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Absolutely. I live in an authoritarian country and people would love to be able to vote politicians out. Americans really can but they just complain then vote f
by Nutmog 11y ago
Absolutely. I live in an authoritarian country and people would love to be able to vote politicians out. Americans really can but they just complain then vote for the same two parties every time.
Clinton caused some of these tough on crime and drugs laws. So if you voted for his party (Obama), then you voted for this.
- such_a_casual 11y agoAccording to Howard Zinn in "A People's History of the United States", the political party and electoral system was created as a facade to placate the poor from revolting against the wealthy. It worries me how much of this may still be true today: https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/fi...
- finid 11y agoThe real problem, is that shepherds (politicians) know how to play the game, while the sheep (citizens) are too stupid to realize that they're being played. All the politicians do is stir up emotional issues like "they're trying to take away your guns", or abortion, to distract the sheep. It works all the time.
- bobwaycott 11y agoThe opposite side of the aisle has been in no way demonstrably different.
- Decade 11y agoFalse dichotomy. I have never voted for a major party candidate for president.
- bobwaycott 11y agoI'm sorry, what false dichotomy? I haven't suggested one.
- Decade 11y agoThe false dichotomy is that the opposite of Democrat is Republican.
- krapp 11y agoMost Americans approve of the war on drugs, three strikes laws and zero-tolerance policies. Even the militarization of police after 9/11 was welcomed by a populace that was outraged such a thing could happen on US soil. If the end result has become authoritarianism, we must recognize that it exists in the US, in no small degree, because we the wanted it, not because it was forced upon us against our will.
- collyw 11y agoI don't think that's what anyone asked for, but I think, but those in power have seized it as justification for their authoritarian policies. Orwell predicted it quite well.
- Decade 11y agoIf there’s one useful outcome of the research of Pavlov and Freud and their peers, it’s the scientific discovery that humans are distressingly easy to manipulate into wanting things they did not want before. Ten years ago, the modern smartphone did not exist, and now I bet you don’t want to live without one. In this case, we have the big media, big industry, and big government in a huge orgy of bribery and self-interest, that all benefit from people accepting authoritarianism. There’s a relief valve, a small minority of people getting their political analysis from Comedy Central or their security analysis from Bruce Schneier, but the vast majority get their talking points from people who are funded to act like there is still a debate about climate change. It’s not technically against our will, but our will has been manipulated.
- finid 11y ago> Ten years ago, the modern smartphone did not exist, and now I bet you don’t want to live without one. The smartphone example does not fit. Very few needed to be manipulated into buying one. You've got to have a phone, whether it's a smartphone, a feature phone, or even a land line phone. Unless extraneous circumstances dictate otherwise, a phone is a necessity.
- finid 11y ago> not because it was forced upon us against our will. In a sense it was forced upon us. You see, we were whipped into a frenzy where the most likely thing to do, given our emotional states, was support whatever the perpetrators wanted in the first place. It's a trick that works all the time.
- triplesec 11y agoTell us how you can make a difference there in your country do you think?
- triplesec 11y agoTell us how you can make a difference there in your country do you think?