• xor@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    You’re right that the US’s democracy is deeply flawed. Criticising and discussing how politicians are influenced, and the systems that allow it is great and valuable, especially when those systems are used to influence both major parties.

    But to pretend that every single politician is part of some hive mind run by a shadowy cabal, rather than a set of individuals with their own beliefs and aspirations is not only falling prey to conspiracy theories, but also massively damages your ability to actually understand how the systems work, and how its flaws can be mitigated. At the end of the day, regardless of what else may be influencing them, politicians still have to be elected by the citizens.

    Opting out of being involved in politics, not voting and just letting the universe run its course doesn’t solve the problems or stick it to the man, it only takes away your small piece of influence.

    If you don’t vote, politicians don’t care about you

    So vote, protest, have conversations with people about your views and listen to theirs. That’s the only way the system will work better for the people.

    • stella@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      No, not all politicians are bad.

      US democracy is so horrendously flawed, however, that only a few good eggs make it though. They almost serve as an excuse for ‘not all representatives are bad’ when the vast majority of them are.

      I think the true issue is the constituency. Nothing will change until the culture changes. For the culture to change, people need to admit when they’re wrong.

      I won’t hold my breath, personally.

    • Augusto@lemmygrad.ml
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      1 year ago

      it’s not a “shadowy cabal”, it’s the ruling class, aka the bourgeois class, the owners of the means of production. capitalism’s flaws cannot be mitigated because it’s because of these flaws that the system itself can exist (exploitation of workers in different degrees, exploitation of the 3rd world, revenue concentration in the hands of a few, wars and misery etc etc)

      the system won’t work well for the people because that’s the whole point of the system’s existence since its inception. it works for a particular class and only that class. the problem isn’t Democrats vs Republicans, it’s capitalism vs the working class. you don’t have to vote, you have to join worker’s unions, a socialist/communist party, be an activist, and when duty calls, participate in the revolution that is to come. the only real material change comes when the working class takes power and actually makes way for changes in the socioeconomic status of the country/world. I suggest reading some of Marx’s work

      With that said, I do agree that in some aspects the Democrats are “better”, such as LGBT rights and such, but that could be 10 times better if the people were actually in charge instead of a few rich lobbyists.

      • Asafum@feddit.nl
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        1 year ago

        I get what you’re saying in theory, but even then the “owning class” is a large group of people that are not working together for anything. They all independently influence whomever they want and it’s the disproportionate amount of power they hold in that respect that is the issue (money.)

        It’s no wonder though that the majority of the “owning class” that we really see as problematic in their nature (think Koch’s, Musk, Adelson, Russian oligarchs via the NRA, etc) all support Republicans. Those that support Democrats tend to be better people as far as what they do with their money for society (Think: Gates, but not always: Bezos).

        Edit: 50/50 wasn’t really worth the comment so I’ll just strike through instead of delete lol