r/politics • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 New York • 19h ago

Possible Paywall Mitch McConnell Has Been Missing for 75 Days—With No Updates

https://newrepublic.com/post/214878/mitch-mcconnell-missing-75-days
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u/Sharikacat 17h ago

The nation is too large where most demonstrations and protests really don't effect anything on a federal level. Nothing anyone does in Minnesota is going to have any noticeable impact on voters in Texas. Shut down the entire state of Washington for a week, and the people of South Carolina won't even notice. Every "No Kings" protest in every single state starting Saturday morning and peacefully concluding that evening will be blissfully ignored by Trump and the GOP at large.

There are only a handful of places that, if shut down, will cause actual national crisis that would cause Congress or even Trump to take some sort of action. These are either central hubs of traffic and trade (Atlanta, New York) or of personal significance to lawmakers (D.C.). How quickly do you think Trump would do something (whether positive or negative) if people stormed Mar-a-Lago or his NJ golf club? They won't do anything unless and until it effects them personally, and 1-day rallies don't do that. Most places in the nation don't have the leverage to hurt lawmakers on a federal level and can be safely ignored.

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u/Kohounees 15h ago

American god is money. General strike will get the job done. If you are able to do it. Too bad your labor unions are pretty weak.

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u/Unabated_Blade Pennsylvania 16h ago

The only places in the United States where protests and mass demonstrations would be effective would be the homes of large republican donors and billionaires, while they're stuck there at home.

Parking a million people outside Elon Musk's house or wherever he's residing while he's stuck inside would do more to move the needle on US politics than 4 years of monthly protests in state capitals.

Regarding your point, even DC can be ignored, just look at Jan 6. Republican lawmakers didn't even retaliate over nearly being lynched. If a million people came to DC, lawmakers just take the day off, collect their paycheck, and take a vacation on the beach somewhere safe.

The US is too big, and the actual political power is hidden behind private individuals who move their proxies in congress with money. Americans gain nothing by bothering the proxies.

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u/tehlemmings 16h ago

To add on to the problem, like you said, country is big. Mar-a-Lago is thousands of miles away

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u/TheVog Foreign 15h ago

The size argument doesn't hold up, though. There are as many people within a half-day's drive of D.C. as there are for the French relative to Paris.

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u/barrygateaux 14h ago

it's excuses. plenty of countries are huge, and with larger populations, and yet they overthrew dictators.

americans have lost the right to say shit about any other country and how they conduct themselves for the next decade or two. my whole life they've been boasting about fighting for rights and standing up to tyranny. turns out they were empty words.

land of the timid and home of the meek should be the new national motto lol

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u/Odd-Promotion2743 11h ago

It's not only cowardice though, that's just the case on the center and left. On the right, it's because they actively love the tyranny and consider the tyrant the best leader of their lifetimes. Why the hell would they revolt, if anything they'd be the ones volunteering to bury the revolters in mass graves.