on principle, as this is the same shit centrists say when Democrats have power, and Donald and Mitch demonstrated for years now that possession of power or lack thereof isn't the problem, it's the will to act that matters.
They were "powerless" to stop Joe Manchin, whose daughter was price gouging people for pharmaceuticals and could have been the subject of a DOJ investigation if Dems gave a shit. They were "powerless" against Kyrsten Sinema, but could have stripped all her committee assignments and given her zero value as a lobbyist, diminishing her ability to monetize her seat significantly.
And what I think they should do is, I think, quite simple.
Expose the dirty secrets of every fascist motherfucker in Washington that supports this, en masse, as a unit, and fucking dare them to react. These people have the Epstein Files, security clearances, oppo firms, etc. Fuck, they can probably get their hands on Donald's medical records and taxes.
They don't need voting power in order to create consequences for fascists.
But that can't happen because the supposed opposition is dirty too, and pretending they're not acting because they're oh-so-powerless is, I think, generous to a silly extent after watching the last 20 years of supposed 'progressive' politics on the part of Dems.
Besides typing on a keyboard, how are you personally resisting? Just curious.
Unless you're a billionaire, you don't have significant power to change anything outside your local zip code, so that's generally where I focus my efforts. I pick up trash around the neighborhood, help my neighbors when they need something, go to city council meetings and testify, attend protests, that sort of thing.
Maybe the most effectual thing I do is that I have a YouTube channel where I create videos to raise awareness of topics around intrusive tech and privacy, and intentionally choose stories that are under-reported, like the recent crusade against Samuel Tunick.
That's good that you're helping directly support your neighborhood. Much of Western politics starts local and ladders up from there.
I do find your perspective to be interesting, though. The statement "I have no power" appears disjoint with the notion of the government existing via the consent of the governed. You're also quick to give yourself a pass, but a senator with generally the same amount of hard/concrete power as you have using their greater influence area for similar activities (awareness, rallying support, etc.) don't get a pass.
It's not like Senators have direct access to the Epstein files. They're even being rejected their legal authority to inspect ICE facilities and getting arrested by the regime for "trespassing" when they attempt to exercise that authority. The DOJ is routinely rejecting their requests for information they legally are entitled to, as is the DoD and other executive branch governments. As the Congress has no enforcement arm, I'm not sure what you anticipate them to do other than attempt to educate the voter base as to the illegal things that are happening.
lmao. Are you in third grade?
I think the notion that a US senator has the same power as an average citizen is, frankly, absurd.
Bernie Sanders got living wage increases for Disney and Amazon workers not via a vote, but traveling out of his way, showing up at their doorsteps, and giving public speeches about their labor practices. Mitch McConnell changed the entire course of US history, even when his party didn't have any voting power.
As for government existing at the consent of the governed, it sounds nice in principle but it doesn't and never has existed here. The US government has always existed and acted at the consent of the rich and established itself based on violence. You'll recall that originally only wealthy landowning white men could vote, and even Washington himself turned the US military against a group of petulant farmers after becoming president, because they had the balls to oppose a whiskey tax. Most of our founding fathers were rich dudes who abused their slaves in various ways.
I'm not giving myself a pass. I'm just acknowledging reality. Outside of your local zip code you are powerless if you don't have a massive fortune with which to bribe people, but I do firmly believe people should be active in their local sphere and do the good they can.
And I'm pretty clear on what I expect them to do. Use the resources they do have and play dirty. Problem is the Dems are dirty too.
In terms of hard power/concrete power, a minority senator with no executive backing or judicial backing is severely limited. They must request records from executive branch departments. They have no enforcement arm. They have limited ability to limit legislation. They cannot pass recall legislation of any kind. They cannot exercise their legally granted authorities.
Your example about Bernie actually proves my point - he rallied the base and got the citizens to apply pressure. He took no concrete actions but used influence to rally support. This democrat party letter is the same thing at the same scope. AOC and Co traveling around to various town halls is that same thing. Every "too weak" statement they put out is the attempted use of influence and soft power. You're only happy about that from Bernie because you like Bernie. What's Bernie done to get Epstein files released? Is he "dirty" too? All he does is tweet about it and write letters and broadcast his message.
I'm left wondering if you genuinely think any US senator can go on their computer and open epstein_files.pdf any time they wish, and they're simply choosing not to do so. They literally passed a law to force the disclosure of the full files and the DoJ just said "nah". The lawsuit to attempt to force compliance is working its way through the courts, but Congress' only enforcement mechanism is recall legislation which requires a supermajority which they do not have.
You've totally convinced me.
Senators are powerless.
Thank you for the discussion. Have a great day.
You as well
I stole some stuff from the hardware store to help build a bicycle trailer that will reduce my dependence on cars and gasoline.
Now what are you doing?
Also based if you stole from a chain but less based if it was a local mom and pop shop. I also haven't driven my car more than 3 times since March as I'm lucky to live in a bikeable area.
Well I'm not in the US, so... living my life?
E: I guess if you want the full list, I did policy research for a local mayoral candidate's campaign. I lend my ebike to as many friends as possible in hopes they drive less. I put up "end parking mandates" and "excess parking kills cities" stickers around my city hall and on surface parking lots. I buy my beef from a local cattle farmer and vegetables from a CSA where possible. I bought a single American product in the past 6 or so months, only when a domestically produced alternative was not available. I've called and emailed my local constituency offices 10+ times over the past 6 months for my representatives for multiple levels of government. I attend and participate in public engagement sessions for public transit and energy infrastructure. I volunteered at a local soup kitchen preparing and packaging hundreds of meals for unhoused people on my city. And I type on a keyboard to spread the message.
He could bring a cane at least