114
this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025
114 points (96.0% liked)
politics
24265 readers
3067 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Agree. LGBTQ and other issues are important, but they are fringe issues. Democrats should be focused on appealing to the average voter, whoever that is by focusing on issues that affect MOST people like wages, healthcare, housing, childcare, labor rights, etc. You only get to take care of the fringes if you have power and that means winning over the non-fringes.
Edit: the downvotes on here are frankly selfish as hell. What’s your response even? No one even has the guts to share, so here is my guess — “My niche political issue impacts 1-5% of the population, but politicians should focus on me. Even if it obviously won’t win an election and will instead usher in even more wins for the far right, politicians should focus on my issues rather than those common to all people. It’s better to sink the entire ship, if I can’t get my wins immediately rather than build a movement that incrementally makes progress.”
Despite the opposition, you are correct. We need to focus on issues that will win elections, not issues that affect a miniscule minority. The best help for those people is a government that will support them, so they have to understand that getting out of the way, and allowing their supporters to get elected is the best thing they can do.
If transgender people and their supporters want action, then stop demanding that the focus be on them, and support other Democratic issues that will lead to getting elected. THEN they can advocate for their rights with people who will actually listen.
I am a straight white dude and the attack on trans people very much affects me. It affects all of us. They aren't going to stop there. I'm not willing to toss our friends and family to the wolves because we apparently have better things to focus on. We can speak to pocketbook issues while protecting people at the same time. It's not a binary choice.
I'm not saying those people aren't important, I'm saying they shouldn't be the highest priority when deciding which issues to highlight during a presidential campaign. Sure, transpeople need our support, but their issue personally affects a far smaller segment of the population than an issue like healthcare, which affects literally EVERYBODY.
The First Rule of Politics is Get Elected, and that means highlighting the issues that will bring you the most votes. Once elected, then you can do whatever you want to help whoever you want. If you are one of those people who needs that sort of support (not just transfolk), then focus more on what it will take to get your advocates into power, instead of just using the campaign to highlight your own personal issues. Get your people elected, and then pressure them to help you.
This is what politics is, and why it often gets smarmy in practice, but that's the game. If you want to win, you have to play it.