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> Seeing the failure of American politics recently is sad - it feels like society has just given up any ambition in favor of petty in fighting. Please don't bo

> Seeing the failure of American politics recently is sad - it feels like society has just given up any ambition in favor of petty in fighting. Please don't both-sides this: * https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/10/31/the-republican-party-has-lurched-towards-populism-and-illiberalism https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/10/31/the-repu... * Source PDF: https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/b6/55/b6553f85-5c5d-45ec-be63-a48a2abe3f62/briefing_paper_9.pdf https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/b6/55/b6553f85-5c5d... > Look at China's Belt and Road initiative, it's a 40 year, ambitious plan. Do we even have any serious 10 year plans? 5 year? And why not? The GOP had major control of the federal levers of power for a good portion of the last few years, and yet "Infrastructure Week" became a running joke: * https://www.npr.org/2018/05/15/611389675/why-its-infrastructure-week-again https://www.npr.org/2018/05/15/611389675/why-its-infrastruct... * https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/10/21173209/infrastructure-week-dead-rebranded-trump-tweets-united-policy https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/10/21173209/infrastructure-w...

mindvirus 6y ago
I'm not trying to both sides this - but it shouldn't be controversial to say that the net output of the political system isn't great. This isn't just a reflection of the parties, but the will of the people.
- throw0101a 6y ago
  Yes, the net output of the US political system is somewhat garbage. But there are specific sources of that garbage in recent years.
Dirlewanger 6y ago
Obama accomplished next to nothing of note in his 8 years. ACA, while a start, largely doesn't change anything about how the healthcare industry operates. He accomplished nothing with regards to our failing infrastructure. The alphabet agencies sure loved him though. So far with Biden, we were promised an additional $2000 stimulus check...oh actually it's just $1400...oh actually, we're not so sure now. What did he do instead? Marched the military right back into Syria on his first day in office. So yes, this is a "both sides" thing.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- MyHypatia 6y ago
  ACA significantly impacted my life and the lives of others around me. My friends in medical school were able to purchase health insurance to cover the 2 months between graduation and starting residency. Graduating from school doesn't make you eligible for COBRA. The ones with pre-existing conditions would not have been able to obtain meaningful health insurance for that gap period otherwise. I'm grateful that the ACA made meaningful steps to solving that problem. I still want us to do better. But the accomplishment of the ACA has been the difference between having health insurance and worrying about catastrophic medical debt because of an 8 week in-between period when you're unattached to a large institution.
- jlokier 6y ago
  You know Biden doesn't have the power to issue $2000 stimulus checks, right?
- jlokier 6y ago
  > ACA ... largely doesn't change anything about how the healthcare The ACA utterly and profoundly changed healthcare for some 20 million people. Maybe you're not one of those people. But it's really hard to see how it can be called "largely doesn't change anything".
throwaway20875 6y ago
Your post ironically captures exactly why we're where we're at - the result of simple divide-and-conquer tactics used by the ruling elite to distract from what's really wrong and to crush any dissent. Both sides take gobs of money from the same centers of power that have strip mined the US and degraded American quality of life: Wall Street, the military industrial complex, and a completely out of control intelligence apparatus. Democrat vs Republican is a matter of picking your flavor of decline. But hey, at least the drone strikes under this administration will be done by transgender pilots - truly progress!
barbacoa 6y ago
This IS both sides. Both sides try to undermine when the other side is in power even when those actions hurt America overall. It's like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Thinking that your "team" is the good guys and the other are the bad guys is exactly why politicians get away with this. There is nuance in the world.
- thesteamboat 6y ago
  Both sides are guilty to some degree, but, and this is the crucial point, not to the SAME degree.
  - throwaway20875 6y ago
    >Both sides are guilty to some degree, but, and this is the crucial point, not to the SAME degree. Yep, those other guys are way more polite as they destroy the future of my country for their own short term gain! If only they could rule some cities or states exclusively for decades I'm sure we'd see the kind of America that we all deserve exemplified at the local level!
  - krapp 6y ago
    One side wants to bleed government out with a thousand cuts, drown it in a bathtub and then shoot it in the head, and is willing to commit ̶t̶r̶e̶a̶s̶o̶n̶ light sedition to get what it wants, whereas the other side seems terminally allergic to any exercise of its own power on the rare occasion it can seize any. But hey, at least they find common ground in being in the pocket of corporate interests.
- acdw 6y ago
  > Thinking that your "team" is the good guys and the other are the bad guys is exactly why politicians get away with this. There is nuance in the world. This is really annoying to me /because/ I'm a liberal -- I sometimes /wish/ the more liberal in Congress would be more of a "team," but they're just /not/. And it /really/ pisses me off when people both sides the current political climate, because you have -- on Republicans' side -- an actual fascist uprising, multiple acts of terror, active dismantling of federal governmental agencies, rampant corruption /in the open/ ... while on the Democrats' side, they're corporatist and generally status-quo, which is not good, but it's /not/ the same. God, I /wish/ we could have a debate in this country about the benefits and drawbacks of different foreign policy initiatives, or tax policy, or whatever, but we /can't/ -- and I'm stuck with the lesser of two evils because you basically have one party that's actively trying to turn the US into a one-party state and another that isn't. I /wish/ we could say that "both parties are the same," because I'm pissed at both. I'm mad that Joe Biden is only pushing for $1400 in relief for /a year/ of Covid. I'm mad that the Democrats still aren't talking about getting rid of the camps at the border, that Obama did air strikes in the Middle East, that they haven't done anything about college debt, that they're so deep in pockets of business. But they are NOT the same as the Republicans. So stop saying they are.

mindvirus 6y ago

I'm not trying to both sides this - but it shouldn't be controversial to say that the net output of the political system isn't great. This isn't just a reflection of the parties, but the will of the people.

throw0101a 6y ago
Yes, the net output of the US political system is somewhat garbage. But there are specific sources of that garbage in recent years.

Dirlewanger 6y ago

Obama accomplished next to nothing of note in his 8 years. ACA, while a start, largely doesn't change anything about how the healthcare industry operates. He accomplished nothing with regards to our failing infrastructure. The alphabet agencies sure loved him though. So far with Biden, we were promised an additional $2000 stimulus check...oh actually it's just $1400...oh actually, we're not so sure now. What did he do instead? Marched the military right back into Syria on his first day in office. So yes, this is a "both sides" thing.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
MyHypatia 6y ago
ACA significantly impacted my life and the lives of others around me. My friends in medical school were able to purchase health insurance to cover the 2 months between graduation and starting residency. Graduating from school doesn't make you eligible for COBRA. The ones with pre-existing conditions would not have been able to obtain meaningful health insurance for that gap period otherwise. I'm grateful that the ACA made meaningful steps to solving that problem. I still want us to do better. But the accomplishment of the ACA has been the difference between having health insurance and worrying about catastrophic medical debt because of an 8 week in-between period when you're unattached to a large institution.
jlokier 6y ago
You know Biden doesn't have the power to issue $2000 stimulus checks, right?
jlokier 6y ago
> ACA ... largely doesn't change anything about how the healthcare The ACA utterly and profoundly changed healthcare for some 20 million people. Maybe you're not one of those people. But it's really hard to see how it can be called "largely doesn't change anything".

throwaway20875 6y ago

Your post ironically captures exactly why we're where we're at - the result of simple divide-and-conquer tactics used by the ruling elite to distract from what's really wrong and to crush any dissent. Both sides take gobs of money from the same centers of power that have strip mined the US and degraded American quality of life: Wall Street, the military industrial complex, and a completely out of control intelligence apparatus. Democrat vs Republican is a matter of picking your flavor of decline. But hey, at least the drone strikes under this administration will be done by transgender pilots - truly progress!

barbacoa 6y ago

This IS both sides. Both sides try to undermine when the other side is in power even when those actions hurt America overall. It's like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Thinking that your "team" is the good guys and the other are the bad guys is exactly why politicians get away with this. There is nuance in the world.

thesteamboat 6y ago
Both sides are guilty to some degree, but, and this is the crucial point, not to the SAME degree.
- throwaway20875 6y ago
  >Both sides are guilty to some degree, but, and this is the crucial point, not to the SAME degree. Yep, those other guys are way more polite as they destroy the future of my country for their own short term gain! If only they could rule some cities or states exclusively for decades I'm sure we'd see the kind of America that we all deserve exemplified at the local level!
- krapp 6y ago
  One side wants to bleed government out with a thousand cuts, drown it in a bathtub and then shoot it in the head, and is willing to commit ̶t̶r̶e̶a̶s̶o̶n̶ light sedition to get what it wants, whereas the other side seems terminally allergic to any exercise of its own power on the rare occasion it can seize any. But hey, at least they find common ground in being in the pocket of corporate interests.
acdw 6y ago
> Thinking that your "team" is the good guys and the other are the bad guys is exactly why politicians get away with this. There is nuance in the world. This is really annoying to me /because/ I'm a liberal -- I sometimes /wish/ the more liberal in Congress would be more of a "team," but they're just /not/. And it /really/ pisses me off when people both sides the current political climate, because you have -- on Republicans' side -- an actual fascist uprising, multiple acts of terror, active dismantling of federal governmental agencies, rampant corruption /in the open/ ... while on the Democrats' side, they're corporatist and generally status-quo, which is not good, but it's /not/ the same. God, I /wish/ we could have a debate in this country about the benefits and drawbacks of different foreign policy initiatives, or tax policy, or whatever, but we /can't/ -- and I'm stuck with the lesser of two evils because you basically have one party that's actively trying to turn the US into a one-party state and another that isn't. I /wish/ we could say that "both parties are the same," because I'm pissed at both. I'm mad that Joe Biden is only pushing for $1400 in relief for /a year/ of Covid. I'm mad that the Democrats still aren't talking about getting rid of the camps at the border, that Obama did air strikes in the Middle East, that they haven't done anything about college debt, that they're so deep in pockets of business. But they are NOT the same as the Republicans. So stop saying they are.