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1970-01-01 a day ago

>The people are never to blame.

Hold here. They aren't. Immediately letting 'the people' off the hook for blame is a somewhat modern fallacy. These people democratically choose the leader. You can't just 'not blame' them, as a group, for an eventual failure if they consistently choose poorly.

happytoexplain a day ago | parent | next [-]

Yes, but the author doesn't explain why they don't blame citizens. It's reasonable to make the argument that citizens have very little power to fix certain problems. E.g. I haven't had the option of a candidate willing to fix (actually fix) this problem, at any level of government, in my lifetime.

gchamonlive 21 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'd start my response to your comment with Cambridge Analytica and go from there to all the ways that the people can be manipulated into a fabricated consensus by the powers that be.

fidotron 20 hours ago | parent [-]

> Cambridge Analytica

Another American moral failure!

Hang on . . .

gchamonlive 2 hours ago | parent [-]

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/20/595338116/what-did-cambridge-...

And if you are still fixated on Reason I'd suggest you click on the links in the article

fidotron 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Evil Brits messing around in the US! Let's boycott the US, that will teach them!

Your entire mentality is stuck in the third world: wanting to ally yourself to ever larger bullies without ever taking personal responsibility to stand up against the actual problem entities yourself because that is too hard.

johnisgood a day ago | parent | prev [-]

In their defense, they can only choose between this or that, and both of them are quite shitty, in the US.

happytoexplain a day ago | parent | next [-]

Shitty in this specific context, arguably.

a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]
[deleted]
thepryz a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sorry, but I find this to be an excuse.

Voters can hold elected officials accountable by not re-electing politicians, not donating to them, and supporting candidates that will better represent them.

The problem is that most citizens are not civically knowledgeable or engaged which is why we continue to have to choose the lesser of two evils that are often the same in policy.

ryandrake a day ago | parent [-]

The choice is between Anti Consumer Jerk #1 and Slightly Less Of An Anti Consumer Jerk #2. One of them is going to be in charge. There is no choice to simply not elect someone, and writing in a non-jerk is unrealistic.

thepryz 13 hours ago | parent [-]

A civically informed and engaged population also has a choice to organize against the political establishment, run their own candidates, or create political action committees. The PAC can endorse and otherwise work to support a better candidate to win a primary (See David Hogg's Leaders We Deserve PAC), or if you don't mind getting a little dirty, the PAC can raise enough money to buy the politicians and bend them to their will.

I do admit that this is more difficult for Presidential elections, but certainly this can be effective at the state and local level and arguably could be used effectively within Congress if done right. In fact, we might be seeing some of that begin to happen in states like Maine given the response Graham Platner has already received. Kat Abughazaleh is another example. She's a progressive who is taking a somewhat novel approach to her campaign in Chicago. And of course you have Zohran Mamdani in NYC mayoral race.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Platner

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kat_Abughazaleh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zohran_Mamdani

cruano a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> both of them are quite shitty

That's equally as useful as saying jaywalking and mass murder are both crimes

red-iron-pine a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

yeah one wanted a public healthcare option, and the other wants to annihilate the global economy and become a dictator.

but they're both the same (rolls eyes)

johnisgood 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Cherry picking at its finest. Do not worry, you live in a democracy. ;)

LadyCailin a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Two thirds of American voters took the worst of the options though - either voted for Trump, or didn’t vote at all. It’s a majority problem, and I would totally excuse even third party voters here. But a large chunk of Americans couldn’t even be assed to do the bare minimum!

johnisgood a day ago | parent [-]

But we love democracy, right? This is democracy.