5 ms·
"Democracy dies in darkness" and silence, apparently.
by wumeow 2y ago
"Democracy dies in darkness"
and silence, apparently.
- good8675309 2y ago[flagged]
- aftbit 2y ago[flagged]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- wumeow 2y agoThe majority of Democrats wanted Biden to drop out and approve of Harris as the nominee https://apnews.com/article/poll-joe-biden-kamala-harris-donald-trump-1feb5ed3c2e29623ce3cec3565b487cd https://apnews.com/article/poll-joe-biden-kamala-harris-dona...
- brandur 2y agoThe point is that Democratic voters didn't get a chance to have their voice heard. Conducting polling is post-hoc rationalization for Harris being installed by party leaders in unprecedentedly anti-democratic action.
- archagon 2y agoIf the presidential candidate wishes to hand the reins over to his vice president, why is he not allowed to do that?
- Maxatar 2y agoHe is allowed, it's just doesn't follow a democratic process.
- archagon 2y agoBut this is part of the democratic process. If the presidential candidate died a week before election and the VP took his place, we would not be discussing the situation as undemocratic.
- Maxatar 2y agoWhen I say democratic, I don't mean the Democratic party's primary process, I mean a process by which people vote to select a leader. Yes I agree that Joe Biden had the legal authority to step down and appoint Kamala Harris as his successor to run for President. No, I don't think doing that is democratic. What would have followed the democratic process would have been recognize what everyone else knew way in advance and stepping down early enough for potential nominees to run to be the candidate.
- wumeow 2y agoThere is no way they could have held a second primary in the 28 days between Biden dropping out and the DNC. Polls said Democrats wanted Biden to drop out, Democrats had already elected Harris once, and polls said Democrats were happy with Harris as the nominee. That's about as democratic as you could get given the situation. Criticizing the Democrats for being anti-democratic here would carry a lot more weight if the Republican nominee wasn't responsible for J6 and the fake electors plot.
- pron 2y agoThe purpose of a primary is to help the party pick a nominee that has a better chance of winning the general, which is, in turn, the purpose of a political party. The mechanism of binding primaries was set up by party leaders after some bad choices (especially in the 1968 Democratic Convention). This time, the prospective candidates decided that a blitz primary wouldn't serve its purpose. If the voters punish them for this decision, then it will have proved a bad one, but it's neither unprecedented nor undemocratic.
- archagon 2y agoWhich candidate was deemed a fascist by over a dozen members of his own administration? https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/13-former-trump-administration-officials-sign-open-letter-backing-john-rcna177227 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/13-former-tru...
- zer8k 2y ago[flagged]
- archagon 2y agoWhat does any of this rambling about Harris and the NBC have to do with the fact that 14 members of Trump's former administration (including one general) have agreed that Trump is an outright fascist in an open letter?
- selectodude 2y agoThese political threads on HN always make me really sad. A bunch of ostensibly intelligent and educated people who see whats happening and either don’t care or are excited about the prospect. I gave up. Pax Americana had a good run. The parallels to Germany 1933 and Russia 2003 are simply too loud to ignore at this point.
- archagon 2y agoIndeed. I'm planning to spend the next year looking for a country to emigrate to that hasn't completely lost its mind. How can I stay politically invested in a democratic society that vociferously supports a burgeoning dictator? These are not my people anymore.
- selectodude 2y agoMy concern is that the US is simply too large and influential on the rest of the world. It’ll be bad here but it won’t be much better anywhere else.
- noarchy 2y agoThe manner in which Harris got the nomination, deciding at the convention, isn't atypical and was the norm in earlier American history. The party decides how this goes. There is nothing Constitutionally-mandated about how they do it.
- dclowd9901 2y agoSaid as though with earnest care
- smeeger 2y ago[flagged]
- pstuart 2y agoBeing that he's stated his desire to be a dictator and has an army of enablers to help him, it's not an unreasonable fear. Obviously this topic is a third rail here, but I think it's important to say that he upended the political environment and we are in uncharted waters now.
- o11c 2y agoand I'm tired of Trump explicitly stating his intent to end democracy. But just because we're tired doesn't mean we don't have to face things.
- smeeger 2y agolink to the video where he says that. like the full video with context, not a news bite
- KaiserPro 2y agoBest case senario and he's just bluffing about deporting people, removing parts of the judicial system, deploying the military on US soil against US citizens. None of that is healthy. None of that is part of normal democracy. In previous years, presidential candidates talked about policies, rather than divining meaning from a demented old guy (you may also point to biden on that one, he is still able to answer a question though.)
- Trasmatta 2y agoHe's said he wants to be a dictator on day one, has told his supporters that they won't have to vote again after this election, has said he will prosecute his political opponents, has said that Harris voters should be afraid of saying they support her, etc, etc. What more do you need?!
- seivan 2y ago