08-22-2018, 12:22 PM
(08-22-2018, 11:46 AM)hollodero Wrote: Agreed on all counts.
Russian influence did expedite the development, I want to mention that. With campaigns they run everywhere, but which are most fruitful in a climate where everything anti-other side is used without much consideration. But of course, they did not make this happen, it was money and a culture of low information. And it's what the US deserves, as I think I one said already too (broken record), but it's true. One can't be for unrestricted capitalism and against all regulations or restrictions for business and big finance and then wake up and wonder how money took over politics. Well, of course it did.
I used to be very libertarian minded. A lot of things changed for me ideologically in the past few years, but the biggest shift was from understanding what the deregulated market has done to our democracy. Socioeconomic inequality isn't just something that affects the pockets of the lower and middle classes, it is something that reduces the power of the people in our system because of the influence of money in our elections. Our government was founded on the idea that all people are created equal and that each person has an equal voice in our government, electing representatives to govern in their best interests. Right now the voices of the poor are drowned out and we aren't looking out for our people.
Years ago the difference between the Democrats and Republicans was in their philosophy of how to best serve the people. Now their difference lies in which industries donate the most to them.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
