I got the fuck out of dodge and then got surgically sterilized for good measure.

To be glad to not be American is really becoming a very big thing for me.

They are declaring war.

People who say "vOtE hArDEr!" smell an awful lot like nazis at this point.

Gonna try not to harp on this too much but while I understand the frustration with "just vote more" rhetoric since its usefulness is dwindling more by the day but the fact of the matter is that conservatives got the fascist party of their dreams because for decades, they consistently voted for their party in united fashion, gradually pushing it further right and signalling to party leaders that it remained safe to move further and further right until they inevitably became what they are today. Problem with America's left is that they only voted when they felt like it, when they got literally every single thing they wanted, and when they didn't, they sat at home, talking about how they were smarter than everyone else. It's like how when I used to be on anti-depressants, I'd take the pill for one or two days but would frequently forget to take one at all, which prevented the drug from building up in my system and it just never ended up working. People can, and should, criticize our archaic 2-party system but regardless, if the left had showed up for Dems the same way the right showed up for Republicans, the Dem party would have also moved much farther left by now. Instead, the message they constantly received, correctly or not, as "Hm, I guess we're being a little TOO progressive about XYZ, better tone it down and try to court the people who actually vote consistently." Again, not saying that was a correct assessment on their part but it's ultimately what they took away from it.

So, cutting to today, I get the frustration with "just vote more" when they technically hold both chambers of congress and the Presidency (though I don't consider a 50-50 senate to be an actual majority, especially when you're talking about a party who, in any other country, would not have AOC and Joe Manchin under the same banner) and maybe it's a moot point now but there was a time, at least, when voting would have absolutely mattered and made a far bigger impact. Simple fact of the matter was, the left just couldn't be bothered, and they allowed the entrenchment of minority, extremist rightwing rule, which was absolutely avoidable.

Politicians suck and they always will but there comes a point when the people themselves have to stop acting like they're smarter than everyone else and place at least some amount of the blame on themselves for their self-defeating apathy because it's our side that did it to ourselves. Thinking that we were gonna spend decades barely showing up and then expect to just skip all the work and jump straight into a progressive, socialist paradise in one vote cycle with one candidate was absolutely absurd.

Guess I did end up harping on that quite a bit.

Well, I agree with all that. Which is why I'm almost just as angry at democrats and the left and am now officially done voting after decades of trying. It's waaaay past voting time.

You should at least vote in the upcoming midterms. I can't say voting will matter much after that but, right now it still sort of does, even if only slightly. Republicans obviously think it does, or they wouldn't be trying so hard to pivot to talking about gas prices. Where I come from, we don't have to be 'energized' to vote against actual Nazis, no matter how lame our options are. One thing about America is that despite all appearances, it can always find a way to get even worse. Be mad at democrats all you want but, it's no reason to take it out on society's most vulnerable by hanging them out to dry. They're having a really rough last several years as it is.

"Just let the Nazis win" isn't an acceptable, logical, or defensible stance.

I suppose I could but I'm in a deeply deep red state so pretty sure it's meaningless.
And nah, don't let nazis win...

(I'll probably end up there tossing down the useless vote anyway but yeah...tired..)

I appreciate the well-thought response. Thank you. :)

I always find myself agreeing with most of what you post so hard my head nearly falls off.