=== ANCHOR POEM ===
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 "Stop mistaking the responsibility Democrats have to Black citizens for the
 electoral impact of Black voters. They’re not the same."
 
 "The idea that independents/swing voters are centrists, in the usual sense, is
 one of the most enduring myths of American politics. Most swing voters appear
 to hold a hodgepodge of political views that are hard to reconcile given our
 usual definitions; this can be frustrating, but it’s important to remember."
 
 https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/democrats-think-their-candidate-is
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=== SIMILARITY RANKED ===

--- #1 fediverse/3551 ---
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 liberalism is capitalism with a dash of globalism. they are of the right, and
 it is important to have a right-wing party because a one-winged bird cannot
 fly.
 
 there are legitimate benefits to their philosophies, and they may be applied
 to all kinds of systems, even those that do not utilize currency at all.
 
 however, in modern america, there is another party, a party farther to the
 right, a party which is voted into power based on culture, something
 unassailable and inalienable and yet always perpetually under threat. or so
 they make it seem.
 
 this "farther-to-the-right" party is duplicitous in it's ideals. their persona
 is that of businessmen, familymen, and journeymen. they claim to be farmers,
 pastors, and step-fathers.
 
 but they are something more, something behind their mask, that those who vote
 for them cannot see.
 
 for they were all of them, deceived...
 
 another plan was made. a project, if you will, to be implemented posthaste, in
 merely a single-year's time.
 
 it's cruelty indeed.
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--- #2 fediverse/4300 ---
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 @user-467 
 
 democracy works best with a well-informed populace, and those who are against
 democracy would do anything to make it harder to be "well-informed" -
 including diluting the pool of candidates in order to make it harder to
 research them.
 
 ... Or maybe it was the first time and none of the candidates realized they'd
 be running against so many people? I'm not sure, I'm on the other side of
 forest park and I had at most 5ish options, and no ranked choice voting. : (
 
 I think this might be one of the reasons political parties formed, way back in
 the distant days of yore. Much easier to say "I agree with this group of
 people so I'm voting for who they champion" than "I don't know how to pick
 between 30+ candidates (who I don't know because this is the past and we don't
 have the internet back then ... back now)
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--- #3 fediverse/3575 ---
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 @user-1567 
 
 that's totally fine, a fish does not do well in a tree, and so too does a
 leftist not do well in an environment without the potential for stable bonds.
 Essentially all you'd be able to do is "hey leftism right?" "oh yes I also
 leftism" "neat" which isn't very productive.
 
 I also live in an environment like that. I do my best to identify people who
 stay, because in my experience there are often people who stay. I do this by
 walking around the neighborhood when I can, making up excuses to walk to the
 dumpster or mailbox at random hours, riding my bike around the area, using the
 communal spaces like gyms, swimming pools, and picnic tables, and sitting in
 my hammock on my porch lazily noting people who walk past.
 
 People who stay will tend to remain in your mind the more times you see them.
 They are better people to talk to than the renters who disappear after 3
 months or whatever.
 
 I don't always do all that stuff at once. I take breaks. I do one at a time.
 etc
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--- #4 fediverse_boost/4458 ---
◀─[BOOST]
  
  One thing I said in 2020 that I'll say again: this is a very negative electorate and it's a negative partisanship electorate. Republicans hate Democrats. Democrats hate Republicans. There is no common ground. The old politics are dead. Homilies about bipartisanship don't sell to anyone. They just make you sound stupid or worse, like a traitor. People want someone to blame and the most spiteful ones voted for Trump. A lot of other people just didn't want more of the same.  
  
                                                            
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--- #5 messages/1343 ---
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 I've never been a fan of the democrats. From a young age, I remember my father
 talking about how spineless they were, and how cruel and shortsighted the
 republicans were. I have since come to learn that democrats, as an economic
 class, are also shortsighted, and their lack of foresight causes their
 "triage" to have cruel effects. We could do so much better, and it's not
 because everyone wants something different as they say. The reason is because
 they are spineless. They don't want to rock the boat because they're afraid of
 death. Remember, most of them are so thoroughly traumatized having lived in
 the era of nuclear threat (which isn't over, I might add) and post-911
 hysteria (which they contributed to, I might add) and it makes sense that they
 act so conservatively. They feel such immense pressure to keep the ship
 sailing but if your rigging is secure and you've got enough control over the
 boat, you can pull down the sails and wait out the storm. T.T too bad j+j
 
 I bet we were in love in the original timeline. The me from then was different
 than the me from now, so I don't know if it could ever work out. Talk to me
 after the war, maybe it'll toughen me up a bit.
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--- #6 fediverse/3181 ---
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 @user-1464 @cyborganism @GammaGames 
 
 I did see that post but I was mostly responding to you.
 
 There's a particular category of "leftist" who, to put it gently, have a
 greatly simplified view of the world in which "the only war is class war."
 
 I wanted to explain how the viewpoint of "the only war is the class war" is
 more developed, rather than simplified. I wanted to express that it takes
 nuance to understand that all oppression is connected and is derived from the
 same source - the corruption of power.
 
 They regard social issues such as anti-racism, feminism, queer liberation as
 distractions from the "true" cause of bringing about a new economic system -
 unimportant at best, active interference invented by the ruling class at worst.
 
 It's not true that those who believe in the class war disregard these things.
 That's just not right to me.
 
 Basically, they're narrow-minded bigots.
 
 I was included in your first statement and I'm not a bigot so I wanted to
 stand up for myself.
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--- #7 fediverse/2976 ---
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 on our current trajectory, the presidential election is already won.
 
 now we can get back to on-the-ground organizing, the part that actually
 improves life instead of maintaining our current (unethical) state.
 
 As long as our allies (liberals) continue to work, perhaps there may come a
 day when we can stand against them as friendly equals in the ballot box. But
 for now we are best known through friends and community rather than TV.
 
 I am optimistic in a way I haven't been for a while. I know that the more we
 speak, the more we share, the more they falter, the more people we can save
 from their vice grip of despair. There is no better world than the one we
 build together!
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--- #8 fediverse/3015 ---
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 @user-1428 @user-1280 @user-1429 
 
 it's not a contest of "who can spend more"
 
 their voters already believe what they believe. nothing will change their
 mind. so there's little purpose for their money.
 
 our voters need encouragement to come out and vote. The more people that vote,
 the more democrats tend to win. This speaks to a demographic advantage to the
 left, as more people can always be introduced to our ideas.
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--- #9 messages/409 ---
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 A style of debate where the two parties take turns interrogating each other -
 like lawyers presenting their case by forcing the other party to answer their
 specific questions. In doing so they can highlight the logical flaws and
 inherent absurdities in each other's notion. And you have to be as truthful
 and honest as possible, or else the entire process is flawed. Giving each
 person in the debate a chance to speak their mind about how they feel about
 particular issues.
 
 Kinda like a caucus, where people debate for their chosen candidate 
 
 Democrats need to listen to what regular voters care about and like, do that.
 Instead they think "how much can we get away with while still delivering their
 51% of votes that secure us the nomination"
 
 And the most radical amongst us should be the most dedicated to the Democratic
 process. It is how we the people wield ourselves, our divine birthright
 granted to us all - to choose the circumstances of our living.
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--- #10 fediverse/5431 ---
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 "they" want us to contest a powerful foe and emerge victorious, to instill a     │
 sense of strength and righteous dignity within us.                               │
 "we" want to win with the minimal amount of casualties necessary.                │
 these two demands are not contradictory, but they pull our trajectory in         │
 different directions.                                                            │
 I truly believe that we the people could oust our political foes with little     │
 opposition - little more than a minor civil war which lasted long enough to      │
 show our foes how badly they are outmatched.                                     │
 maybe that comes as a surprise to you, ye who are unarmed, but it does not to    │
 me, for I have faith in our institutions and values.                             │
 If Trump espoused the ideals of his party, specifically the ideal of             │
 efficiency and discipline, then perhaps he would be a fine leader. However his   │
 goals seem to me, a citizen and therefore his de jure subject, to be primarily   │
 motivated by money, by power, by corruption.                                     │
 not ideal.                                                                       │
 For this reason I swear to contest the fascists in control.                      │
 "they", if you will.                                                             │
 also hey what's up I'm drunk lmao                                                │
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--- #11 fediverse/2664 ---
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 @user-1311 @user-1312 @user-1313 @user-1135 @user-1314 @user-1315 @user-687
 @user-1316
 
 a rare chance when retracting the right to strategically vote actually
 increases the number of options available to the user.
 
 the difference between frequency and magnitude of impact.
 
 the only thing a political party can really offer is consistency. otherwise
 people would just vote in whoever was most relevant to them at the time! can't
 have the proletariate choosing their fate, after all.
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--- #12 fediverse/2002 ---
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 when I get concerned about the political divide in my country, I think about
 this map from the New York Times of the number of political donations across
 the country before the 2016 democratic primaries.
 
 I think we're gonna be fine. I'm not scared of Trump because rural areas,
 where republicans tend to be, have the same problems that everyone else does.
 Bernie Sanders was well known as someone who could talk to an average
 republican voter and sway them to his side. I remember watching videos of his
 interviews (in front of a live audience) on Fox News or CNN or whatever and at
 first, they'd be hostile to him. At the end, they'd give him a standing
 ovation.
 
 I think we have more in common with other working class people than they do
 with their republican leaders. I also think we have more in common than them
 than we do with our democratic leaders, but I think that just shows how I feel
 about authority.
a map of the United States which presents the amount of donations received by each democratic primary candidate in 2016. The state of Texas is almost entirely Beta O'Rourke, a small sliver of New York is Biden, (I think? I don't live on the East Coast and everywhere looks the same to me), Montana went to Bullock (who?) Wisconsin is Klobuchar, and the state below Michigan (sorry) is Buttigieg.  The rest of the country is entirely dominated by Bernie Sanders. Essentially the entire map, aside from a few key states, is united behind him. There's no contest, he has almost twice as many donors as the 2nd highest candidate (Elizabeth Warren, who barely has a presence on the map suggesting she was 2nd best in every spot)
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--- #13 fediverse/4619 ---
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 I want the political right to exist, because otherwise there'd be nothing to
 talk about a couple beers in and with no real stakes except a good time with
 your friend who you disagree with
 
 I want the political right to exist, because, y'know, life liberty and justice
 for all and all that
 
 both of those are "left of center" takes and I've definitely held both at
 different parts of my life
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--- #14 fediverse/1296 ---
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 @user-928 @user-929 @user-930 
 
 I dunno, from my perspective it's less about whether or not they're
 "unwitting" specifically and more like "lesser of two evils" - many of the
 republican people I knew in the past who were my age were utterly and
 absolutely convinced that if we didn't defend our homeland, somebody would
 come and kill us for it.
 
 It didn't really matter who that other was, they were convinced that someone
 would do it. So they supported the military and opposed loosening restrictions
 on immigration (instead preferring tighter restrictions, but more quantity. As
 in, "let in more people but only if we KNOW they're cool")
 
 I can't help but wonder if people join the military for the same reasons. Like
 standing atop the wall that divides "us" from "them", they put their backs to
 those they love and trust and face out toward whatever may come.
 
 The military is a very diverse place. I know a lot of other people do it just
 because it seems like a good, honest job.
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--- #15 fediverse/2238 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐                                                         │
 │ CW: uspol            │                                                         │
 └──────────────────────┘                                                         │
 two parties obviously can cause division.                                        │
 but it can also give you the ability to "tune for balance", while a single       │
 monolith strives straight into disaster.                                         │
 and disaster will come, for the future is a shifting and dynamic place, and      │
 the best laid rail lines can't handle sudden floods.                             │
 we have ranked choice voting now, and if you vote on how important each          │
 decision is to you (via smartphone app once or twice a day, in a way that can    │
 be changed later as your feelings shift)                                         │
 [6+months-later]                                                                 │
 ... then you can have left unity for long-term governance by having cohesion     │
 at one end, and dispersion on the other.                                         │
 If everyone votes, then we can ensure (based on voted priority) that each        │
 issue trends towards an equal exchange.                                          │
 (I'm sure there will be issues but we're all cool and pretty chill so we'll      │
 figure it out)                                                                   │
 [6+ months later]                                                                │
 okay we're battle-hardened vets, but we hold true to our values and so we can    │
 remember the spirit of unity we wept for.                                        │
 ... I'm better at writing than making sandwiches. BRB                            │
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--- #16 fediverse/2717 ---
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 @user-1328 
 
 the only method that needs to fail for them to realize what you're saying as
 truth is their method to vote.
 
 they will quickly grasp for power they once held and realize it was little
 more than an "I OWE YOU"
 
 Then, they might listen. Then, they might hear.
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--- #17 fediverse/3572 ---
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 @user-1402 
 
 If Trump goes to prison I hope they pick JD Vance as their candidate
 
 do you notice how in all the pictures of him lately he's trying to appear
 soft, sentimental, or hurt? poor guy must be in pain. I guess the bed you make
 is the bed you sleep in.
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--- #18 messages/536 ---
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 The right is *using* the neo-nazis. They don't want them either, but they're a
 convenient boogey-man.
 
 *of course* kamala is going to crush trump. That's the whole point, to show
 the world what a ridiculous farce our elections are. They have never been
 representative, and now we will see.
 
 Ask any red blooded American, left or right, how they'd like to handle
 neo-nazis. We all know where we stand.
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--- #19 fediverse/1264 ---
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 @user-901 
 
 I'd do the same thing when I was on Reddit. Except, backwards - I'd argue with
 American conservatives (nobody more extreme than that) politely and kindly,
 using logic and empathy. I'd cite their sacred documents like the bible, the
 constitution, or even just the founding fathers.
 
 I don't know if I ever changed any minds, but I represented my ideas as
 honestly and clearly as I could. I can't help but hope that some people saw
 them and considered them. Sometimes all it takes is a push, and they'll start
 thinking on their own. Like a thought that doesn't go away, they can't quite
 forget how they couldn't find the lie in what you spoke.
 
 Or maybe I wanted to believe my actions had value. Post-hoc justification. Who
 can say. At least my intentions were honest.
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--- #20 fediverse_boost/4461 ---
◀─[BOOST]
  
  It turns out a lot of Democratic voters kinda hate George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Liz Cheney, actually? They're leery of cops. There was that whole BLM thing? They're alarmed by the idea of having the most deadly military on Earth. What is it for? Oh, and Israel? We're going to back Israel to the hilt even as it exterminates children. Nobody signed up for that. Who thought that was a good idea?  
                                                                              
  A bunch of white people in expensive suits, probably. The same ones celebrating "the Biden Boom."  
  
                                                            
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