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>Modern democracy mostly just doesn't seem to work how it ought. It is funny to say this as if every other modern democracy hasn't solved the specific problem
by slg 1y ago
>Modern democracy mostly just doesn't seem to work how it ought.
It is funny to say this as if every other modern democracy hasn't solved the specific problem that you have given. The issue isn't democracy, it is the American democracy (or republic if you want to be pedantic).
Specifically, the combination of our expansive freedom of speech protections (which make campaign financing restrictions near impossible) and first past the post voting system make it easy for corporations and the rich to shape the government however they want.
- somenameforme 1y agoThis is mostly grass is greener thinking. Here [1] is a relevant poll across the EU, for instance. [1] 65% of people do not think high level corruption cases are sufficiently pursued and 57% do not think efforts against corruption are effective. And everywhere except Scandiland has a majority to vast majority that think corruption is widespread in their country. The only place it seems to be really working is in Switzerland and in the Scandinavian micronations (notably Sweden is trending more towards the patterns of Europe than Scandinavia). [1] - https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/3217 https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/3217
- slg 1y agoIt is weird to claim it is simply "grass is greener thinking" and then point to opinion polls as if those polls won't suffer the same fate. But either way, that wasn't my point. The "specific problem" I was referring to was the example you gave of health insurers maximizing profit and the government's inability/unwillingness to reign that in. The way all those European countries have addressed that is via universal healthcare.
- s1artibartfast 1y agoI initially thought the greener grass reference was in relation to their own link. I wonder what a more objective measure of government corruption would be. I suspect it's not possible. The closest measure I could think of it was something along the lines of governmental efficiency, w which would include corruption, incompetence and dysfunction. I wonder if someone could put together a Time series data on some benchmarks like the government cost to put up a stop sign.
- slg 1y agoThere are groups that try to quantify this sort of stuff. According to one measure, the US was already behind most of Europe in 2024[1] and I would expect us to drop much further in the next iteration of this list. [1] - https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2024 https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2024
- s1artibartfast 1y agoWhat I see at that link is a perception index. Am I missing something?
- wqaatwt 1y agoThe perception index is flawed in many ways. It effectively entirely ignores high level corruption or institutionalized corruption. It’s a bit like using Big Mac index for estimating PPP.
- wqaatwt 1y ago> The way all those European countries have addressed They addressed by rationing and limiting access. Of course their systems are generally much more efficient cost wise. However Europe isn’t some Utopian wonderland.
- slg 1y agoAnd yet the US trails those European countries in most measures of quality of healthcare including access. It is clear the US pays more for healthcare and receives worse service. That doesn't mean anyone is calling Europe utopian, but the American approach to healthcare is worse by almost every objective measure. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2024/sep/mirror-mirror-2024 https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2...