The decision not to invite observers from the OSCE puts the U.S. alongside Russia and Belarus, while the Justice Department prepares to deploy its own poll monitors.
The Trump administration declined to invite election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to witness the midterms, blocking monitors from the regional security group for the first time in more than two decades.
Their absence comes as Democrats and election integrity experts have raised concerns about potential election meddling after the Department of Justice announced plans to send its own monitors.
Washington joins only Russia and Belarus in its decision to exclude OSCE observers.
The OSCE called the U.S. decision “regrettable” and Human Rights Watch said the move “fuels fears of serious human rights concerns around the upcoming elections.”
Is this sarcasm?
Even if MAGA doesn’t tamper with the election to keep control of Congress, we’ve seen already what Dems do when they get power back. They keep most of the fascistic policies implemented by the red team, drag their feet prosecuting any of the MAGA leadership, continue our imperialist foreign policy unchecked, and refuse to implement widely popular domestic programs.
Our only recourse is working class solidarity. General Strike.
EDIT: To clarify my point - yes, we should vote in November. But just voting - even if it results in Dem supermajorities in Congress - will not save us. The Dems generally don’t go out of their way to persecute the working class, but they don’t fight for us either. They are the “good cop” who gets us to cooperate with the billionaire agenda because we don’t want them to send in the “bad cop” (MAGA) again. The only way they will do our bidding is if we force them, and we do that with a general strike.
I agree with the general strike, but we also need an opposition party with power to do something during and after the strike.
It’s not all made up fiction and both sides are not the same.
Apathy of the populace and cynicism got us here and we have to push back against that to get out of it.
They are not the same. But they work for the same team and we’re not on it (unless you’re a billionaire on Lemmy).
The Dems will only do our bidding if we make them. And we make them by having a general strike.
Dude I full agree with you. We need all of these things.
Yeah, but we’re not gonna get what we want. We may get a Dem majority for two years. We may even get a Dem president in 28. And then most people will go back to sleep while our government continue to support genocide and imperialism, continue to fund ICE while doing the bare minimum to reign in their most egregious behavior, continue to say we can’t have Medicare for All, and continue to obfuscate and delay release of the redacted portions of the Epstein files.
Even here on Lemmy, a platform full of people with non-mainstream views, there is so much resistance to what I’m saying. It makes me feel hopeless.
EDIT: clarity, no content changes
I get the hopelessness, but if you give into it then you become a part of what you’re worried about.
The option to hope might feel pointless but it’s literally the only rational option because it gives you a chance even if it’s slim. The other path is no chance at all and I can’t accept that.
I encourage everyone to check their cynicism, it’s a drug, it feels good, it feels practical, and it always leads to ruin.
I will continue to vote and I will continue to advocate for and participate in collective action to put pressure on whoever is in power.
But I can’t just decide that things look hopeful. They don’t. Not when the vast majority of the country still thinks the only problem is MAGA.
Joe Biden spent his first two days in office breaking the record for executive actions.
https://politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jan/27/marco-rubio/how-joe-bidens-first-executive-orders-compare-past/
I am old enough to remember that most of these were either doing things that Trump SHOULD have done to address Covid but refused to (as the article points out) or were just undoing what Trump did as the previous record holder fro his first term.
Like,i get it. Biden was a neoliberal and a capitalist. The DOJ should have put Trump in jail long.before he had an opportunity to run for office again. But this BoTh SiDeSrhetoric is factuay inaccurate and actively pro-fascist.
Yes, he did the bare minimum.
And look where we are now.
He and his party should have fought like hell to make sure this couldn’t happen again. They didn’t. And those of us who are old enough to have observed the trend line in our political history should already have figured out why.
Por que no los dos?
You got something to lose by voting anyway?
Are you incapable of enacting change both within and outside the bounds of the system?
Or is it just a zero sum game?
I never said I wouldn’t vote, and I added an edit to my comment that clarifies my position several minutes before you posted this response.
Ah, gotcha. But yes I agree. Voting is the first step to change, but cannot be the only step.
It will be the only step though. Even right now with fascists in power most of the working class refuse to even consider trying to shut down the economy and demand real change. What do you think will happen when Dems get power back?
Well when the cost of living is high and wages are low it’s hard for most people to think about risking their job to protest or strike when it could mean losing your housing and going hungry.
What I think if Dems can wrestle power back is try to start fixing the shit the Repubs broke. Only issue is it’s gonna be slow af because they’ll work inside the bounds of the law and won’t force shit through like the current admin is doing.
It’ll be just slow enough that they won’t finish before they lose power again.
That’s the problem isn’t it? The Trump administration fucked shit up with speed but fixing it is gonna take forever. All those people they abducted without paperwork? They’re all gonna have to be processed somehow to bring them back home and it’s going to take a Hurculean effort in manpower to make it happen. Easier to ignore laws and break stuff than it is to work within them and fix stuff or get stuff done.