Blaming the government is a cop out. The american government is an expression of the will of the american people. For all the screaming, a politicaly significant percentage of the population supports every decision being made by this administration. There is an election comming up. I want to be proven wrong. But i suspect the ussual patterns will emerge and little will change. Too many people are too comfortable with the current situation.

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wand3r an hour ago | parent | next [-]

This is such a crazy statement. Democracy in the US is dead. People are incredibly dumb and I believe you have the causal relationship reversed, even for relatively smart people.

The will of the American people is deeply influenced by interested parties dumping money into various areas. Rich elite own almost all media and even "democratized" social media is heavily influenced. You can't even use a search engine these days.

Ultimately, the 70% plus "will" of the people is money out of politics, stock bans for elected officials, no foreign wars and universal healthcare. Things both parties unite to curtail

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markvdb an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> Democracy in the US is dead. People are incredibly dumb[...]

So what alternative or incremental improvement to democracy would you propose? And more importantly, how would you like to get there?

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webarchitect an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Democracy isn't dead, but in the US, it's sure in troubled water. The two-party system encouraged people not to think for themselves but instead have to choose between two parties that, at least initially had common ground but now are diametrically opposed to one another. Now one of the two parties is pretty weak, having lost ground, giving the impression that it had lost touch with the common people and focused on loud but semi-fringe issues. One party owning the system has the same look as Democracy is dead.

Not to mention that even with a strong leader in both parties, we are on a race to the bottom, each election oscillating between the two parties, each spending lots of money and focus undoing what the other party did. When the two parties had common ground, this was much less of an issue.

In the end, this isn't going to get fixed, the US is going to just keep printing money, blowing up the deficit until the last few countries outside the US who trust us no longer do. We'll be in too many wars, in too many places, with too few friends. End up the same way the USSR was when they were in Afghanistan for too long.

I don't think even if you pulled money out of politics, banned stock trading for elected officials, no foreign wars, universal health care - that we would right the ship. Our problems are fundamental. Our early leaders warned us against a two-party system, trying to show us the problems it would lead to, and we ignored it.

	▲	ptero 39 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I think this is a bit too pessimistic. Yes, US will print money to inflate debt until it can no longer do so. Yes, the realignment after it cannot get treasuries sold externalkyexternally, will be painful. But this has happened before (in the world) and will happen again. The country doesn't have to fail in the way of the USSR. And once the dust settles the long term state will probably be better for many countries, US included. My 2c.

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pirate787 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

"Democracy is dead" because I disagree with the policy preferences of the majority of voters.

	▲	wand3r 30 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		That isn't what I said. 50% of the country can not read. People, myself included, are susceptible to influence. Democracy is dead because of money in politics, low intelligence of voters and a 2 party system that heavily manages the ideas and people that appear on the ballot.
	▲	bix6 an hour ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		They aren’t wrong about the influence of money though.
	▲	rzerowan an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		IMHO its mostly been proven that special intrests , corporations hold more influence than the electorate. To that extent that bot wings of the uniparty basically persue the same agenda with very little variation in econ/pol while distarcting everyone with nonstop culture war bs. Ergo its more feasible to playact at parades thsn it is to have a proper industrial policy for example that would mean hosing Wall Streeet profits to do. so.

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sdcfgy an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yeah. America is a symptom of Americans...

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micromacrofoot an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The thing about dumb people is that the dumber they are the easier it is to convince them that changing their position is against their interests.

This has been something that's been foisted upon the American public through its politics, propaganda, media, and other systems for decades. As a result they have been fleeced through the visage of democracy that has been capped and gerrymandered away from them.

We are now in a situation where the entire fate of the country rests on ~250k people who live in some of the poorest, most homogeneous, media-blasted parts of the country.

	▲	RhysU a minute ago \| parent [-]
		So move there.

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ptero an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

While I agree with much of what you wrote the percentage of people supporting every (or even most) decision of this administration is very small. But a large portion of the population doesn't like the alternative any better.

They said a few years ago that Trump and Biden have a chance only if they run against each other.

So it is more nuanced. We will see what the candidates in 2 years look like.

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hn_submit an hour ago | parent [-]

The vote is skewed because of the large number of Latinos and East Asians that have flowed into the country over the last three decades. If you tally the vote by ethnicity you'll see there's a large amount of support from the white majority (which is getting smaller every year) for these measures.

	▲	ptero an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I do not think you can get the support level for specific measures from a vote. A vote is a single, crude A vs B on a large set of measures. And when a vote is between two options seen as largely abhorrent the winning basket can be a very strange one. My 2c.
	▲	dalyons 35 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		~47% of Latinos voted for trump in 2024. What are they skewing exactly?

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caaqil 36 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Interesting perspective. Incidentally, taking this view to its logical conclusion puts into perspective what a lot of US adversaries say regarding civilian targets in the US.

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Varelion an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

“Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here... like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. F*ck Hope.” ― George Carlin

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ZeroGravitas an hour ago | parent [-]

And yet they lie and scheme and have propaganda campaigns designed to confuse the ordinary person.

Many of whom suck, but others are just e.g. scared old ladies who got told that God hates abortions after decades of their church not seeming to care.

	▲	Varelion 39 minutes ago \| parent [-]
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