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johnnyFive  ·  1241 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: November 4, 2020

It's strange, it feels alternately like this election is both hugely momentous and completely meaningless. In truth I'm not sure which outcome will be worse in the long term. Biden will put the mask back on and eat around the edges, but he's not going to do shit for most people; the systemic issues predate Trump by a long time. While I do think a Biden administration will be less harmful overall, I am concerned that it will put the populace to sleep. We're tired, we want a break, and a Biden presidency seems like a good excuse to do that. I have zero hope of anyone being able to push Biden to the left, but Trump's incompetence and just general terribleness has opened up the Overton Window some. In other words, I think a Biden victory will allow short-term improvement, even if that's just un-doing some of the damage Trump has done, but the long-term effects are far less certain.

Trump gave us a chance to actually confront some of our deeper issues as a country, but we've instead spent our time hand-wringing about how he's uncouth in public. As long as the gun is shiny, we don't really care where it's pointed.