this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2026

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Controlled opposition (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 days ago by SaltyAmerican@lemmy.world to c/latestagecapitalism@lemmy.world

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[–] ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml 14 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

I think the controlled opposition theory is certainly true in-part, but it doesn't explain everything.

The other thing is that Republicans don't campaign on policy. They campaign on random culture war bullshit - much of which, while incredibly stupid and a waste of time, is popular.

So, sure, allowing Tesla to dump toxic waste into their constituents' groundwater is unpopular - but their constituents never hear about it until it's already happened, and then the politicians blame someone else.

Instead, they campaign on your parental rights to infect everyone in your kid's class with measels or to ensure your child isn't turned into a trans catgirl by public schoolteachers and trained to use a litterbox, or the competitive sanctity of the women's track and field team, or whatever other dumb bullshit they can come up with.

People can be made to care about that stuff easily. Then the politicians get elected, do some random bullshit culture war legislation to get re-elected, but focus on making their corporate donors happy by allowing them to more effectively fuck over the constituents.

[–] realworldschlitz@lemmy.world -1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

I’m sorry did you just provide a nuanced argument that didn’t just equal “libs r bad”???

I swear… was this part of a conversation and not cheap tankie horseshit?

[–] SomeRandomNoob@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 5 hours ago

Well ... most of the so called "Democrats" are also corrupt conservatives. They just don't follow the Orange Fellon Rapist Turd

[–] minorkeys@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 hours ago

Cuz they all complicit. Democrats just argue about how fast and how much damage to do to get there. Rich ppl on both sides have rich ppl personality traits in common, they are just less or more psychopathic or narcissistic. They could all be like Dolly Parton and they choose, everyday, to be something else.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 9 points 9 hours ago

ITT: Excuses from people who like that the only thing democrats are willing to accomplish is weapons sales for genocide.

[–] cantstopthesignal@sh.itjust.works 10 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (12 children)

There was a referendum to tax the rich in Illinois and it fucking failed, by a lot. We don't live in a liberal country. We live in a center-right country with strong far right tendencies.

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[–] uszo165@futurology.today 6 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Why are there no populist socialists? I mean people like Milei or Trump, but unapologetically radical far-left, who bring a chain saw to slash landlords, or implement a myriad of taxes that hit the wealthy. They would be incredibly popular. I don't want timid liberals who worry that capitalists emigrate to evade taxes. I want dyed-in-the-wool Marxists who confiscate their property and let them flee to whatever country wants them or put them in camps if they don't behave.

[–] ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Propaganda mostly.

Like look at hispanic trump voters. He campaigned on deporting their family. They voted for him anyway because they want to make it financially, and they have been told that voting Republican is how you do that.

Same with other conservative voters. They vote against their best interests because they are miseducated. They have been told their whole lives that government spending is irresponsible, taxation is theft, immigrants are stealing their jobs, that the Republican party is the party of fiscal responsibility, and that the Democrats are communists (spooky!) who want to make you poor and want to eliminate personal property.

So say Comrade Trump ran on a populist far-left platform. There is no way to really communicate the economic benefits in a way people would understand or believe. They are conditioned against it.

The DSA is attempting this now with folks like Mamdani and El-Sayed. Trying to frame generally left wing economic ideas in terms of "affordability" and making the policies directly applicable to their lived experience. But it is an uphill battle to cut through the conditioning.

[–] Objection@lemmy.ml 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Like look at hispanic trump voters.

Democrats lost Hispanic voters by running to the right on immigration and giving up on any sort of rhetoric about how "building the wall" is racist. The anti-immigrant people still voted Republican, while conservative Hispanics no longer saw a reason to look past culture war issues based on immigration, since there wasn't that much difference between what the two parties were saying.

People love to go all "leopards ate their face" and just attribute it to stupidity but it's really a failure on the part of the Democratic party's messaging and tactics. They caved to the right's rhetoric and it backfired, just like it always does.

[–] ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml 4 points 8 hours ago

Oh no, that is totally correct. I'm not even really blaming them entirely, because the Democrats really fucked up.

But the Republicans were obviously running to the right of the Dems. With trump and friends openly saying they wanted essentially more concentration camps and more deportations and to expand ICE to enact that policy. Democrats maintained the system of concentration camps and deportations, but Republicans were obviously still worse on that issue. And many voters, including hispanic voters, cited trump as being the better economic choice.

[–] btsax@reddthat.com 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Its easier to destroy than to build

[–] PyroNeurosis@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 4 hours ago

They should take a break from all that hard work they do building up the country and try tearing down some oil or silicon valley cartels. Maybe try destroying paramilitary police forces killing citizens.

Dismantle a single man's political future for attempting a coup.

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