Billionaires dont get to vote twice yall

i think you severely underestimate the power of think tanks, campaign funding, lobbying groups, etc

furthermore, you severely underestimate the power wealthy individuals have over the general populations' thought--consider how breitbart came to be in regards to the mercer family

There's calculated attempts in congress to make voting harder for people who might be disadvantaged by not being able to get off of work or get transportation to the polls, so thats one thing that puts a strain on what should be democracy,

then, we have a two party system that doesn't allow for progressive ideas and picks the middle of the road everytime, they're not as different as their members would like to believe,

Also the hypocrisy behind claiming to be a democracy while invading other countries or staging coups in places that may not even be violent or in need of military assistance in that way,

U can't claim to be pro-self-determination and democracy and then as soon as a government wants to approach something like socialism or otherwise you violently attack them so it doesn't even get a chance to evolve and grow

They write the laws, the politicians put in road blocks to vote for poor people, especially minorities, and they have unlimited access to these politicians.

democracy is voice of the think tanks, media & oligarchs, there is nothing true about it, no matter how many empty platitudes i hear about how wonderful it is etc etc.

Easiest example is weed legalization

Majority support from everyone in the country, especially democrat voters. Yet the president, a democrat, will not do it. How is this a democracy?

or rather, how is this representative democracy lmao

everything would be easier if you had a dictator (no matter if you think its good or bad), there would be shorter time to make decisions and you wouldnt have to use the media to launder your views to the general public

no but they can get who won on the line

All this is true
But it doesnt change that as an individual your vote can determine policy. The voters of west Virginia have a senator right now stopping every progressive policy attempted in its tracks
One man, who was given that power by the votes from the people of west Virginia

s*** is an oligarchy though, people passing tax cuts to appease billionaires and corporations above all else

i personally think a better example would be the slashing of the ""welfare state" when the majority of the us would benefit from social safety nets and support policies like universal healthcare and social security

while conservative politicians who represent those very constituents try to get those exact benefits repealed/slashed

Its legal in individual states. Again power is divided if you dont want to follow the federal law make it a state law

If it wasn't manchin, some other democrat would block it.

also true

to be real with u, u have a kind of a more hopeful perspective on voting that many of us itt i don't wanna rain on your parade on that note but i think a lot larger actions need to happen other than that,

I don't know what exactly, there's so many facets and im not even awake yet.

Duh. Why wouldnt you care for it?

Then take student debt for example lmao. Biden said he would slash 10k of it at least. why hasn't he done it? because his donors and the wealthy don't want it.

why is the only thing that can pass with bipartisan support military matters and slashing of welfare? because thats what the capitalist class wants. poor people get no say in policy.

My problem is not with democracy itself but with republicanism which is the system in my country.

it does change when considering that the courts themselves as well as voting districts are used to suppress votes from specific demographics of voters that might not vote conservative

voting is not as simple as "if you just vote itll count"
while technically true, theres also more complexity to the issue that dictates how much your vote counts (and maybe even IF itll count, as seen with the conservative push for voters to have identification)

Buzzword salad lol

buzzword salad lol

meanwhile tons of state legislatures are slashing voting rights as we speak lmao

a lotta empty calories in that s***

this thread the perfect opportunity to talk about it