Posts by Joseph Wright4

nimblemarlin17 said:It’s not some myth, it’s reality. What do you think my grandma votes for? An uncle or a nephew rolls up and says, "Hey Grandma, I'll do this for you so you don't have to walk down to the polls." Just guess which party gets all those votes.

Then there’s the military. Back in the day, I was in a friendly weekend soccer league with a proud US Armed Forces colonel. He wasn't ashamed to talk openly in the pub about how they used to rig hundreds of votes for the Republican Party and how much it sucks now because it's become way harder.

When you hear things like that firsthand, they stop being urban legends or fairy tales. Tens of thousands of votes across America go to the Republican Party that way.

Look, that happened back in the 90s, but in the last few elections, it's happened so rarely it's basically negligible—it doesn't change the outcome. I’ve actually served on an election commission myself, and I never saw anything like that. Not to mention, since around 2000, even in a tiny town of 100 people, you've got poll watchers from every single party present. So yeah, maybe it happens occasionally, but definitely not in numbers big enough to swing an election. And if it were happening as massively as you're claiming, the Democratic Party would be shouting it from the rooftops, along with other parties. It's just not true.

nimblemarlin17 said:The reasons go deep, but the biggest issue is that the Republican Party was so dominant during the early days of building this country that they basically sat on top of the mountain as the default setting, and once you're up there, you don't move. They built a brand for people who don't even realize what a "brand" is. Think about it—how do people in rural areas actually vote? A kid heads to the polling station and checks five boxes. He does it for himself, his mom, his dad, his uncles, his aunts—basically everyone too old or too tired to make the trip. And even if they do show up, they only know one party. The Republican Party. Most Americans come from those small towns, uneducated and uninterested in anything serious besides the local harvest or whether gas prices went up by ten cents this week.

The other parties just fail at marketing, and that’s the real problem. It shows they aren't trying hard enough, which proves they can't convince the public of things that are as obvious as day and night. No matter how bad the Republican Party gets, they always have a base. It’s passed down through generations. I have a friend who finished his degree in economics, works at a major bank, and isn't stupid. He told me L.J. Jurcic was his best professor in college, but he said there's absolutely no way he's voting for the Democrats. I'm not saying he *has* to vote for the Democratic Party; that's not the point. The point is why he won't. His reasoning is broad and completely nonsensical. The guy hasn't even formed a real opinion about the world around him or the forces shaping it. If an educated, smart guy talks like that, imagine how the uneducated ones think. You could sell anything to them, just like whatever Ivo Sanders is pulling lately.

What you wrote above isn't true. It's a total urban legend that someone shows up in rural towns and votes for the whole family (it happens, sure, but it's a tiny fraction). The rest of this is just underestimating rural Americans. People aren't quite as dumb as you think. When Pusički basically claims all smart people (linking it directly to cities) vote for the Democrats while uneducated farmers vote Republican—well, you can't expect their votes then. Your take is stereotypical and some of it—like the group voting thing—is just false.

As for that last part—plenty of educated people don't vote at all, and a huge chunk of those who do vote for the Republican Party simply because they don't like the alternative (meaning Zoran Milanović, who can't seem to win a fight he's already winning).
(Just to be clear—I've never voted Republican in my life, though that doesn't really matter)

Kevin Mitchell said:True, but the Republican Party and the Democratic Party aren't the only players in the game...🤷

Well, they basically are (except for a few local parties here and there)

I guess the answer boils down to two main things.

First, there really isn't a strong alternative out there right now (even though the Republican Party is an absolute disaster and has gone way too far). I mean, the Democratic Party and Joe Biden were basically handed a win in the last election, but everything they do just makes it worse. They go from one stupid mistake to the next, bringing up trivial issues that only serve to make them lose. They’re constantly on the defensive, and when people point out how bad their campaign is, they act like everyone else is the idiot and they're the geniuses. How is anyone supposed to trust Joe Biden when he keeps digging his own grave?

Second, plenty of people still see the Democratic Party as just a bunch of old-school communists without any real vision. And once again, the party undermines itself with all sorts of nonsense—singing songs about the Soviet Union, celebrating Independence Day, and other similar stupidity.

On top of that, they have the whole Eric Adams situation where he's pulling off massive thefts in New York City, and the Democratic Party just stays quiet..

There are a few other minor issues, but overall, it seems to me like the Democratic Party really screwed the pooch with Joe Biden..

Maybe I just want to troll here (which is probably what I'm doing)—but seriously!!! Isn't this whole thread just completely absurd? From the title itself all the way down... and if you actually look at the arguments and how things have spiraled, it’s pretty much exactly what you'd expect. It's totally predictable..🙄