- Joined
- Apr 22, 2019
- Messages
- 33,979
- Reaction score
- 15,370
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Progressive
We have 'principles' that appear to be mostly empty slogans people recite mindlessly and too often hypocritically.
We have massive buildups of power and wealth, such that the people who use them for their own power, feel, rightly, that they could be used far MORE for their power than they are, making them feel very humble, and democratic, and restrained beyond reason. Very noble.
We have massive numbers of middle class citizens who don't really give a crap about much of anyone else. In the world or the country. But they think our country is 'great' (not referring to MAGA) and that's most of what they need to feel they're doing more than their part just by being American and paying taxes.
We have massive numbers of poorer people who rightly feel exploited, that the systems and country care little for them, and there's evidence on both sides - that they are heavily exploited, yet that systems have been created that do 'care' - from Medicare to the better parts of policing to public roads.
We have massive corporations pursuing their own wealth and power, leaving citizens with as little as possible.
It's a powder keg of people who don't understand that much about our politics, yet who function in ways that society lives relatively peacefully, despite all the corruption, all the lack of aligned interests. trump shows we are vulnerable to 'movements' coming along that could cause great harm. We're lucky things are going as well as they are.
Sadly, the American ship has a lot of leaks (one of them shows by the opposition to masks, that seems almost unique in the world). Our place in the world is gradually declining while our inequality and debt become huge. Life will become less and less valuable, as well as any other values.
And there are no solutions on the horizon. We will plug some leaks with Biden, but many remain. People cling to the MAGA slogan BECAUSE they long for its stated goal, because things are headed away from that. Obama was to 'get back to normal'. trump was to 'make America great again'. Biden is to return to normalcy. On and on.
It's a little as if we banned indoor toilets (analogy to protecting democracy to prevent money and corruption from ruling the country), and then longed for the days of fresh air. In the vacuum of democracy being championed, the world will likely see the rise of the dictatorships. Where there IS democracy, it will likely be more and more faux democracy, as we see here. It's remarkable how well things work now.
We have massive buildups of power and wealth, such that the people who use them for their own power, feel, rightly, that they could be used far MORE for their power than they are, making them feel very humble, and democratic, and restrained beyond reason. Very noble.
We have massive numbers of middle class citizens who don't really give a crap about much of anyone else. In the world or the country. But they think our country is 'great' (not referring to MAGA) and that's most of what they need to feel they're doing more than their part just by being American and paying taxes.
We have massive numbers of poorer people who rightly feel exploited, that the systems and country care little for them, and there's evidence on both sides - that they are heavily exploited, yet that systems have been created that do 'care' - from Medicare to the better parts of policing to public roads.
We have massive corporations pursuing their own wealth and power, leaving citizens with as little as possible.
It's a powder keg of people who don't understand that much about our politics, yet who function in ways that society lives relatively peacefully, despite all the corruption, all the lack of aligned interests. trump shows we are vulnerable to 'movements' coming along that could cause great harm. We're lucky things are going as well as they are.
Sadly, the American ship has a lot of leaks (one of them shows by the opposition to masks, that seems almost unique in the world). Our place in the world is gradually declining while our inequality and debt become huge. Life will become less and less valuable, as well as any other values.
And there are no solutions on the horizon. We will plug some leaks with Biden, but many remain. People cling to the MAGA slogan BECAUSE they long for its stated goal, because things are headed away from that. Obama was to 'get back to normal'. trump was to 'make America great again'. Biden is to return to normalcy. On and on.
It's a little as if we banned indoor toilets (analogy to protecting democracy to prevent money and corruption from ruling the country), and then longed for the days of fresh air. In the vacuum of democracy being championed, the world will likely see the rise of the dictatorships. Where there IS democracy, it will likely be more and more faux democracy, as we see here. It's remarkable how well things work now.