kyidyl:headspace-hotel: headspace-hotel: sometimesdesperate: taboosanddarkdesires:sometimesdesperate

kyidyl:headspace-hotel: headspace-hotel: sometimesdesperate: taboosanddarkdesires:sometimesdesperate:taboosanddarkdesires: I get all this angst in the US I really, really do. I have to wonder though, how many of you who are fearful because of Roe v Wade, of corporate greed etc etc etc actually voted. Like, exercised your democratic right and went to a polling place to vote. Because as hard is this is to watch from the outside, its the law makers that you voted in who are happy with all this. Over here? Its COMPULSORY to vote. So out we go every three years and vote. And GUESS WHAT?! We just booted a bunch of right-wing blowhards because they are flogs who don’t speak for us, I’m on your side, but fuck me, if its that bad, FUCKING VOTE THE CUNTS OUT!!Rant over.  Part of the reason our last presidential election was such a big deal is bc some major red states turned blue. Everyone overseas and lots of folks in the states were like “oh! This is bc everyone hates trump and its a historic turnout!” When really it was a dedicated effort that took years to get people who literally could not vote in previous elections the ability to vote. Including a lot of rural folks who, stereotype says, shouldve voted red. Covid was actually a big part of this. Because of covid, voting by mail restrictions were relaxed a bit, so lots of people who could not physically vote in person suddenly could vote. And lawmakers immediately started cracking down on voting rights again. Our system was created by the very people we want voted out, and it works in their favor every time. People who voted in the 2020 presidential election will not be allowed or able to vote in the 2024 election. Theres a good chance I will be one of them simply because I am moving states and the timing may not work out. Also, Roe v Wade has very little to do with voting. The political makeup of the supreme court (which isnt supposed to be political at all) is almost entirely down to luck. I just feel like unless you live and work in the states and are invested in US politics enough to know the nuances of it, you really shouldnt be telling us how to fix things. Its not only unhelpful, its also, frankly, condescending. Sorry mate, the entire approach of the American people is to condescend to the rest of the world, “we’re fuckin great rah rah land of the free etc” yet we all watch on while it becomes more Gilead by the day. And while America is asleep at the wheel China gets stronger. Shoot each other in the streets, eat each other alive the Empire falls. Any danger of doing it quietly? I mean, if that’s how you really feel about it, at least dont pretend like you’re trying to help as if voting has never occurred to anyone in the US who is unhappy before. ‍♀️ In my home state (Kentucky), if you have ever been convicted of a felony you lose your right to vote. That’s nearly ten percent of the population of the state that cannot vote. We’re also gerrymandered as hell District boundary lines look so wonky because the dominant party in the legislature draws them so voters in the other party are divided between districts so they can’t get a majority in an individual district. Imagine each of these dots represents a voter in a very small state, which has been assigned 4 representatives. You would think that, to FAIRLY represent these voters, you would have two reps from the Pink Party and two reps from the Green Party, right? But that’s not what happens, because the Green Party is in charge of the legislature, and they draw the district lines like this: Now there are 3 districts that vote Green and just 1 district that votes Pink, even though there are the same number of voters Now imagine that this state is one of many states in a country. If the Green Party wins the state, the whole state supports the Green Party. If the Pink Party wins the state, the whole state supports the Pink Party. This state is now a “Green State,” even though there are no more Green voters than there are Pink voters. This is how America’s system works, and we need to change it. There’s a district that’s 60% democrats surrounded by 30% democrat districts? Redraw the boundaries so all those districts have 45% democratic voters. That’s gerrymandering. An area might have 100,000 voters that support one party and 150,000 voters that support another party, but instead of getting 2 representatives who are party A and 3 representatives who are party B, it might have 5 representatives of party B because the district boundaries are drawn weirdly so party B has a majority in each district. Those 100,000 voters are now totally unrepresented. And there might be a whole 25,000 people that CAN’T VOTE because they’re legally disenfranchised. And people look at that area and say “Ugh! It’s just a bunch of party B!” When it’s really not!!! This example was not at all exaggerated by the way.(from the pew research center) LITERALLY A ONE PERCENT DIFFERENCE Yep, and this is not one of those “both parties do it” things. The Republicans are far and away more guilty of this bc there are actually more registered dems in the US than Republicans and the actual American people are *far* more liberal than our govt. Like…to an absurd degree. The vast majority of us support gun control of SOME kind, some sort of Healthcare reform, access to abortion care, social programs, etc. But our system is so corrupt and full of lobbyist money (like literally the Supreme Court just ruled that donations are free speech.) and there’s such a vast wealth gap that getting anything done is neigh impossible. And our govt is actively hostile to voters because of YEARS of republican voter suppression. Whose idea do you think it was to suppress convict votes? Who loves for profit prisons and hates minorities? Yeah. The Republicans. Just look at Florida. In the last midterms the people voted to allow convicts the right to vote and the Republicans have been doing everything and anything they can to avoid allowing that to happen. It’s estimated that the amount of Democrat voters that would add back into the voter pool would be plenty to kick out the reps and turn the state blue. So yeah its fun to get mad at the dems for not doing anything but they’re also dealing with decades of corruption and absolutely awful governance by Republicans. Just look at the Supreme Court: the reps *stole* two seats. Flat out stole ‘em. They stole one from Obama like 10 months or something before his presidency ended because he was a “lame duck president and we need to let the people vote” and then let Trump appoint RGB’S replacement a month before an election he was almost certainly going to lose. And here we are. So yeah the dems have the majority but only by a tie breaker VP vote and it’s not enough to get done the really important stuff. They won’t abolish the filibuster nor pack the court but they shouldn’t goddamned HAVE to. -- source link

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