Anyone who takes the time to educate themselves on the issues should get a vote. But if you don’t even want to be aware that there are 3 branches of government, and like what their names are then… the vote is worse than unhelpful, it becomes an echo of the people who are trying to bring the system down. Then nobody gets a vote, especially when votes themselves are done away with.

That’s the thing - we shouldn’t all have a vote. The founding fathers warned us about if we did: the elites would sway those who most easily prostrated and gave themselves up to that, hence power would go to those most willing to do precisely that.

That is why the USA was called an “experiment” in democracy - it was a test, not assured that we would make it. The fact that we have come this far by no means acts as a guarantee that we have the ability to go any further. And somehow the people who routinely fall for chain email scams are the ones in charge.

What made it work, in the past, was that the elites enjoyed the fiction of allowing people to vote - they were pacified, and the real stuff got done regardless, however they wished. However, now with globalization and automation, that precept is no longer true. Mega-corporations don’t need or want much of an educated workforce, least of all one that acts entired, demanding a higher share of profits.

I see government itself becoming less relevant than it used to be, as multinational corporations amass more power than those are allowed to retain. But to the extent they are allowed to continue existing, they become a tool of those in power to exert even further control. Meanwhile we talk as if We The People are in charge, but the more the masses say that, the less true it is. Especially when they refuse to even so much as read a book or watch a video about how things really are. They prefer to watch sports or reality TV shows, confident that big daddy will give them everything they hoped for, not realizing that what they deserve is so, so much ah… different.

Things are going to change, that’s for sure, as we settle into a new equilibrium that better matches the updated set of circumstances that we see now and expect to come soon.

The really real answer:

Alternative: maths have taken over our brainz:

I don’t deny that conservatives hate themseslves - it’s somewhat the definition of the brand (they hate others, but ofc it’s always someone else, NeVeR tHeM, who will get their faces eaten off), but there is also that pioneering spirit of “go west young man” that expanded America both before and especially after the 13 colony stage.

Think of fascism as a virus: sometimes it wins, other times not, either way it loses in the end b/c it kills the host, and yet… it just keeps spreading doesn’t it.

It sounds like you are underestimating the effect of the SCOTUS ruling. Or perhaps news headlines have been over-estimating it, and I haven’t researched it deep enough to refute that? Honestly I have no idea which.

I think some of the reason why democracy is not thought highly of in America is the electoral college, not its effect that is much more often talked about, but here I mean its mere existence, acting to reassure people that if they make a REALLY bad decision, then big daddy rich men will come in and clean it up for them. We should all be much more afraid than we are. We should study hard in school, if we want to earn the right to vote responsibly. We should also treat that right to vote much more seriously - e.g. have a requirement where you pass a test to be able to do it, perhaps the same test that immigrants must take in order to become a citizen. How can someone vote “responsibly” if they aren’t even aware that the number of branches of government is three?

Even its wiki page says it was not unique, was not for common folk, and also it was repealed even though portions of it were re-issued. If you mean that this could be used as a name, I was thinking more along the lines of like “Madness Monday”, except you know… something actually good:-).

I find it extremely interesting, and highly ironic, that Jesus Himself hated religion. With a passion. He preached love & forgiveness, except to those who would “lead little ones astray; better that a (heavy) millstone be tied around their neck and be cast into the sea” - the only negative words He said about people were to that sort, calling them “whitewashed tombs, fully of rot and decay”. So I halfway get that religion sucks, b/c it is a system of control for the rich old men, and in the West it is usually white (and almost always cis+het, or at least present externally that way). As the famous atheist philosopher Daniel Dennett used to say, it is an evolutionarily “good trick”, to convince people to go out and work HARD in the farms, while you kick back and shoot the shit drinking cool and warm drinks, having access to medical care and such while you actively prevent others from doing likewise.

Watching Hillary Clinton lose to Donald Trump in 2016 woke me up to the level of naïveté that liberalism in America has. Almost every educated person is liberal, as are most people in cities who are at least aware of the basic premise that “we are all in this together”. When someone gets sick, they spread it on the public transit systems, and even a wealthy person may be impacted by e.g. their cleaning person not showing up due to an unexpected illness (or death). Don’t let the whole red vs. blue state thing fool you - it is all rural vs. urban. And to be fair, at some point it was more honest that way - like a rural person would legitimately live and die by their belief system, so e.g. when they opposed ObamaCare, even though many did it without truly understanding what it even meant, others on the other hand did know what it meant, and still opposed it, even for themselves.

But that was then, when e.g. George Bush was a progressive, and then the Tea Party was coming in with so many changes, but before it could even finish taking over, the Alt Right swept it, and now we have… whatever the fuck this is, perhaps we should call it Trumpism (except they don’t even listen to him - e.g. he “invented” the vaccine, and thus in his ego told people to take it, but this part they hushed up; so Trumpism has Trump as their figurehead, but even he is most definitely not in charge of it).

What truly messed me up though was watching CGP Grey’s video Rules for Rulers, which isn’t quite Machiavellian though it gives off similar tones in that it encourages people to open their eyes to some of those uncomfortable Truths: that “corruption” isn’t so much a flaw - although it most definitely is that too, especially when taken to excess - as it is a necessary grease to keep the system working. We ignore this at our peril.

But now I see Biden doing the opposite sin: caring so much about the behind-the-scenes events that he forgot to explain things to the American people, who even if not during his 4-year reign as king, yet in-between that and his next anticipated 4-year further reign (of let’s be honest his administration, though it seems increasingly doubtful that he will be much of a participant in it anymore) they are the ones who get to decide whether he continues or not. Therefore, right or wrong, the inflation situation, the events in Gaza, and somehow more important than either (WTF?!) his debate performance, was a mandatory key that he had to turn in order to win. But instead… he does nothing, and exactly like Hillary Clinton did in 2016, he just keeps repeating the mantra that “but everything is fine tho”, in defiance of everything that people see and KNOW and truly FEEL in their daily lives. i.e., BuT tHe EcOnOmY tHo. Oopsie.

Trump will be a much worse President. But like someone playing a masterful game of chess and planning out in meticulous detail every single move forward for over a hundred, nay a thousand end-game scenarios, yet Biden forgot to handle the mid-game, and is about to lose, making all the rest become irrelevant.:-(

The fascists will win, because they deserve it, b/c they have opened their eyes to reality. And then we will all suffer under their harsh regime. Either that or Biden will exercise his newly-given powers, and perhaps become the very fascist that people hate, but nonetheless may offer people more comfortable lives than the alternative. Either way, fascism wins, b/c we are too dumb to take care of ourselves… maybe? At least that is my fear.

We shall see. I was very wrong, thinking that Hillary would win for sure. Perhaps I am wrong about this as well - fingers crossed 🤞.

The thing is, on the Right they put in actual effort to get shit done, while on the Left we whine and complain why it isn’t perfect already. Never mind actually reading a linked article, on Lemmy Reddit 2.0 here we don’t listen, we wait to talk. Correct or no, the former attitude will win the day. At least in the short term. Maybe after that, leftism will win out overall, but somehow that ends up just as another form of fascism as well (don’t ask me to explain that, I have no idea why, but I have both tremendous respect for e.g. the Lemmy devs offering their code for free while also not respect for administration of their instance to support repressive regimes doing e.g. genocide, which yeah the West is also doing genocide, but at least we the people don’t support it, e.g. by banning people who speak out against it!?).

I really wish that what you say will come to pass. But… (1) despite what happens in this next election, the overall trend is towards fascist policies, in the election after that, or the one after that, and too the entire government shutting down every single time it needs to pass a budget causes fatigue where people just lose all hope, like torture to break someone down by softening them up before the big ask; and (2) Monday’s SCOTUS ruling has already happened. We cannot go back in time, the only way is forward. I feel like people are forgetting that it happened, bc it’s just so shocking. But it did. It’s like climate change: it’s not only going to happen in the future, it’s been happening for the last decade. Do you realize that the USA is already a fascist nation, even if it has been thus for less than a week? Yeah, Biden may refuse to use that power, or perhaps he will go ahead and use it after all (quietly?), in order to keep Trump out. But either way, democracy has already failed. Our choices now are what flavor of fascism we would most enjoy moving forwards.

Edit: Sorry this is depressing. It was depressing every other time it happened to nations in the past as well. But those (nations) who refuse to learn from their history… are doomed to repeat it.:-(

The Truth is surprisingly difficult to find, buried amongst so much active disinformation, but once we do, we can never unlearn it (…I hope, though I probably should learn to pretend like I don’t, to survive the fascist regime to come).

Oh no, not this rabbit hole again!? Bc you just know it always goes deeper no matter how far you go, e.g.:

Meh, people on January 6 showed up as “heroes” and “patriots” to “defend” the Constitution of the United States of America, and “Pro-Life” people who are “Christian” (except all that about not heaping heavy burdens onto others without offering to lift a finger to help, and the workers deserving their wages, and not borrowing money, and actually giving a fuck about anyone else in the world, etc.) are now responsible for more excess deaths in America than all of our wars combined, and this doesn’t even begin to add in yet the deaths from disallowing “abortions” (much less things like tumors, ectopic scenarios, necrotic tissues etc.), or poverty, which would make it far more so, many times over.

TLDR: people, especially politicians, sometimes lie. Get used to it, bc fascism is rising all around the entire world, and the proper answer if you don’t want to be literally killed (sorry for being so serious) is “yes, sir” (bc it’s usually a rich old white cis het dude, amirite!?:-P). The golden heyday of Science and Truth and Enlightenment are over, sadly, and the dark days have come. 😿 We best be prepared to exist in them. And even… learn to smile at the simple beauties that we manage to find? :-)

It takes supreme effort to rise up from hollowing ourselves out to be a receptical for whatever authority figures want to fill us with. Why, we might have to watch a whole 5-minute video!? (Tbf, usually it takes a lot more than that, like at least 7-10:-P) It’s easier to simply parrot the words given to us by people quite a bit dumber than we know ourselves to be. They are quite aware of that, and make great use of it.

Perhaps that’s why people often say “they are bots”, even when some are not bots, bc they might as well be?

I can quit anytime I want! /s

Bc it’s fascinating to know how the world works!? 🤯

Horrible events like January 6, or 9/11, each get a name.

I wonder what Monday’s SCOTUS ruling will end up being called.

Bc that seems to me to have been the turning point - not the beginning, obviously (you could point much further back to e.g. Citizens United) but when it really allowed/encouraged things to ratchet up.

Oh some aren’t, for sure, but then when their words are copied verbatim they become so, unbeknownst to their original writers. So yeah, they aren’t “all” bots, but some are.

Okay but… at this point, how much of Reddit comments are not just straight-up Russian troll farms, or people who have interacted with those for so long that we could not tell the difference?

Whereas we have tankies on Lemmy, but they are different, and we also have some non-tankies as well.

Most people with a conscience have already left Reddit behind, unless there’s a really good reason otherwise (e.g. nursing subs and other emergency services).

So I guess I’m saying, would those people have voted for some other Democratic candidate? Or do they just want to complain and serve up their word emo-vomit as “content” on Reddit, which the latter keeps rewarding them for doing no matter how irrelevant it is to irl?

Arguably the President’s chief job is not to execute the law of the land, but rather to inspire hope. He is too tired to be able to do that. But nothing is perfect, and he does keep trying, and we gotta respect that effort at least:-).