this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
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politics

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[–] giacomo@lemm.ee 37 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Ah yes, because it's not about doing what is right, it's about political gain. Fuck america so so much.

[–] Donkter@lemmy.world 17 points 9 months ago

In theory the two are supposed to be aligned. Political will is supposed to go up when the politicians do what's right and down when they do wrong. That's what is going on here but I agree that they aren't usually aligned.

[–] Rootiest@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago (2 children)

It's about doing what is right, but waiting until it's most politically beneficial before doing it

[–] Cowlitz@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Not really. I highly doubt it will be rescheduled prior to election when they are just talking about it now.

[–] neptune@dmv.social 11 points 9 months ago

I mean, democracy is supposed to align those two needs.

[–] htrayl@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Voters don't reward doing the right thing at the wrong time.

[–] hark@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)
[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

On top of the answer you have already received (people forget by the time election rolls around), I'll be extra pessimistic and say that majority of Americans publicly support progressive policies, but may in private and in the ballot box lean more conservative. If you know you sound like a monster, you might say the nice things in public, but then when not accountable for their image in the ballot box... well...

[–] hark@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

You might have a point if the poll was asking people about race or any other sensitive topic, but people will not dress up their opinions if they don't think they'll get attacked for them. Nobody has their job threatened if they advocate for private health insurance companies.

[–] htrayl@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

The election cycle.

It doesn't matter if people support it if they don't remember it well enough to come out to vote when it matters. You see this with Biden already, people completely missing the effort they have made for tons of work that people support.

[–] hark@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Yet republican voters are far more dedicated to voting because the republican party makes bold promises and pushes to do them. Even if it's as stupid as a border wall, they'll make that promise and actually get funding for it and build at least part of it. Democrats, though, "it's not feasible", "it's not possible", "we can't do that", "it's not realistic". If democrats would show that they at least try, voters would try. No, forgiving a few billion in student loans here or there after letting the problem build up to 1.7 trillion dollars isn't enough effort. What if instead they said "we will eliminate student loan debt completely" and then work on it, instead of hitting up low-hanging fruit like enforcing existing student loan forgiveness programs that forgive after 10+ years of interest payments?

[–] docAvid@midwest.social 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's kind of inevitable, and not such a bad thing. The president is one person. One person shouldn't be deciding what is right arbitrarily. For the president to be looking at what the people want, that's a good thing. Now, our democratic systems are deeply flawed, so that "what the people want" and "what improves electoral chances" are not as closely tied as they should be, but that's another matter.

[–] makyo@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Yeah it's basically baked into the system. Politicians will be politicians and there are other checks and balances like the vote that are supposed to keep them reigned in. Not excusing bad behavior on the part of politicans, but as voters we could excercise more control over them if we were more educated and organized. There are too many crappy politicians that aren't afraid for their jobs.

This is obviously simplifying and ignores other urgent problems like gerrymandering, vote suppression, and money in politics.

[–] pugsly@lemmy.l0l.city 6 points 9 months ago

It's not even what's right in full. Rescheduling helps get us towards legalization someday but rescheduling probably also means people are still going to be sitting in jail for possession until well after 2028.

[–] fosforus@sopuli.xyz 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Why not both, though. Plus not letting Trump be the president (which happens through political gain) is doing what is right.