A federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, on Friday blocked a new Biden administration rule that would prohibit credit card companies from charging customers late fees higher than $8.
US District Judge Mark T. Pittman, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, granted a preliminary injunction to several business and banking organizations that allege the new rule violates several federal statutes.
These organizations, led by the right-leaning US Chamber of Commerce, sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after the rule was finalized in March. The rule, which was set to go into effect Tuesday, would save consumers about $10 billion per year by cutting fees from an average of $32, the CFPB estimated.
Give me a break. Maybe you’re the problem if your satisfied supporting a party who’s political leanings are so flexible that the only metric they cling to is remaining slightly to the left of the GOP, no matter how far to the right that keeps pushing them.
The Democrats are already a center right party. At this rate, when the GOP goes full National Socialist Workers Party, the Democrats will adopt the Tea Party’s politics.
But hey, at least they’ll still be to the left of the GOP, right?
Correct. They will be to the left of the outright fascists. And it’s that or the fascists. By voting for anyone else, you choose the fascists. Sorry, that’s reality.
No, the reality is that people like you are helping to craft that very future by refusing to stop supporting the Democrats for even a moment.
Even if stopping for that moment is what is needed to turn the party back into a workers party, and not one that is entirely beholden to it’s donor class, because they know the rubes will vote for them no matter what they do.
If you are not inclined to want fascist leaders, and assuming you are a person and not a troll, how do you imagine ceasing to support the less fascist party during an election year will result in less fascism?
We are only driving in one direction. The GOP keeps their pedal to the floor, while the Democrats have been happy just to ease up the gas a little - but not slam on the brakes.
You’re saying that it’s better to support the Democrats and delay the inevitable arrival at destination Facism.
I’m saying if ever want to hope to flip a bitch, or even just find an off-ramp, the Democratic party has to be retrained on who they respond to. The only way to do that is to make them more responsive to their voters, then to their donors.
When facing down the barrel of the unlimited donations and super PACS of their donor class, the only weapon we have is solidarity in not supporting them, until they learn.
Taking a little medicine now, but with the chance to actually turn this car around, is worth the risk when the other option is just delayed full tilt facism, with occasional letting off the gas for the new Tea Party Democrats, if they aren’t already outlawed by that point.
…and if they instead decide that the left cannot be depended on and start courting voters more to the right?
I honestly felt how you feel. I just don’t think it’s historically worked that way.
Push local reps to the left and Primary the centrists. I’m all for it… but going home because your guy isn’t on the ballot is playing a dangerous game right now.
If the country can handle a Republican win, then go back to staying home in protest. But I think, especially at this point in time, that a Trump win would spell the end of American democracy.
You realize that courting the right, and destroying the left, has been the current Democratic party establishments playbook for quite a while already…right?
That was actually part of the Hillary Clinton’s campaign strategy. But don’t take my word for it, go read up on their well documented belief that they could give up on rural and bluecollar democrats, and replace them with “moderate GOP voters” from the suburbs.
Hint: it didn’t work.
So… you’re counterpoint is that if I don’t support them, they’ll just keep doing what they’re already doing?
I disagree. They’re behave like that because they can. Because despite their base despising their donor first agenda, the base still turns out for them, more or less.
The only way to correct that, is to retrain them on who’s needs they need to be responsive to. Absent becoming a billionaire who supports the 99%, the only way is to not support them, and be vocal about why.
Yes, that’s my point exactly.
Here is the painful truth that I realized back when I thought the way you do: They don’t give a flying fuck about us. We’re not numerous enough to sit out, be vocal, and hope they feel our absence. They didn’t in 2016. They didn’t in 2020. They won’t in 2024. We’re too fringe and too few. They just see us as fickle and hard to please extremists. We’d need to bring way more mainstream people with us to be heard. Hell, Gaza is actually getting some mainstream attention and Biden is still blocking UN action and sending Israel billions in weapons.
The average democrat voter is more than willing to guzzle the party’s liberal bullshit. Catering to “independents” and the disillusioned right pulls in more than enough votes to outweigh the left vocally sitting out. Have you watched any mainstream media?
We need to change the party from within. Be present and involved. Vote in primaries for leftists and support them. Run in the primaries if there aren’t leftists. The thing is that most voters want leftist policies once they understand how they’ll benefit from them.
In the meantime, there legitimately may not be an election in 2028 if this fucking psychopath wanna be mob boss gets another shot at a coup. It won’t fucking matter after that - making political change will take civil war.
You mean vote in the Presidential primary that the DNC cancelled this year?
Or did you mean, ignore that they cancelled it, and just vote for Biden like a good little lemming?
Don’t be so hysterical. Trump is bad, and I’m under no illusion what another term of his would be like, but he’s far too stupid and petty to “end democracy”, the Democrats are doing fine at doing that themselves.
I’m not some young radical. I’ve been through many cycles, and I’ve worked on more campaigns then most of people have voted in.
And yes, I’ve worked inside the DNC apparatus and been around contemporary Democratic machine politics nearly my entire life. I have a pretty good idea of what these people are like, because I’ve known a whole lot of them.
Ok, I will think on that.
If we’re waiting for one party to collapse, it should probably be the fascists.
Likewise, a concerted effort should be able to change the direction of a party. I honestly can’t say if that’s feasible in American politics.
Who specifically should I vote for that has a chance of beating Donald Trump in November?
Give me a name.
Vote for whoever you want.
My responses were directed at people commenting, unprompted, about how anyone who doesn’t support Biden, or buy into his campaign messaging, are either closeted Trump supporters, tankies, or (my personal favorite) foreign socket puppet accounts i.e. Russian bots.
Because obviously they can’t be lifelong Democrats who are fed up with current Democratic establishment and see the threat they pose if left unchanged - precisely because we NEED an actual strong leftwing workers party to stand against the GOP.
So, again, you do whatever your conscience tells you.
If your comfortable with a Democratic party that is already fully run by neoliberals, crushes leftists, and only moves further to the right each election, then keep supporting them. That’s on you.
Myself, I am going to see which option the Democrats are MOST concerned with i.e. uncommitted vs blank vs a specific 3rd party candidate.
I will also continue to support most of my local and statewide progressive candidates, because I do care, and I’m not whatever fantasy the Biden supporters have concocted so they can dismiss people like me without giving these idea any real thought.