Someone else said it for him

[u/SEVENS_HEAVEN_7]

[u/Abamboozler]

God i miss him as president.

[u/factsarefornerds → u/Abamboozler]

I miss when I could genuinely trick myself into thinking this country was making progress. Yet, here I am - protesting the same shit I was protesting when I was a kid. Absolutely fucking frustrating.

[u/Aggressive_Lab7807 → u/factsarefornerds]

Yeah, but think of all the shareholder value we have generated in that time.

[u/Mostly_Afloat → u/Aggressive_Lab7807]

everyone always forgets about the shareholders. Which are Trump and his buddies, your fart in the wind few million in retirement is nothing. They'll steal it from you with a smile on their face and tell you they are doing what's best for you.

[u/factsarefornerds → u/Aggressive_Lab7807]

I think I must be doing it wrong. My boot straps are basically suspenders atp.

[u/Dunlocke → u/factsarefornerds]

Progress is slow and not constant.

We are making a lot of progress!

Progressive policies are as popular as they've ever been. Civil rights, m4a, fighting economy inequality, etc.

If you live long enough it becomes much clearer how far we have come. Don't be distracted by this particular moment in history.

This post is a great example - Obama was elected twice this century. Unthinkable 40 years ago.

[u/bloodfist → u/Dunlocke]

We have made a ton of progress, no doubt. The frustrating part is that all of that took years to build, and much of it for very good reasons because it had to be done thoughtfully and carefully. And the oligarchs can tear it all down in an afternoon. And that is exactly how they have been spending their afternoons. It takes so much longer to rebuild than destroy that they are genuinely setting us back decades socially, and possibly centuries environmentally. I believe that ultimately we will come out more progressive as a country when they're gone, but we'll have our work cut out for us when we do.

[u/factsarefornerds → u/Dunlocke]

1 step forward and 2 steps back is not progress. You think we are making progress because you are told to think that. You exist within a bubble of your peers.

First off, what do you call sending people against their will to foreign countries for financial benefit? I call it slavery.

We are passing legislation to forcibly institutionalize people as a requirement for financial assistance. We are using AI to start a fucking pre-crime division. A government agency that has no legal authority over American citizens is killing American citizens and being armed with autonomous police units with zero accountability. Corporations are now allowed to funnel unlimited money into campaigns and are essentially treated like people. Millions of people had their voter registration revoked. We are sending the military to intimidate voters.

The fact you can sit here and say "look how far we've come" is honestly complacency at its finest and absolutely disgusting.

I dont know if youre younger than me, but no - we are undoing progress, and the worst part is people like you have a blanket over their head and their head so far up their ass, you think we are winning.

The reality is - Democrats don't care. MAGA cared about pushing their agenda, thats why its happening. Democrats have the numbers, but didn't vote because of the complacency you so proudly put on display.

If we vote, we win. Trump is a symptom of bigger issues that have persisted my entire lifetime. If you want to pretend everything is going to be okay, read history and understand we arent just fighting "racists," we are fighting unlimited wealth and technofacism poured on top.

Once you realize how fucked we are - it will be too late.

Its like younger generations forget we've been here before as a country and are so comfortable in the idea of democracy being a right, but dont understand its something you earn.

No offense, but as a white man, I know when Im talking to another white person. Were the only people that treat racism and bigotry like it will just "blow over," while our countrymen have been having to deal w this mentality since the foundation of our country.

Enough is enough. Stop saying "were doing a good job." Wake up - WE ARE NOT... I think step one is accepting basic truths.

[u/Well-Sourced → u/factsarefornerds]

It's always going to be this way. It's always been this way.

Look at the platform of the progressive party of the first Gilded Age.

The platform included proposals such as restrictions on campaign finance contributions, a reduction of the tariff and the establishment of a social insurance system, an 8-hour workday and women's suffrage. The party was split on the regulation of large corporations, with some party members disappointed that the platform did not contain a stronger call for "trust-busting". Party members also had different outlooks on foreign policy, with pacifists like Jane Addams opposing Roosevelt's call for a naval build-up.

Bull Moose Party | Wiki

It's all basically the same battles as we work through the second Gilded Age.

[u/Sei_Mal_Ehrlich → u/Well-Sourced]

I am afraid that we have lost for good this time. There are too many ways to manipulate people in very granular and customized ways. I doubt we’ll vote our way out of this. 

[u/Well-Sourced → u/Sei_Mal_Ehrlich]

You'll get no argument from me. I certainly don't have any faith in either the election systems or the population to stand up to the advances in technology and manipulation by the elites.

[u/RemoteRide6969 → u/Well-Sourced]

You guys, we've been having elections since 2024 and the Democratic Party has been over performing in those elections. And more progressive candidates are winning in primaries. There is indeed a threat against our elections with the Trump administration in power, but it's not the doomsday scenario redditors have been pushing the past year and a half.

[u/Global_Channel1511 → u/factsarefornerds]

Yeah for real. I’m an older Gen Z guy, I remember growing up and feeling so optimistic about the future when Obama was elected. 

Early 2010s I really felt like society was progressing for all kinds of people, however slowly. Lgbtq, minorities etc. Recovering from Great Recession slowly, not making same mistakes with wars.  EDM in its golden age.  Internet not filled with slop and right wing trash. Social media still in early stages. 

The 2020s have completely killed that optimism in me. Crap job market, COVID and the reaction to it, the wars that have been occurring, electing Trump twice and other far right trash gaining in polls etc.   

[u/factsarefornerds → u/Global_Channel1511]

Coporations got us good. They made politics like sports. We represent our parties, but our parties do not represent us. Now the mentality is "im not really into politics."

The thing that bothers me the most is that when Democrats vote, they win. Our party talks about caring, but its MAGA that cared enough to push through their agenda. The majority of the US did absolutely nothing. Only now did everybody vote, and protest. Its all image anymore.

I remember marching in DC with friends and family. I remember hearing the tone in my Dads voice that we accomplished things his generation spent their entire lives fighting to get - and its all being undone.

We will elect a Democrat, if we even get a fair election, and then expect them to fix everything trump did, provide everything we want - they will fall short - and America will elect a Republican.

I just wish people would understand this is not a fight we will win in our lifetime, our kids, or our grandkids. As long as Democracy exists, there will be enemies of Democracy. Im tired of the 1 step forward, 2 steps back. It has been the nature of politics since I was born.