I appreciate your response nonetheless and that you were civil towards me even if you disliked my opinion. Genuinely, thank you for that.

I do think you touch on some good points about local candidates and support. I think things are better now, but I do distinctly recall that it was lacking for a good part of 2008 - Present.

When it comes to federal candidates, I honestly think it's a mix -- yes, the candidates could stand to be better and a lot more appealing. I don't think it's a mistake that the more charismatic and friendly Democrat candidates have done well. I think too though that voter responsibility is a consideration. Even if the candidates are less than stellar, it's important to go vote, because the less stellar Democrat is still better than the best Republican. I think the best way to look at it is that both ends need to be responsible -- there need to be candidates that are genuine and spirited in some regard. And blue voters need to vote for them even if there's room for improvement.

There's never going to be a perfect candidate -- but that doesn't mean we can't have a good candidate. I didn't quite appreciate that second part until what you said. I don't think it changes my view about voting for Biden, but it does help me understand the consternation about it more. I can see what you mean by being tired of all the voting, just for things to be where they are. It can be a two pronged effort to both inspire voters with a good candidate and encourage voters to show up. I think the idea of a shared responsibility makes the whole nomination process and campaigning feel more like a partnership with the voter, which it should feel like.

I don't know about a progressive candidate never getting the nomination either -- I don't think any barriers they could put up would stop a really good candidate. Their strength is overstated, I think. Maybe I'm just refusing to accept a pessimistic reality, but if we don't fight like we have a chance, we aren't going to have a chance. Corpo overlords are only invulnerable if we think they are.

This is a tangent, but I saw it happen before, when I worked for a petrochemical company. Consumer goods manufacturers were pledging to stop using single use plastics because customers were demanding them to be more sustainable. It would've been devastating to my company's revenue if that happened, so corporate started looking at how to reliably recycle plastics and reuse them all the way on the chemical feedstock level. Collective bargaining is incredibly powerful.