The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike from sleeping under bridges, begging on the streets and stealing bread.
Anatole France, 1894
Submitted 6 hours ago by SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.com to [deleted]
https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/pictrs/image/cfd2134a-efca-4066-9473-6b2ba1fdc920.webp
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike from sleeping under bridges, begging on the streets and stealing bread.
Anatole France, 1894
I commented that exact quote several times on Lemmy, nice to see other people do the same!
It’s been one of my favorites for decades!
Working class: “Can we have meaningful reform?” Conservatives: “No.” Liberals: "No 😘 🌈 "
I’m frustrated with the reflexive “both sides are equally bad” response that shuts down any meaningful analysis of what’s actually happening in our politics.
I’m not naive about the Democratic Party’s problems. They struggle with internal divisions, sometimes cave to corporate pressure, and they’ve made compromises that disappointed their base. But when I look at voting records, policy proposals, and legislative priorities, I see meaningful differences that have real consequences for people’s lives.
On issues I care about (healthcare access, climate action, voting rights, ext.) one party consistently proposes solutions and votes for them when they have the numbers. The other party doesn’t just oppose these policies, they fight tooth and nail to undermine them, delay them, or dismantle them entirely. That’s not a matter of opinion. That’s a matter of public record.
When Democrats fail to deliver, it’s often because they lack sufficient majorities or face procedural roadblocks. When they do have power, they’ve passed significant legislation on infrastructure, climate investment, and healthcare expansion. Meanwhile, when Republicans have unified control, their priorities have been tax cuts for the wealthy and rolling back environmental protections.
I understand the appeal of cynicism. It can feel sophisticated to dismiss all politicians as equally corrupt. But that cynicism serves the interests of those who benefit from the status quo.
If you can’t tell the difference between someone trying to reform a broken system and someone actively working to keep it broken, you’re not offering insight. You’re providing cover for obstruction.
Does this mean Democrats are perfect? Of course not. Should we hold them accountable when they fall short? Absolutely. But pretending there are no meaningful differences between the parties just because neither is perfect makes it harder to build the coalitions we need to create the change we actually want to see.
The more accurate form of the comment to which you’re reacting would be:
Can I have a free beer?
Conservatives: No
Liberals: Points to novelty sign on wall Free Beer Tomorrow winks “so you want a beer today? That’ll be $8.99”
The results aren’t exactly the same, but the gulf is not meaningful is the problem. Realistically, most people don’t actually like either party, they just dislike the other party more. If one day we had a 7 random parties just appear and Rs and Ds vanish, for a solid 20 years, political discourse would be verdant and nuanced in a way rarely seen in the US.
I agree with you that the parties are not the same. The GOP are outright evil puppets of the billionaire class. The Democrats are ineffectual cowards who’ve made careers out of paying lip service to the right thing, and every now and then doing something helpful if it’s convenient for them and doesn’t piss off their billionaire donors. A lot of the time that ends up translating to the same results for most people.
I don’t buy the “sorry, our hands are tied” line we always get from the left. Dems throw up their hands even when they do have majorities. The first meaningful opportunity the Democrats had to obstruct Trump’s agenda, after the left base had been screaming for weeks for their representatives to do something, Schumer rolled over immediately. I can’t take this party seriously anymore.
Ive always put it in the very crude fashion of “They are both going to fuck us, but one of them spits on it and goes in gentle the other one wants us to struggle.”
“No kit should ever be able to sleep on the streets”
Think of the kids.
But don’t do anything.
“No kid should ever have to sleep on the streets, so we made it borderline impossible for them to physically do so. Hopefully their bootstraps figure out someplace they can sleep, because we sure as hell didn’t. You’re welcome.”
Maybe the populous should have been more specific then
Holy shit! There’s a bunch of poor homeless kids that are starving!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yep. This is what happens when you bleeding heart assholes stop the school shooters, bullying-to-suicide, and ecumenical rape. The whole ecosystem gets out of whack.
This year, we couldn’t even find enough people to take all the hunting licenses.
Saw a guy sleeping under a bench with a similar design as this one, checkmate.
they probably put spikes on the ground after that
There is so much going on in that image. Layer after layer. It made me kinda dizzy.
I knew the threads would be cha0s. I was hoping someone would comment about the image itself. And wow. Hell of a comment. :]
This is not literally liberalism lmao
Literally means figuratively? What a country!
Aww they put kid sized sleeping areas on the bench!
Revisiting and damn I made a good call to turn off notifications.
My visionary foresight knows no limits
Coward.
We got a figure out a way to remove first past the post.
There are really at least 3 groups, not liberals and conservatives.
There are progressives, neoliberals, and fascists.
Progressives believe the government exists to help all people.
Neoliberals say people should not be descriminated against, but wealth segregation is fine
Fascists are, well, fascists.
there already is a us state without first past the post, it’s electors voted for trump.
This post isn’t very region specific but I assume you’re talking about the USA.
Steps:
Vote DNC, Promote DNC, Volunteer DNC
DNC ammends constitution to reverse the Citizens United Decision, removing money from politics.
DNC ensures fair districting and proportional representation
People now have the power to enact real meaningful change
Simultaneously:
Promote FairVote, educate people door to door and on the streets, buy ad space if you can
Protect local broadcast infrastructure and donate to forums where people discuss these issues to keep them running
Utilize Artwork to get people’s attention on these issues.
JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 1 minute ago
Is that just a weird perspective, or is that bench just an inch or two off the ground?