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And personally, as someone who isn't American, I honestly don't see much difference between the Republicans and Democrats, apart from how they do their politica

And personally, as someone who isn't American, I honestly don't see much difference between the Republicans and Democrats, apart from how they do their political propaganda. While they do try to portray themselves as different to the public, both of them are ideologically right-leaning, and even have similar spectrum of politicians as members - from conservatives to progressive. But when it comes to policies, they all have the same ideas and just bicker on how to implement it. A good and recent example of it is how the Democrats recently "caved in" on the healthcare issue with the Republicans (there was no "caving in" - many Democrats do support the Trump administration policies on healthcare). Or how the core Democrat party remains wary of Zohran Mamdani and didn't even support him.

defrost 1y ago
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelling%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelling%27s_law The US electoral system was essentially doomed to iteratively spiral into two blocs, neither of which significantly represent a sizable chunk of the US population. It's the unfortunate emergent behaviour of a system set up hundreds of years ago by founders opposed to Kings, little kings, and dominant Party politics. Had they the means to model iterative dynamic systems and the time to do so, they might have chosen better, instead Franklin noted that it was "good enough for now" (then) and that without attention and upkeep would slide into despotism. My own great grandparents went with a Washminster system, a hybrid of UK and US governance, with elections that evolved to avoid First Past the Post as a nod toward greater choice and keeping the bastards honest (a once popular minority party slogan here). Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game Rules?
graemep 1y ago
We have had a uniparty in the UK two for the last few decades. At least dating back to Blair becoming leader of the labour party in 1994.
thomassmith65 1y ago
This generation of Republicans are opposed to liberal democracy. Democrats are not. There are other real differences, but given the enormity of that one, why bother? Dems didn't support Mamdani because he's a liability outside large, progressive cities.
- mindslight 1y ago
  > Dems didn't support Mamdani because he's a liability outside large, progressive cities. I'm not arguing with your summation of the realpolitik the way the Dem establishment sees it, but this worry of theirs needs to die in a fire. Turmp has shown that people are willing to vote for abjectly terrible, extremist, even outright anti-American candidates as long as they stand and fight for something. The Democrats' strategy of continually compromising to middle of the road milquetoast candidates that vaguely gesture at mild bargaining reforms is a losing one with voters. (of course part of the incentive to do this is their corporate sponsors, but they need to get over this addiction to easy money if they want to win elections)
- red-iron-pine 1y ago
  the Dems didn't support Mamdani because they cannot support Capital and Labour at the same time -- and at the end of the day, the Democrats support Capital, loud polemics from AOC or Bernie Sanders notwithstanding
zzzeek 1y ago
as an American I will note you are breathtakingly incorrect about there not being policy differences between Republicans and Democrats, and the "cave in" over the government shutdown is strictly one of tactics, not ideology. > many Democrats do support the Trump administration policies on healthcare citation needed > Or how the core Democrat party The phrase "the Democrat party" is a well known right wing slur against the Democratic party; this term is used exclusively by right wing activists and party members and you'd only see it by reading lots of right wing sources.
- thisislife2 11mo ago
  Thanks for educating me on that - I am not an American and I wasn't aware that it is a right-wing slur. You are however correct in intuiting that I do read some right-wing media occasionally to understand the American right- in the US, and I may have inadvertently picked that up from there.

defrost 1y ago

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelling%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelling%27s_law The US electoral system was essentially doomed to iteratively spiral into two blocs, neither of which significantly represent a sizable chunk of the US population. It's the unfortunate emergent behaviour of a system set up hundreds of years ago by founders opposed to Kings, little kings, and dominant Party politics. Had they the means to model iterative dynamic systems and the time to do so, they might have chosen better, instead Franklin noted that it was "good enough for now" (then) and that without attention and upkeep would slide into despotism. My own great grandparents went with a Washminster system, a hybrid of UK and US governance, with elections that evolved to avoid First Past the Post as a nod toward greater choice and keeping the bastards honest (a once popular minority party slogan here). Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game Rules?

graemep 1y ago

We have had a uniparty in the UK two for the last few decades. At least dating back to Blair becoming leader of the labour party in 1994.

thomassmith65 1y ago

This generation of Republicans are opposed to liberal democracy. Democrats are not. There are other real differences, but given the enormity of that one, why bother? Dems didn't support Mamdani because he's a liability outside large, progressive cities.

mindslight 1y ago
> Dems didn't support Mamdani because he's a liability outside large, progressive cities. I'm not arguing with your summation of the realpolitik the way the Dem establishment sees it, but this worry of theirs needs to die in a fire. Turmp has shown that people are willing to vote for abjectly terrible, extremist, even outright anti-American candidates as long as they stand and fight for something. The Democrats' strategy of continually compromising to middle of the road milquetoast candidates that vaguely gesture at mild bargaining reforms is a losing one with voters. (of course part of the incentive to do this is their corporate sponsors, but they need to get over this addiction to easy money if they want to win elections)
red-iron-pine 1y ago
the Dems didn't support Mamdani because they cannot support Capital and Labour at the same time -- and at the end of the day, the Democrats support Capital, loud polemics from AOC or Bernie Sanders notwithstanding

zzzeek 1y ago

as an American I will note you are breathtakingly incorrect about there not being policy differences between Republicans and Democrats, and the "cave in" over the government shutdown is strictly one of tactics, not ideology. > many Democrats do support the Trump administration policies on healthcare citation needed > Or how the core Democrat party The phrase "the Democrat party" is a well known right wing slur against the Democratic party; this term is used exclusively by right wing activists and party members and you'd only see it by reading lots of right wing sources.

thisislife2 11mo ago
Thanks for educating me on that - I am not an American and I wasn't aware that it is a right-wing slur. You are however correct in intuiting that I do read some right-wing media occasionally to understand the American right- in the US, and I may have inadvertently picked that up from there.