this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2025

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180

Is there any way out of the US political spiral? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

161 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm not in the US, but it seems to me that the Republicans keep breaking norms and procedures, including politicising impeachment and ignoring illegal, immoral and plain bad conduct.

They also seem to be fine with not applying the same standard across the isle.

On the other hand, either Democrats follow new precedent, with even more devolving, or they keep the old decorum and get their asses kicked by Republican foul play.

What ways out of this spiral are there?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Do you hate Russia and China? How about Iran, North Korean, Cuba and Venezuela? If yes, then politics funding warmongering are certain to prevail. Past US military budgets + interest on those deficits are sufficient to account for all US debt. Trusting the government and media telling you who to hate, keeps them elected. Netanyahu telling you Iran is the US's enemy, or Iraq has WMDs, is why you hate them and support war.

The DNC can't save you if they love Netanyahu just as much as the GOP candidate, because the GOP won't try to balance pandering to anti-genociders. Trump has no qualms in Kent State-ing university anti-genocide protesters. He is better for Netanyahu, and then the Zionist single issue lobby that determines election results.

Your tolerance for war is your tolerance for politicians that will give you war. Progressives for war do not get much progressive stuff done. Though oligarchist bribery money rains when they are close to a majority to get some small stuff done.

UBI is path out of the spiral. UBI redistribute power not wealth, and prosperity grows significantly to the benefit of everyone including the rich. War becomes unpopular because we could all just have more cash instead. Nationalist "war preparation"/tariffs unpopular because we could have cheaper stuff instead.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

We're in 'if you can't beat them, join them' mode.

Invest every dollar you can spare, because that's the only way to win in any of this. Both ruling parties care far more about your stock portfolio succeeding than they do about you.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

No they don't give a shit about you they care about their stock portfolio. This is true for both parties' leadership. Consider inside testing in the debate/house with no legitimate oversight.

Fuck you i got mine and all.

Investing is the only way to get ahead on an individual financial basis, but it feeds the machine. They win more from it than you.

Our capital to bargain with is labor and civility. This is why they want to replace us with AI while blocking alternate means to survive. If AI can do it we lose leverage.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Good luck. Feels pretty pointless over here right now.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Don't get sad - get angry

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago (6 children)

I’ve been angry since I’ve been politically aware and I’m tired of it. It’s exhausting being angry and having no influence.

I’m too old to be angry all the time.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I still remember being taught about how politics is America is a pendulum.

It swings too far to the right and people get pissed and send it leftward. Then it swings too far to the left and people get pissed and send it rightward.

I have waited my entire life for the swing leftward, and I think I identified what broke America.

Let’s say that this pendulum swinging is necessary, we are a pack of goldfish swinging from left to right looking for something good with short short memories. This system can be metastable, you don’t make a ton of progress on anything but you just sorta bounce between the two sides and the status quo sticks around and you don’t slide into madness.

When 9/11 happened and Ws war on terror emerged, I worried that it would break the system. But in 2008, Obama emerged with a progressive message of hope and change. The pendulum I was told about was about to swing left. I had lived through the right swing of Ws time in office, and now I got to see what the left had to offer (which as a leftist was very exciting).

I watched two phenomenons happen concurrently that broke the system.

Obama captured the leftward energy that should have swung us back to the left and held it solidly in the center / center-right. He ran as a progressive firebrand and then governed from the center / center right. The big hop and change we got was nationwide Romneycare, a program devised by the Heritage Foundation which has done nothing but entrench the powers of the insurance industry into law.
Racism broke a large part of the voting public away from reality.

Obama wasn’t the first to do this, Clinton’s triangulation strategy was also a democrat governing from the center.

So we have a captured Democratic Party, beholden to the donor class and they capture the periodic leftswing energy and hold it center / center-right. Things fail to get better and the population goes “well fuck the left doesn’t have any answers, let’s swing the pendulum back the other way”

Over time the result is that the Overton window shifts and shifts and shifts until an oligarch is doing nazi salutes and the corporate media is going “oh he probably isnt really doing a nazi thing, he’s just advancing policies that nazis would love and saying things nazis would say and is excited and you know how hard it is to not do a nazi salute when you are excited.”

Our only hope now is that trump doesn’t slowly boil us into fascism and overplays and the people revolt. But Americans have proven to be willing to just take it in the ass rougher and longer than I’d ever imagine.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

It's more of a ratchet than a pendulum.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

The Republicans are much better about using topics they don't care as much about to generate support so they can achieve the ones they do.

The Democrats tend to want to die on every hill, which is ultimately a losing strategy.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm not positive of what the answer is, but I truly believe it will somehow sometime. However, please remember that this website is an echo chamber and sells doom and gloom. There is always hope no matter what the doomers say, otherwise they wouldn't be here.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Remember your information diet guidelines!

Limit social media intake, read with an eye towards bias and agenda, and verify all news with independent sources.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (4 children)

I’m still optimistic. While the severity of the current shitshow is unprecedented, the reality is we tend to bounce left and right. One side gets in power and does (or doesn’t) shit, until people get pissed off and elect the other side.

I am more worried about the death of media and rise of streaming. Just like the rise of TV changed who could be elected and how, new media is also changing that. So far new media helps elect people with dark skills, people farther from anyone you’d want governing. It’s not pretty, it’s not good, and it’s getting worse before it gets better. Truth doesn’t matter, echo chambers matter, outrage matters.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Everyone gets off their stupid asses, pays attention, and votes in an informed way.

So, basically, we're probably fucked. People have repeatedly proven to be pretty God damned stupid.

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