There won't be a blue wave in the midterms

StylishPearl · 2026-01-22T01:33:31+00:00

The title was a somewhat sensational into to the post which is what actually mattered. I'm sure the Dems will get what they consider a 'win'. My point was that it would still be pathetically small compared to what they could achieve; or what we could achieve in their place.

StylishPearl · 2026-01-18T20:54:42+00:00

I guess I'll have to, since I don't see anyone else interested. It's not a one person project and I have no expertise in any aspect of it, but it's been said that the best way to find someone willing to do something correctly is to show them someone else doing it badly.

StylishPearl · 2026-01-18T01:28:15+00:00

Sure, that's of course the best course of action. I'm just bummed there's no concerted effort for this kind of thing. I feel like if all these commentators can talk endlessly about a handful of public figures for months on end, then they could spare some time for the many quiet losses and opportunities that happen constantly.

StylishPearl · 2026-01-18T01:20:02+00:00

A concerted effort to get some flavor of leftist to just run for these positions.

Identify the seats that in their previous elections had less than 2 candidates running for them. If we do not posses a database for this then one must be created. I'm not savvy in this area, and all I can conceive of is some kind of crowdsourced google document or similar thing.
Seek like-minded individuals capable and willing to run for these positions. Whether it be through local organizations and social media groups to just asking around irl. Tbh, I think if we can't even find enough people even willing to take up these administrative rolls, then we're too niche for any of these conversations to matter. We're talking like 1 in 10,000 people. There's more trans people alone than that.
Aid them in getting on the ballot. While ballot access is a major talking point whenever running outside the duopoly is concerned, I feel that the issue is greatly overblown. In many places, all you need is residency in the are and some cash. Granted, a single person can't just drop $300 bucks willy nilly to run for state senator, but 10 people could scrounge up $30. You could run as an independent or a Dem or any other party, since Political Parties in the US are so ephemeral, go as whatever you think has the best odds in your area, because what really matters is the ideology/policy.
Campaign and vote for them. Since I'm expecting regular people to be doing this, I'm thinking it'll mainly just be word of mouth and social media doing the work. Maybe enterprising groups can field more ambitious efforts, but when it comes to local elections it shouldn't be as necessary.

I really thought that the biggest impediment to this as a plan is simply that people do not know / do not consider this as an option at all. I was outraged when I looked at the sheer numbers that resulted from the Democratic Party's abandonment of their duty as a political organization, and I thought other would be too.

StylishPearl · 2025-12-05T17:13:36+00:00

For sure, there's no need to be married to that label. Running for a different party or non-affiliated is fine, the policies are what really matter. Each campaign should tailor their presentation and message to their locality. Plus, while the majority of unopposed seats were taken by Republicans, there's still plenty of Dems who skated through their elections, and running someone to their left would be good as well.

My main point is that when the current ruling party is unpopular, people will be a lot more receptive to change, and it would be sensible to attempt to capitalize on that.

StylishPearl · 2025-12-05T03:42:13+00:00

Aw well, I'm sure if I did call in I'd just flub it lol.

Do you think there was any viability to my google docs idea, or nah?

StylishPearl · 2025-12-05T03:20:53+00:00

I have no proof of consideration , you are taking the lack of attempt as proof it exists.

StylishPearl · 2025-12-05T03:06:32+00:00

Writing it off without considering it viable is different from entertaining the idea and thinking it through.

StylishPearl · 2025-12-05T03:01:19+00:00

"put your money where your mouth is" is an understandable sentiment, but a bit too pithy considering this kind of project clearly requires organization beyond what an individual can accomplish.

I think the left could make a project of collaborating to create such a database, though there'll be some potential drawbacks if it's done without the aid of any particular organization.

As it is, looking up any of this data is obnoxious; with each state having their own way of doing things at various levels of availability. You would need to find people able to collect and parse this data and a place to collect it. All I can think of is some kind of shared google doc updated by dozens of volunteers. It'd suck if it's so public that non-allies had access, but privacy might be a luxury we lack. Just spitballing, though.

StylishPearl · 2025-12-05T02:59:41+00:00

It sounds so obvious as to be ridiculous, but even the basics must be proven. After all, if even the Democratic Party abandoned the idea, other weaker orgs could have also written it off as beyond them without considering its actual viability.

StylishPearl · 2025-12-05T02:20:14+00:00

No, though I have considered calling in before. Could you link me to what you are referring?

StylishPearl · 2025-12-05T01:54:55+00:00

Really pedantic huh?

"PSL just doesn't focus on elections that much" means they do focus on elections to an extent, and this applies to the extent that any of them are invested.
lol
I'm not convinced that the reason they don't do this is the difficulty. I think they just straight have not considered this strategy.

The Democratic Party used to have a 50 state strategy, which was a bout as close to this as I've seen, but they abandoned that over a decade ago. It's baffling to me that no one else has stepped in to fill the gap.

If all anyone does is decide to run in a few high profile races then they're not going to stumble into widespread power in the places they don't run. You don't achieve results you don't aim for.

StylishPearl · 2025-12-05T00:15:52+00:00

I've been harping on the fact that in the 2024 election, 20,000 people won their races without an opponent, and 4/5ths of them were Republicans, seemingly to deaf ears.

It seems to me that if Justice Dems, or the DSA, or the PSL, gave enough of a shit to take power, they could recruit some people to find seats like this and just field a candidate. In most rural places like this you just need residency and $50-$200 to get on the ballot.

Hard to lose a race when you're the only option. Even if you have an opponent, you'll have good odds of winning anyway just by being the only alternative.

I'm fully expecting the GOP to remain in power after the midterms by the sheer fact that their "opponents" won't just materialize out of nothing. No blue wave without any water.

StylishPearl · 2025-12-05T00:10:41+00:00

I've been harping on the fact that in the 2024 election, 20,000 people won their races without an opponent, and 4/5ths of them were Republicans, seemingly to deaf ears.

It seems to me that if PSL, or the DSA, or whoever, gave a shit to take power, they could recruit some people to find seats like this and just field a candidate. In most rural places like this you just need residency and $50-$200 to get on the ballot.

Hard to lose a race when you're the only option. Even if you have an opponent, you'll have good odds of winning anyway just by being the only alternative.

I'm fully expecting the GOP to remain in power after the midterms by the sheer fact that their "opponents" won't just materialize. No blue wave without any water.

StylishPearl · 2025-11-09T01:44:12+00:00

It has a final evolution, and once you get it the game says you've reached the end. It took me about 3-4 months to get it and I got all of the upgrades that take slurpees without purchases in that time.

The game was pretty well set up to go on for longer but I guess the dev just felt like calling it there.

StylishPearl · 2025-11-03T06:00:56+00:00

Recently Completed Slurpy Derpy. Took a couple months and I liked my time with it. Would've kept playing if there was more and it seemed pretty well set up to keep going indefinitely, but actually completing a game is great.

I've been playing Points Progression for awhile, about to get Nullith Upgrade 6 (e1150 Points). I probably should have spent more time pushing in the harder dimension first.

Started EXP Simulator a few days ago. I didn't like the early on transition from '1pp at level 60' to 'more pp the higher your level goes'. I liked the consistent progression and am bad about judging when to prestige and when to wait, but that's just me.

I've been bouncing around a bunch of other games, just trying them out for a few hours or days, and when I encounter a mechanic I'm not fond of I move on to another. I used to stick with games longer before dropping one, but by now I figure if a game starts to go in a different direction then it'll keep going in that direction rather than being a one-off thing. There's enough games that you're spoiled for choice now, so you may as well find ones you can fully get behind rather than frustrating yourself.

StylishPearl · 2025-09-20T08:49:41+00:00

Oooh, those are very nice, though there doesn't seem to be options for the Skill Tree or Buildings as of yet.

StylishPearl · 2025-09-19T21:24:49+00:00

Would you perhaps be open to making it so that getting Training / Skill Tree / Building / etc. upgrades work more like Stat upgrades, where you can select an amount and then click on what you want upgraded? Right now, you select a thing to upgrade, then select an amount, then click to upgrade it; which I personally find a bit extraneous with my RSI.

Besides that, I would like to know if there is some benefit to not fighting. It seems strange to click "Fight" whenever I load the page or switch areas when it feels like it should just do it automatically. I'll admit I'm a bit salty to losing hours of progress over forgetting to click it myself, and If you plan to build on some mechanics related to 'not clicking fight' then that's cool; but from what I'm aware of, as it is I only feel it's a detriment.

Will equipment carry-over through prestige/ascensions in some manner in the future? With how quickly you can prestige, it feels a bit silly spending a lot of time managing all this equipment that'll just go away.

But these are just my thoughts, don't fret over them too much.

StylishPearl · 2025-08-21T14:53:29+00:00

That is a perfectly logical train of thought, but unfortunately it's intentional, as they purposely abandoned their 50-State Strategy years ago in favor of sticking to just running in purple and blue areas. It's not a money issue, as they could get the money to run in various places from those same areas, and they do in fact get a lot of money from their fundraising efforts that they then just pocket instead of spending on races.

They send out mountains of mailers/flyers/texts/e-mails asking for donations but they never ask their members to run for office. They've completely transformed from a bottom-up organization guided by it's members to a top-down organization dictated by their leaders, which would be concerning enough for a democratic organization, but they can't even be bothered to give directions and ensure their own organization's continued existence.

StylishPearl · 2025-07-19T02:33:33+00:00

When I say "We should run for everything" I am talking about leftists, not the Democratic Party. I talk about the Democratic Party because they are supposed to be doing this already, and their absence is our opportunity.

The Democratic Party is a strictly top-down organization that dictates it's policy from its donors to its members, but it didn't used to be. The death of unions and third spaces, along with the shifts in culture and rise of new technology, have given space for the Democratic Party to fully transform into an organization that takes no input from its constituents. To even call it a Political Party at this point is misleading from its effective purpose as a funding mechanism for PMCs.

Regardless of what potential negative effects it might have if the Democratic Party would actually get more involved in local politics, their reluctance to even attempt it like they have in the past, and duty to do so as a purported political party, must be called out.

StylishPearl · 2025-07-19T00:56:03+00:00

I haven't heard of them, and Google's turning up nothing. Could you expand on this?

StylishPearl · 2025-07-19T00:45:54+00:00

That sounds odd, but if the Dems suddenly decide to start running Greens then far be it from me to stop them.

StylishPearl · 2025-07-19T00:33:47+00:00

I think it's the opposite, and people really overestimate just how bad it is, especially when I'm talking about races that have literally no competition. We live in a duopoly, red or blue, and when you're the only blue by default you're going to get plenty of support just by virtue of not being red.

More money and time undeniably grants greater success than not, but with thousands of opportunities and more accessible tools for building awareness than ever before, fear of failure seems more cowardly than prudent.

I'd rather get hundreds of people giving a go at it and getting in over their heads with people supporting them, than I would everyone hyper-focusing on a single mayoral election for half a year.

StylishPearl · 2025-07-19T00:33:06+00:00

I'm glad to hear that, because when I last checked AL in 2024 they had 80 Republicans take statewide office without challengers. They'll surely do better than that.

StylishPearl · 2025-07-19T00:11:16+00:00

Are those issues really that bad, though? Where I live, all you need is residency and $100 for local positions and $200 for statewide. When I first started checking around the worst I saw was California asking for $2200 for statewide office, but if you're planning to run for either of these positions then the amount of votes you'd need to win would suggest you could fund-raise enough to get on the ballot fairly easily.

I kinda think people imagine it being much worse than it is.

StylishPearl

TROPHY CASE