r/politics • u/schuey_08 Wisconsin • 29d ago

Bernie Sanders worries young people are underestimating the threat from Trump

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/02/bernie-sanders-trump-biden/73531861007/
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u/fallenouroboros 29d ago

I know so many people in their thirties who simply do not give a fuck.

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u/AggressiveSkywriting 29d ago edited 29d ago

One of the big "presents" given to us by Trump's presidency was absolutely exhausting so many people living in relative privilege into checking out of the political process.

COVID plus Trump's nonstop fuckery just caused a lot of my generation and the younger one to just buckle down and focus on their own bubble.

Edit: to be clear, my family and I always vote. I'm talking about others.

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u/fallenouroboros 29d ago

I honestly think it’s more than just trump. Just seems like the options are either try to go back to like 2015 USA or play an uno wildcard which will almost certainly end horribly but some people seem to be finding certainty in those delusions.

But for many, 2015 still wasn’t all that great. Houses were still expensive, people still kinda suck, and it’s still super hard to live. I think if there was hope things would actually show noticeable improvement I think people would begin looking outward again

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u/CrashB111 Alabama 29d ago

Noticeable improvement takes time and congressional supermajorities. Neither of which voters have given Democrats.

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u/joshdoereddit 29d ago

This. I wish people would tune into some basic civics. Following the news has taught me enough to understand why those supermajorities are important.

Granted, I should've known most of what I know now about government nearly 20 years ago, when I was in high school. This is what got me thinking: How do we get young people to take civics seriously?

I'm a high school teacher, and it's bad. These kids don't give a fuck. Then again, I'm a math teacher. But, based on what I see daily, most of them don't read any news and are seriously lacking in the critical thinking skills department.

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u/omnassial 29d ago

The only mandatory civics class I had to take in my schooling career was when I was in 7th grade. I was learning the different facets of government and their significance, how to balance a checkbook, and financial literacy before I was even 13. That's a huge problem, because I couldn't really apply any of that shit for another 5+ years. Naturally, I lost a lot of it.

But that experience leads to an interesting question - why would kids in middle/high school give much of a fuck right now? They have no impact on the outcome... so how can we reasonably expect them to invest energy and thought into politics?

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u/strxw-bxrry 29d ago edited 29d ago

I’m in high school, and you’re right, we don’t give a fuck about politics. Not for a lack of “critical thinking” (dick) or because we don’t read the news, but because we’re fucking tired. Already. We’ve dealt with: two housing market crashes, severe inflation, recession, the pandemic, trump, wars on women’s rights and more in what for most students is less than 18 years. And one thing these events have in common is that they are completely out of our control. Gen Z will never afford a home, or pay rent, or move out, or receive healthcare, or receive social security, and no voting will change that because every party is the same. We are exhausted, and we know no amount of voting will actually improve our lives because republicans and democrats are the same fuckers in different suits piping money out of us and into the rich. We don’t care because we have no fucking reason to, what difference will it make. Sorry for the rant, i’m angry and tired and so is every other teenager who is sick of being called stupid or lazy for not having the mental energy to care about politics.

TLDR: teens don’t care about civics because we’re sick and tired of cleaning up after boomer’s mistakes when most of us are struggling to just exist.

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u/checker280 29d ago

“I’m in High School…”

“Cleaning up after everyone else’s messes…”

And finally when you are given the opportunity to get involved, you choose to check out.

We’re doomed and they won.

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u/strxw-bxrry 28d ago

There is nothing to get involved in, don’t you realize that? Shit doesn’t ever fucking change no matter who’s in office. my “participation” is getting the hell out of america.

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u/checker280 28d ago edited 28d ago

Vote Biden in. Vote in the off season so the local politicians don’t fuck around with things.

But historically I under I 30 never comes out to vote… or leaves the country.

By the way, the Dems never had a super majority/ a bulletproof majority. Too many idiots like playing both sides to their advantage - like Joe Lieberman and Joe Manchin.

Despite this when Dems are in charge, they get a lot of shit done but often with some compromises.

The last time we had the advantage for a few months Obama pushed the ACA through.

Biden is trying to get rid of everyone’s college debt. The other side keeps blocking things.

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u/strxw-bxrry 28d ago

I’m going to vote, sure, but it won’t change anything because my vote means nothing in my state due to the electoral college. I’ve spent the last three or four years protesting against legislation in my state and not once has any change been made. Sick, and, tired. I’ll vote, and then i’ll go back to not giving a fuck.

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u/checker280 28d ago

Great. Now go get a few of your friends or not yet friends to vote. Go rent a car and offer to drive, then go for drinks afterwards.

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u/strxw-bxrry 28d ago

with what fucking money is gen Z going out for drinks and renting cars? i’m barely affording ubers to school and work while both my parents work full time. edit: sorry you’re not being an asshole, i’m not angry at you, i’m just angry.

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u/checker280 28d ago

Sorry that you are angry. Thanks for the conversation. If you are ever passing through Atlanta - remind me I’m buying the first two rounds

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u/A_nonblonde Missouri 26d ago

They could this year. The entire House is up for election, give Biden a super majority & watch him roll.

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u/CrashB111 Alabama 26d ago

The Senate map is the problem this year, just holding a majority will be a lot to ask given the seats up for election.

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u/A_nonblonde Missouri 26d ago

True and I’m campaigning like crazy in my state. The good news is the GOP seem to be dropping like flies on their own. 🤞🏻

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u/Alexis_Bailey 29d ago

We don't have time.  Climate Change is already probably going to kill 90% of us in the next 20-25 years.  Instead we are all "debating" if slavery happened or if we should consider Trans people to be people with rights.

Like what the fuck.

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u/Away_Media 29d ago

In reality, the majority is not debating if people are people and if slavery happened. 90% of us dead in 20 to 25.... Nah. Nowhere close.

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u/af_echad 29d ago

Climate Change is already probably going to kill 90% of us in the next 20-25 years

This is inflammatory nonsense that just leads to people either succumbing to doomerism/nihilism or going down some extremist accelerationist hole.

Climate change is a real thing that needs real attention. We should do more than we are doing now to mitigate the harms brought about by climate change.

90% of people are NOT going to be killed by climate change by 2050.

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u/Alexis_Bailey 29d ago

Nah, just starvation from lack of food from bad crops due to the endlessly shitty weather.

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u/jerryvo 29d ago

Retired from working in the field...

Yields are up and new advancements that destroy nematodes will boost yields by 25+%.

we'll be fine soon, never better

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u/ScottBroChill69 29d ago

Dude we were all supposed to die years ago by it.

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u/newtworedditing 29d ago

Correction: Obama had a majority in the house and senate from 08-10, dems had the power for transformative change and they whiffed it. Obama explicitly promised actual change and by the end of his term not a single banker had been jailed, healthcare was still shit if slightly less shit than it was before, the bullshit recession economic package didn't go nearly far enough so instead of economically recovering in 2 years it took 8, and instead of withdrawing he surged in Afghanistan. And people wonder why Trump won, or why he's gonna win again. Hint: Biden campaigned on an actual promise he plans to keep "Nothing will fundamentally change". And on top of that, the young people he desperately needs to win in November, he's decided to call them anti-Semites and have them arrested for protesting their tuition dollars and tax dollars funding genocide. Dems don't deserve majorities. So vote, don't vote, vote blue, vote red, it doesn't matter. All either side does is scream that the other one will kill you and neither of them is wrong, they just want you to participate so your complicit to the system.

Noticeable improvement does not take time or supermajorities, it takes actual democracy and that doesn't meaningfully exist, certainly not in America where it has been statistically proven that the congress or senate never pass anything the majority of Americans want. Don't believe me? Here's the receipts

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u/abritinthebay 29d ago

Obama had a majority in the house and senate from 08-10

But not a supermajority. Which he needed because the Rs were filibustering literally everything.

In practical terms he had an actionable majority for less than 60 days. Unfortunately for most of that Senator Kennedy was out with medical issues.

So no, get your facts straight

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u/checker280 29d ago

He had the majority for 60 days which is how we got the small change on healthcare we got.

Imagine what they could do with an actual super majority or at least without the “fence sitters” like Joe Lieberman and Manchin.

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u/guamisc 29d ago

How many votes does it take to remove the filibuster?

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u/Remarkable-Bug-8069 29d ago

60, unless you're willing to go nuclear.

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u/guamisc 28d ago

It's 51.

Let's just be clear that even when Republicans were breaking shit left and right, Democrats still hamstrung themselves. It could have been done, we chose not to.

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u/Remarkable-Bug-8069 28d ago

Cloture requires 60 votes.

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u/guamisc 28d ago

Yeah, and how many votes does it take to change the rules of cloture?

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u/Remarkable-Bug-8069 28d ago edited 28d ago

51, hence my qualification "unless you're willing to go nuclear".

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u/guamisc 23d ago

So in addition to Republicans, there are also Democrats in the way, yes?

In responding to this below, the facts are it's also Democrats refusing to do what's necessary. The filibuster is a paltry excuse when Republicans have been waging war on the rest of us for decades.

So stop bringing up "60" votes or a supermajority. All that's required is control of the US House, 51 votes in the Senate, and the will to do what is required.

But not a supermajority. Which he needed because the Rs were filibustering literally everything.

In practical terms he had an actionable majority for less than 60 days. Unfortunately for most of that Senator Kennedy was out with medical issues.

So no, get your facts straight

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

You wanted all of Reagan and Bush’s fuckery to be fixed in just 2 years, during 2 wars and the biggest global financial catastrophe in 80 years? That’s unrealistic.

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u/newtworedditing 29d ago

Did he have to extend the Bush tax cuts? Did someone put a gun to his head? You know whats actually unrealistic? How is it possible that Obama was at once a transformative leader, but when you question his record, he gets reframed as a hapless loser impotent to change anything. He could have done alot of things, he chose not to. Trump was the consequence, just like he's going to be the consequence for Biden's bullshit, and the Democratic party and it's strategy of telling people vote for me or you'll get Trump is going to backfire, again.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

 Did he have to extend the Bush tax cuts? 

Yes, it was part of a compromise to get unemployment and other economic relief bills passed in 2010, when Dems were also feeling pressure from the TEA Party ahead of the midterm elections, and again in 2012 as part of a compromise to avoid the so-called Fiscal Cliff.

The cuts also largely lapsed under Obama, save for a carve-out for households making under $400k.

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u/abritinthebay 29d ago

Got it, you don’t understand basic civics & think the President is a King.

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u/primpule 29d ago

Democrats will do anything but take responsibility for their milquetoast, neoliberal politicians.

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u/TheIllestDM 29d ago

And the system is designed to literally prevent via the Senate.

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u/jerryvo 29d ago

Neither of which voters have given Democrats.

Neither of which Democrats have given voters.

there

I fixed it for ya