TheLastSpaceman
23174
1058
44
FP edit:
Dude's name is Tomi Walamies. He is a Finnish comedian
Apologies to @NinjaCongo for falling on the knife, I was out running errands lol
Sep 12, 2026 12:50 PM
TheLastSpaceman
23174
1058
44
FP edit:
Dude's name is Tomi Walamies. He is a Finnish comedian
Apologies to @NinjaCongo for falling on the knife, I was out running errands lol
faaatBastard
As a European, this is so true. I’m ashamed that I’m working for an American company. Want to change in the near future.
agiar200011
I saw a good comment once that went something like: "America: We may break all our treaties and betray all our allies in any given year depending on how worked up 12K people in some random rural county get about the idea of a trans woman playing sports."
DarthAndy
Things USA should think about changing:
* ANY judges being political appointees. ANY.
* Unlimited funding of politicians by rich people and the whole lobbyist thing
* The electoral colleges
* Whatever it is that does the gerrymandering - that shit should be apolitical, like judges should be
Korrd
Agreed on all points, but regarding gerrymandering specifically, I've wondered if that may be one of the rare tasks that AI might actually prove useful for. Feed all the population and demographic data into an AI and prompt it to produce maps with fair representation in mind.
We've proven that humans can't be trusted to NOT be manipulative and dishonest gutter trash, so... remove them from the equation.
Although maybe vote on the maps so that we're still at least vetting the results from AI.
Thisistheend1920
Alright, the cant jail us all folks, just need to organize
barstr7
Oh, the naive pride. We thought like this prior to Trump's election. We had checks and balances to prevent it but it turns out those only work if enforced. You get enough money and bad people elected and it reaches a tipping point. And rich assholes like Thiel and Musk are global. There's nothing stopping them from doing it in other countries but politicians with morals. And morals tend to disappear if you throw enough money at them. Only fools think it's a US problem.
NickRivieraMD
That's where you're wrong friend, the business world is controlling them. That's the problem.
trasneoir
A bunch of businesses have nakedly corrupt transactional relationships with him. That's not the same as control. If they controlled him, neither the tariffs nor Iran would have happened.
swedeonamoose
And reading the news, Trump is now putting pressure on Nato allies to leave the ICC, he is asking us to choose between him or international law =_=
lightfoot2
Ignore him. Have you seen how shitty our military is?
pirateninjaunicornattacksquad
And this is exactly why Canada can't trust the USA anymore either and why we are shifting away from trade with them in favour of trade with Europe and Asia.
mjperk
I think nearly all of the non-bot users on this site already know this and agree with you. You're preaching to the choir.
chrispisme
hear hear...here here? heer heer? What he said.
ragincanadian
The blacklight is a great analogy. My magat inlaws are coming for a visit soon and I'm definitely using that.
davebarton315101
Also bleach, stock up on lots of bleach.
lightfoot2
Yes. Bush II was in some ways worse than Trump because he always couched his treachary in "Compassionate Conservatism". Trump oddly enough does not lie: He tells you exactly what kind of person he is in no uncertain terms.
And the Republicans and Dems who support him have told us exactly what kinds of persons they are. And the voters who forever return them to power or just vote them out 50.00001% have told the world what kinds of persons we are.
Seethreepeeoh
Like, after they leave? Ew.
ragincanadian
Oh god.... They like talking politics.... I really should have specified.
Seethreepeeoh
Father-in-law making your spare room great again!
Zamiel77
Yep. Many people are eagerly awaiting Trump's death, myself included, but his death is not an end to anything. It will not change the country; it will not end or even really slow the tide of fascism that he helped usher in; and it will not come anywhere close to redeeming us in the eyes of the world. And for all the milquetoast Liberals in the room: neither will electing bog standard Democrats to the presidency or Congress, just so we're clear.
Dyamonde
Again, as the video said, it wasn't trump that did any of this. It was the tide of fascism that ushered in Trump. The cesspool was there first and allowed Trump to rise to the top. Trump is the visible symptom of the lethat rot that has pervaded the USA, and when Trump is gone, the Ŕot will still be there.
cheidiotou
1) the "80 years of goodwill" re-writes history a wee bit, but I get the point.
2) yes, many of us agree it's not stable here thanks to the kleptocracy
3) the hotel room analogy is good, but it's so massive of a hotel room that we don't even know where to begin cleaning up the mess. the geography and lack of mobility isn't given enough credit. we protest on a small scale, but can't manage to "rise up".
4) having the most powerful military in the world hurts us, too, especially now that (1/?)
cheidiotou
4) (cont'd) the leadership is slowly be replaced with loyalists who may be more likely to defend a person instead of the constitution. add in the 2A crowd who, at this point, would mostly be a militia siding with the military against protestors, and it's very one sided.
5) all that said, it's actually more stable than you might think (and more than I said at first). how much we actually have a 2-party system is arguable. it goes red to blue but we're seeing more now that many of the blue (2/?)
cheidiotou
5) (cont'd) are funded by the same sources. it's like the cast changes and the plot shifts with it, but the directors and producers don't. so in that sense, it's pretty stable.
Anyway, that doesn't change the overall point. He's still right. Europe has a lot of good reason not to trust us. I'd just caution y'all to say, don't sleep on the fact that the kleptocracy at work here is also active in other parts of the world, including Europe (*cough*... Brexit... *cough*...)
(3/3)
Evi1Gav
The US constitution and amendments all rely on a simple ideal - the people in charge try to make things better for everyone. The problem is that hasn't been true for a long time. Things got better in America through luck, not by a concerted effort of politicians.
BloodLoveRhetoric
What civics class did you take? The Constitution is based on the three branches of government each jealously guarding their powers from each other. The problem is that the Republicans in Congress are perfectly happy to surrender all their power to an executive of their own party, which is a fairly recent development.
lemmerustlethosejimmies
That's not entirely true. Congress has been ceding more and more power to the executive since the first Bush administration, and this happened during the Obama and Biden years as well. Congressional Republicans have been the most blatant about it in the last 1.5 years, and frankly the state of things right now can be blamed on them, but this has been happening under Democratic administrations as well and a LOT of problems over the last 25 years can be blamed on Congress not doing its job.
GreatOdinsTaint
American here. He's 100% correct. It has been made starkly clear that our form of government has been a paper tiger where stability is based solely on the unlimited power of the executive branch not being captured by a madman or outright fascist.
redtruck
Thank you. We, outside the US, can't understand how your system has stood, so long, with an assumption of integrity from your leaders.
GreatOdinsTaint
As has been made abundantly clear, we have an entire political party that has ardently stood against any updates to our system that might improve the situation. They needed to maintain the loopholes to exploit them - all to ensure minority rule. I think they realized that the founders of our country were elitist and so terrified of majority rule that they laid the framework for a party of elites to install an oligarchy.
ahleron
Republicans have worked for years to erode checks & balances; a key goal for Trump was destroying those checks so he could play dictator. Part of it was that the checks were in fact weak, as they relied on history and tradition instead of codified guardrails. Trump is a symptom of a larger set of problems and he exploited weak protections that had been intentionally weakened over several years. We need new leaders that will work to put up guardrails (amendments) to prevent this happening again.
lonelyrangerofthedreams
And that’s why Republicans want a divided Europe.
Easy to get away with more shit with smaller states.
Mpisinchanga
US is just a dozen corporations in a trenchcoat. Owned by a smattering of old money families throughout the world so they can do awful shit under layers of deniability. It's not just the US that they own people like this. It's just the US where it's easiest to operate with impunity, because the law and the lobby is dirt cheap and malleable. It's not the populace. It's just a roach warren where these loaches found purchase.
epithymetic
Fair enough, but Europe isn’t immune either. AfD, Reform UK, Giorgia Meloni, the LePens, Herbert Kickl, etc. are all symptoms of the same thing
Fentex
They're a problem, but it's a different one from the U.S's issues - bringing it up is changing the subject. The complaint is not the U.S veering right, it's the absence of the rule of law. The two issues become intertwined inevitably, but OP is talking about the revelation of it being the case in the U.S, not of it being a future threat.
BJWTech
Indeed. And it gets at the crux of the matter. It's capital that is causing the work wide movement towards authoritarianism. The ultra rich everywhere are heading campaigns to divide people along social lines, and supporting government officials that support their end goal: Voluntary corporate slavery. Hard to notice the real theifs when your concentrating your hate on the other people.
Maybe it's a stretch...
BuckDitkis
Same goes for us in Canada. We always thought out neighbors were genuinely working towards a better future for both of us but in reality they've been talking shit behind our backs for years. Canada trusted our neighbors even to a fault but those days are over. From now on we are always going to assume there's a catch.
CreativeCreative
It’s not only the electoral system that needs to change, there needs to be reform on SCOTUS and prevention of bribery/insider trading for both the House and Senate. Politics and money should not go hand in hand; actual limits to PAC/s to any one candidate and/or party how much they can receive and spend is needed. It should also be mandatory to have a mental cognitive evaluation by 3-5 independent institutions before a president is sworn in and mandatory annual checkups. Dementia is a biatch!
Korrd
No PACs. None. No outside money of any kind. Campaign finance should be limited to government funding. You get funding if you hit polling milestones that continue until the candidate pool is reduced to a reasonable number. If at any time you accept outside funding, you're immediately disqualified.
Likewise, once elected you must divest all financial interests and all assets go in a blind trust. If at any time you receive outside money beyond your government salary, you're immediately removed.
CALAMOSCOPYJANE
The US empire has fallen. It's not a bad thing, and it was predicted. It's up to the rest of us to change up our politico-economic system and restructure so that the damage and fallout is contained.
BestofUwU
The US made a mistake by letting Nixon get away with Watergate without any jail time. The President shouldn't have immunity to commit espionage on the opposing party, or any crimes at all.
getoffmycloud
the us made a mistake of existing
Rhythmaster
Now the president is immune from prosecution for "official acts" which are whatever the supreme court says they are. So GOP president can do anything with no consequences but a democrat president can't even forgive student loan debt.
factcheckmate
Thats mainly I dont consider Ford a “good republican”, as far as I remember US didnt have single good GOP president
Gruesslibaer
Really, it all goes back to the Civil War. Every single Confederate leader, soldier, and supporter should have been executed. If that had happened, we wouldn't have so much of this backwoods, country bumpkin, good ole boy anti-intellectualism that comes from politicians playing on this 200 year old North vs. South, "Dixie heritage" bullshit.
cadesama
How can we say it goes back to the Civil War and not the Revolution? How can we say that and not colonization? The original sin of America is founding it
nclu
At very least the generals and revolting slave owners. Executed and all of their lands and property confiscated. What both of you say and the original video are true. But the US is also a warning to the world. Their are unstable bigots everywhere that would burn it all down to see others under the boot. And they've been gaining more power both in the West, and other parts of the world. Everyone needs to start building a bull work against the rise of authoritarianism.
DonnerVarg
*bulwark
nclu
*there
clavdivs
When the black light goes down, the dirt is still there, it always was.
ConstitutionalHeresy
Europe is welcome to chill with Canada.
kirmes
transatlantic bots are installed in Europe, though
TsubakiTragic
Europe is making new friends with every country that will listen to them, Canada and Asia need to join the bandwagon.
ConstitutionalHeresy
Join the bangwagon? Bud, Canada is front and centre. Have you had your head in the sand for the past year? Europe is clamouring for more Canada.
dekket
We already are. I really hope ya'll one day join the EU.
Raikupath
The US has never been a country that you can trust. It's a capitalist shithole that is doing everything to exploit everyone else for its own gain. It needs to burn down so we can finally get rid of this shitty capitalist system on the planet without being bombed by those pieces of shit.
Renza0
bruh, USA citizens with an IQ even close to room temperature or higher cant trust the USA, and the growing prevalence of regressives / white christian nationalists / domestic terrorists / etc has just made it worse year after year as anyone can see. tbh any other country that trusts us as we are is dumb as shit, those suspicious or distrusting are correct to be so, even if we removed every single regressive this term, doesnt mean they wont be back the following term.
hotaru251
Reminder to other nations since they seem to think they cant do anything to USA....you LITERALLY have this nation by the throat...the US economy only exists BECAUSE the other nations of the world buy our nations debt...if the nations would sell all that debt around same time you would crater the economy in literally hours.
Tell your governments to start using that leverage :|
PersonalityFire
You have half of a good point. The other half you're leaving out, though, is it would crater *their* rich people's money along with it.
mjperk
Right? As an American, I think other countries should try to play one of the games that the US loves to. Economically and socially isolate us. Cut us off and show us that if our government behaves like it does, that it has real consequences. My impression (as a SUPER broad and generalized statement) is that most of the other world leaders are too afraid or are even complicit themselves. Look at the AFD in Germany. RN party in France. Brothers of Italy. Fidesz in Hungary. Reform UK. Etc....
kaijuuGold
i dont even trust our government
ThrowAwayAcct0000
As an American living outside the US, I've been saying this to everyone. Most people don't believe me until they see it: my friends usually have to fly through a US airport and see ICE agents in action before they realize how messed up it is. Most Americans are able to ignore it: we are a country of sheep, being led to the slaughter, and most of the sheep don't care at all.
lightfoot2
Good. I'm very very glad to hear this. And yes, Trump has simply exposed that 49% of this country is totally happy with fucking over every agreement ever signed and there is no real objective rule of law here.
lightfoot2
Do better Europe, I have moved my investments over to EU and Australia funds. It's your turn to shine.
BobRossHB
Wow Richy rich here has capital investment money... wonder how that level of security and stability feels?
lightfoot2
Fairly good, but with that comes the moral need to invest it properly and not just with shitbags like Musk.
Assuming you're young you have a strong back and/or a good mind. What are you investing your time in?
sfbiker
I think most USA citizens were shocked to learn that the checks and balances that we thought our three branch government provided were actually just handshake agreements that count on the president being not being evil and following normal rules of decorum.
pgdave
Yeah, all governance is done via shared agreements, and always has been. At best you have democratic norms, and at worst you have a portion of the government that has that shared agreement and is willing to enforce their will physically on resistors (like police, ICE, etc. - it's why governments typically favor the military and the police, because without those groups supporting the government, the government is easily overthrown and replaced)
bikergeek6249
An evil President was exactly the thing the Constitution was intended to counter. What it didn't foresee was an entire evil political party becoming his lickspittles.
tentacularfleshscape
The core is campaign finance. When it became so expensive to run for office, whoever controls the purse strings controls the party
channelranger
more, they relied on the three branches vying for power, and not really working together if it disadvantaged them. The president couldn't do this if congress cared more about its power than the republican party's power. But it does, so the whole system falls apart.
hotaru251
except 49% of ppl didnt vote for the situation. (we havent haad over 80% population voting since like 1800's) on average overp ast 200 yrs we are around 60% period.
iirc 30% didnt vote last election so its not that 50% are happy with it just a lot dont care enoguh to vote..which given how much of a hassel it can be is understandable (even if not advised)
pgdave
The 30% that doesn't vote typically is *quite* close in political bent to the 70% that does vote, but are (on average) less informed. It's not an unreasonable extrapolation to assume that the vote percentages as measured apply to the nonvoters pretty closely as well.
Korrd
That's actually worse, though. A third voted for genuine evil and a third voted against it, sure. But I'd argue that the final third who couldn't be bothered to oppose it are only just slightly less culpable than the first group and might as well be lumped in with them.
That's 67% who directly supported it or chose not to oppose it. Supporting evil? Evil. But not caring enough even to just cast a vote against it? Also kinda evil.
ricpaul
Exactly. https://imgur.com/zlXomYo
marshmallowcommando
Sorry, everybody else who doesn't live here. Unless we burn it to the ground, nothing will change. Unfortunately, we can't miss work to dismantle the system because we're all one missed paycheck away from poverty. Or already living in poverty and struggling to just not become homeless. That's about it.
turtleninja5
Sure you can. The illusion is why you will never stand up.
youcouldbedrinkingwholeifyouwantedto
While the government is working to make homelessness a crime so that we can staff our for-profit prison systems with more slave labor
EssentialLurker
As long as you play by the rules, that is how it will stay...
BrokenAnimal
"...we're all one missed paycheck away from poverty."
And that's by design.
People who are exhausted from just surviving are less likely to make a fuzz when you fuck them over.
Xendrash
yeah, I was close to homeless not that long ago, And even now, I am one missed paycheck away from never going back to normal society.
MeMonty
Once the economy isn't an engine of growth for the population the system needs readjusting
CoalhouseWalker
"we can't miss work to dismantle the system because we're all one missed paycheck away from poverty." --- and this is why the current administration is gleeful about how well the economy is doing. It's making him and other billionaires richer and keeping most people poorer. The increase in cost of living helps them
phalanaster
Even if we burn it down.. there will be many more road blocks preventing it from easing back like a phoenix… with all of the contingencies the us government has into place to preserve the current structure
titoitoi
Exactly, and even if we were to burn all those contingency structures down as well, we'd still come face to face with the same problems. Huge debts owed to powerful players, and a lack of enforcement when it comes to their interests. I have no doubt better systems could be implemented. But let's focus on enforcement of existing rules so we don't repeat the cycle?
suggestedCleverUsernameGenerator
Vote. Help others vote. Educate people and start to create secondary systems… community gardens, food support, job support, transportation support… once that’s in place… THEN burn the primary systems to the ground.
Cranbananarama
One pay away...so, almost nothing to lose and everything to gain?
Rips4w
Almost nothing to lose? Family, health, safety, security, life
Nothing at all.
Cranbananarama
So I can understand your stance better, is anything on that list worth fighting for?
pirateninjaunicornattacksquad
So what you are saying is that you have been pacified by the rich to the point that you are no longer willing to make the sacrifices necessary to cause change.
mjperk
So instead of protesting, bannering events, emailing/calling representatives, getting active in community groups, etc., you're saying what? That I as an individual should do what? Be willing to get fired? Go out into the street with a gun to mow down political enemies? Or what? None of these things I can do as an individual serve the purpose or create benefit. What they do in fact do, is starve my family and dependents of food and housing. And then I'm just one more dead progressive. So????
pirateninjaunicornattacksquad
As an individual? No. As a society, that's EXACTLY what you should ALL be doing.
You guys are already close to starving and close to being on the streets. What are you waiting for? To actually lose everything before you fight back? Because that's the thing they will never allow to happen. They will squeeze every dime possible out of you, but still leave you with JUST enough for you to sit there and accept it because you haven't lost everything yet.You've lost your freedom. YOU'VE BEEN PACIFIED.
mjperk
What am I waiting for? Leadership... How do I control others in society? The closest I've been to a societal movement is the No Kings rallies and getting involved with community groups. It's still not enough, obviously. So while I agree with your sentiment, I don't understand at all how I'm supposed to control the other masses in society to get on the train too. All these calls for action are warranted and great. But pragmatically speaking, they are difficult to execute. I'm one person.
pirateninjaunicornattacksquad
And unfortunately that's where I feel for you the most, as you are 100% correct there. I will say though that the No Kings movement is building a good foundation; they just need to realize the point I made in my other reply to you. It's a sad an terrifying reality, but this likely can no longer end peacefully, he's too entrenched. I think the November may be your last chance. If he is still controls the government after that, all peaceful options will have been removed.
pirateninjaunicornattacksquad
Or to put it another way, dictators and fascists are never overthrown with peaceful protests. The sooner you guys realize that, the sooner all of this will finally be over. But if all you ever try are peaceful protests, prepare yourself for a very long subjugation.
mjperk
Oh, I very much realize this. A lot of others do too. There are lots of problems with enacting this though. Again, leadership is needed. Organization is needed. You're calling for organizing a secret militia resistance, basically. Okay, great. Let's say that's the solution. How do you recruit? How do you train? Etc. You'd be thrown into a jail before membership reached 1 dozen people. Hey, if you have the step by step process instructions, let's hear them. In theory and in practice aren't equal.
pirateninjaunicornattacksquad
Yeah, I'll admit this is where my outsider's perspective and idealism stop providing answers. It would almost need to be already established groups like the No Kings movement that would need to take that step, but I don't see them doing it or being allowed to do it without being rounded up for it to happen.
AtmaDarkwolf
Yea. Change is hard. But necessary if you want to reach for something better. But yes, it hurts. It will hurt alot. The longer you let it go, the more it will hurt when u finally decide to treat it. Kinda similar to healthcare, another thing ya'all don't do quite so good. So ya, burn it all down, suffer for a while, and build something new, using what 'was' as a very clear guide on what to NOT let slide. And ya, it gonna hurt, the world will try to help as much as able, but YOU gotta stand up!
channelranger
you gotta remember the US also spends too much money on its army and cops. And also car-centric cities kill communities because you barely know your neighbors. There's no 'rising up' alone, and most of us find like minded people online... which is heavily surveilled.
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
As a Canadian, I feel genuine sympathy for all the sane people in the US who have to watch their country get scuttled, both internally and on the world stage.
The rest of the world now knows they cannot trust the US, and this will not be fixed in their lifetime. The rest of the world has already begun restructuring to a post-US world, and US media is still pretending like that isn't happening. The era of American Hegemony is permanently over.
kingersgambit
I feel like the world should have caught onto the US’s act back at least when the United Fruit Corporation was doing horrific things. If not sooner.
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
The problem is that, up until now, there was this mutual understanding that we'd all behave like actual allies because it's demonstrably worse not to. Open trade makes us all richer and military cooperation makes us all safer.
What changed is that the US stopped behaving rationally, and became a liability. They could no longer be trusted to not shit in the pool while we were all swimming in it. Now they're a bad actor who ALSO wouldn't make exceptions for their allies who help them back.
kingersgambit
I’m not sure you’re familiar with what the US government and United Fruit did. It was a very clear mask off time and it’s the same now.
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
I'm very aware. What I'm saying is that in the past it was like when a varsity lacrosse player rapes a girl at a party and all his friends go on record saying "he's always been a good friend to me". They excuse things because they're able to silo off how other people get treated and how they get treated.
Someone going 'mask off' doesn't much matter if you don't get harmed. But once you're no longer insulated from the bad actions, THEN you reevaluate where you stand on being friends.
BlindPiranha
As an American: thank you, but good. I know I'll likely be dead long before it happens, but I long and hope for the day where we can all be one race of Terrans/Earthlings. I truly believe that our current fermi paradox is the inability for humans to just acknowledge we're all the same species and get along as such.
youcouldbedrinkingwholeifyouwantedto
trump has a lot of experience using his power to abuse people under him. It feels like all of america is in an abusive relationship with trump, and who do we turn to for help? The cops? The universities that gave in to him? The lawyers that capitulate to him? Don't ever trust an abuser.
CALAMOSCOPYJANE
I feel exactly the same way - also a Canadian (sort of - I am a citizen, I have a Can pport, at least).
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
Not sure what's so "sort of" about that. If the government gave you a Canadian passport, there's not really any thing else left to prove.
Having an unwavering strong opinion about the Leafs and/or Jets is encouraged, but not required. However, you ARE legally required to wear clothes that are far lighter than appropriate for the temperature while on vacation in another country, and then explain to anyone who asks that - compared to what you're used to - this weather is actually rather warm.
CALAMOSCOPYJANE
I don't feel very Canadian, didn't have Canadian mentality or habits, and I didn't live in Canada for almost 20 years. Culturally, I'm not Canadian. But legally, I am. That's why sort of.
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
Ain't no such thing as a "Canadian mentality". It's a country of immigrants who all brought different perspectives and we all work together.
I live in Ottawa, which famously has like a kajillion phở restaurants because of a surge of Vietnamese immigration in the late 70's. They're now an ingrained part of Ottawa culture, alongside schawarma restaurants.
If you live here, or did and plan to come back, that's all there is to it. The rest is just details.
marquettegoldeneagles
I was gonna say something similar. And our Healthcare being tied to our work and still extremely expensive. We are one paycheck away, one sickness away.
SmergBlaerghl
And that's by design. It's not a coincidence that your politicians have been dismantling the education system, sabotaging unionization, keeping the minimum wage down and making sure there's no real safety net for people, for decades. It's hard to rise up to demand change, when you don't understand the world around you and any period without a paycheck, or a medical emergency could leave you forever in debt. This has been done to easily control you while they strip your country for parts.
yesmaybenot
Sorry, but you are both wrong. While true, living paycheck to paycheck, that is actually very lame excuse. I see comments, look up history about slavery, look up history about this, about that, so I'll say, look up history about what else but basically slavery or ordinary working Americans. They were slaves to corporations and they decided to rise up and fight. Some of them died, for you to have a better future, and now we are back to, I'm living paycheck to paycheck. I can't afford to miss work
yesmaybenot
If they could die for you, the least you can do is miss that work and fight. Because the alternative is you might not be able to even live from paycheck to paycheck. What is going to get this world to actually see the only way out is to fight. It's better for one to die today, than 100 tomorrow. And btw, when people fought and died for you, most of them had far less education, but they still saw what needed to be done. So can you, if you choose to see.
SmergBlaerghl
In what way am I wrong? I'm not saying US citizens shouldn't rise up and fight. Quite the opposite - at some point I believe they'll have to. But that does not change the fact that their leaders have done their utmost to make that difficult for them. The difference between slaves rising up then and "free" Americans doing it today, is that most people today still have something left to lose, as well as having been conditioned to believe the US is the best, through decades of brainwashing.
mzamurman
You just backed up everything they said whilst claiming they're both wrong.
TheZerax
We're honestly getting pretty close to that point anyway, people are barely making it to the next paycheck. I think part of the problem is that they just don't know what to do to affect change, the problems seem so massive and systemic that knowing where to start is impossible for most people.
LogicalLimes
Yup. What does rising up and fighting actually look like? Protests seek to just be symbolic. (But inspiring to others, so I give them that!) And erecting guillotines seems a bit more extreme than what one person could do and convey the right message. So… we gotta do what we can… vote. But what else? Honestly… I’m asking.
ChelVanin
Burning it all to the ground leaves us extremely vulnerable until something is built to replace it, which might not even be possible in all the anarchy. We need to be very thoughtful about pulling that lever.
youcouldbedrinkingwholeifyouwantedto
Also when you burn everything down, who's going to rebuild it? The rich people? This is why billionaires are pushing the AI bubble so much. Once it bursts and people lose their homes, more cheap real estate, and their boa constrictor hold tightens a little bit more
pirateninjaunicornattacksquad
The point of Anarchy is to burn it to the ground so that it can be rebuilt for the people.
spinbutton3
I'd be happy to burn the two party system to the ground. But the organization outlined in the constitution is good. What is missing is enforcing the ethics of people involved in all three branches. I'd like to see lobbying banned. Political donations 100% transparent, no donations from foreign individuals, companies, organizations or nations. Local elections must be only funded by donations within that state. Electoral college eliminated. Supreme Court expanded. We need to be specific
ChelVanin
I understand that. The problem is once you get to the anarchy stage, how do you steer what gets built next? We don’t have to be that desperate. We still have options. The bad guys want you to feel hopeless and like you want to just burn everything down. That makes it easier to paint you as domestic terrorists in the making.
PersonalityFire
There are numerous historical examples of that completely and utterly backfiring.
pirateninjaunicornattacksquad
Not denying that. But the system still needs to be burned to the ground.
UnicornsToxicRainbowFart
We're already vulnerable af. We gotta start thinking about whether there is any conceivable trajectory we could be on that's worse than American fascism. I'm tired of hearing "oh no but our system, if we lose our system we'll all suffer" the system is killing us. The longer we wait to kill it, the worse it's going to be for our children. Delaying the revolution is going to fuck over our kids and grand kids, we gotta pull the fkn trigger and shoot "America" in the neck. We acting selfish af
ChelVanin
My argument isn’t so much to delay the revolution, but rather to have a fucking plan for what comes next. What if China sweeps in and conquers us before we manage to set up a new order?
HandsomePenguin
Still be better than what you have now.
whywritemythesiswhenihaveinternet
Whatever would happen after, there will still be some sort of military left. It is unavoidable, it's too massive and has too much infrastructure everywhere to be totally destroyed by even a decade of internal strife. It might be competing groups, but the US is huge. Maybe China could make a beachhead, but it'd be too much of a logistical challenge long-term to "conquer" the US. We wouldn't be living in anything close to great conditions, but that would be a real quagmire for China if they tried
UnicornsToxicRainbowFart
That's my point... r we better now than China is? Like ya, governments r gonna be shit so u have to keep them in check, but they at least execute their billionaires on the regular. China is worse than maga? What are we actually afraid of?
ChelVanin
You’re asking good questions, but are you putting any thought into how you’d answer them? Would you really trade our government for China’s? I wouldn’t. Maga will be gone in a few years. Xi won’t.
hotaru251
not true. That is exactly what may force the change....when people have nothing to lose and everything to gain then civil war 2.0 is the outcome.
turtleninja5
Something about bread and circuses fits here…
pirateninjaunicornattacksquad
The problem is you've been brainwashed into thinking you're all just temporarily displaced millionaires, and therefore even when you lose everything, you don't do anything about it.
hotaru251
no. most americans realize they aren't, but most don't "need" to be rich as they have a "fine" lifestyle even if not ideal it was stable....when that no longer is case thats when you start getting embers of a civil war and history has shown us time and again thats the case.
prosper020
It’s basically only people who support trump that think they are temporarily displaced millionaires. A vast majority of the antitrump people do not think in such a way.
pirateninjaunicornattacksquad
*no longer think this way. But hooray for progress, I guess.