My favorite way to explain this to normies is with a weird thing that Denny’s breakfast joint did years ago…
For those I don’t know, by the way, Denny’s is a US crappy breakfast joint that sells two cent pancake breakfasts for five bucks.
Every year Danny’s used to have a “free breakfast” day… Where you could come in and they would give you a free breakfast.
Now again, this breakfast is crappy, but it’s completely free. And as a result of this, Denny’s all over the US have always had lines out the door of people coming there to get that crappy free breakfast.
Do you know why the line was around the corner?
Because people like simple good things like a free meal, no strings attached or special actions needed.
Now ask yourself this :
Would Denny’s have near as many people show up if they offered a means-tested 70% off reusable coupon that actually had unlimited uses and ultimately saved you more?
Or a mail-in rebate that only worked during a certain day of the week, or if they said “hey Denny’s customer! you better come to Denny’s on Tuesday because they’re going to otherwise get rid of free breakfast day later this year.”
The answer is no.
It’s stupid and sucks and is counterintuitive and even if the coupon had infinite uses, less people show up than would just for “free breakfast.”
People are dumb and their needs should be directly and fully resolved, not simply just gestured toward or only marginally addressed.
And so - just like if you tell them “you’re gonna lose the access to bodily autonomy” or “the ACA” or anything else… People don’t show up… At least not enough of them will.
See, generally no one cares when you tell them they’re going to lose something… they show up when you OFFER them something simple and that ACTUALLY improves their lives in a measurable material tangible easily-connected straight-line way.
Anyone posting here keeps up with the news and is well aware of every single policy proposal that each party has and their records…
…BUT 10 GODDAMN MILLION LESS PEOPLE VOTED this time and - as stupid as they are - it wasn’t third-party voters’ fault (because even if every 3rd party vote auto-went to Harris it wouldn’t have been enough for her to win) and the 🍊 didn’t get more votes than he did last time.
Yes, racism, sexism, etc. plays a role but inflation outpaced wage growth and there are people who remember getting a COVID check when Trump was president and the check stopped when Biden was president.
These people are unreachable with platitudes and telling them that “things are better” seems like gaslighting to them when they seem to not be able to afford as much, and they haven’t gotten a raise that even comes close to making up the difference.
It doesn’t matter who is actually at fault - they just know who is in charge when it was hurting… and unless you tell them, “I’m not like the person there now and I am going to fix it” and you make them believe you and you are fully and simply and directly addressing their concerns immediately - Not with a “70% off Denny’s coupon,” but with “free breakfast” kind of simple policies (even if you just lie to them like 🍊 does so openly)… then they will simply (and unfairly) vote for whoever is not “currently in charge” in their minds.
There are no safe havens for multiple reasons… there are places you can probably guess will be less bad… but there are potential worse consequences for each. For example :
In truth, despite things like inflation getting “better” overall and other economic indicators seeming to point to improvement, an overwhelming number of constituents who participate in voting across the world have felt pain from price increases without sufficient wage increases to offset that pain… and without action being taken that “feels” like it improves people’s material conditions, they are further ripened for the 🐂-💩 scapegoating of demagogues who gladly lie to pretend they will make their lives better… so everywhere they are being elected.
It’s not fair, but history shows us this is what happens…