• circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org
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    2 months ago

    The US has a problem of representation. Specifically and especially since the Citizens United decision, corporate interests can easily flow money towards politicians to make them do just about anything they want. This exacerbated an existing problem with the corporate tax rate and has now brought it into laughably low territory.

    That’s all an oversimplification of course, but it’s not that Americans haven’t “figured it out”. It is far more complicated than that.

    • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      Thank you. I’m getting quite tired of people posting the most fucking obvious takes about problems in the US, then going “why haven’t americans fixed this? are they stupid?”, when we have exceedingly small control over the actions of our shitass policy makers.

      It’s some real “everyone is dumb except for me” energy.

        • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          Someone defending the US few weeks ago said: “decisions are made by those who show up and vote”.

          No, decisions are made by those who hold economic and political power. That is NOT the citizenry of capitalist dictatorships. Having elections also serves a lot of ideological functions like:

          • Building consent / subservience for the capitalist dictatorship.
          • Creating the illusion of democracy.
          • Being an entertaining and distracting theatre piece.
          • Serving as a platform for capitalist ideas and talking points, making everything else seem “illegitimate”
          • Being used as a tool of western chauvinism, labeling any other system (even substantive people’s democracies) as “undemocratic”.