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submitted 5 days ago by yogthos@lemmy.ml to c/memes@lemmy.ml
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[-] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 days ago
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[-] rowanthorpe@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 days ago

I think I would extend it thus:

In America, the rich controls the government - to screw everyone else in the country (and sometimes those outside). In China, the government controls the rich - to screw everyone else in the country (and sometimes those outside).

...and with a bonus few:

In Russia, the top of the government controls the rich who control the rest of the government - to screw anyone they can get away with screwing while waving the "just remember we have nukes" flag. In Europe, the leaders keep flip-flopping about who they should be screwing so they just take turns footgunning while announcing "I meant to do that", and then slapping each other on the wrists for appearances. In the UK, the rich and the government take turns visiting the pawnshop with anything that isn't screwed down, then acting shocked when swathes of the government end up effectively owned by other governments.

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[-] Bogasse@lemmy.ml 5 points 5 days ago

I'm not living in USA but I think people got exactly what they voted for, didn't they?

Now the question of it being an educated vote and people being equipped to navigate modern media with modern disinformation techniques is another subject.

[-] merthyr1831@lemmy.ml 10 points 4 days ago

I mean, if you count the (registered) non-voters, which I think is more than fair considering the fact that Harris and Trump only represent a fraction of the (electorally viable) politics expressed in the US, Trump only scrapes about 46%.

The American political system has been designed to disenfranchise as many people as possible. Some ways are overt, like disenfranchising and deregistering black, ethnic, and imprisoned citizens (the latter don't even count towards that 54%!). How about the ways democrats and republicans explicitly outlawed "third" parties such as PSL, Greens, Libertarians on some state ballots?

Less overt ways are how most of the American electoral process is carried out during the working week, with zero affordance to workers to vote unless by post (inherently less secure) or by the altruism of their bosses. Disabled and elderly people are simply ignored if they wish to vote in person.

Then the final way Americans are disenfranchised is the simple act of alienation of the political class from the working class. No matter who won in November, most of these crises would be playing out in some form.

Elon may accelerate some of the rot, but oligarchs have had direct control of the American political system for its whole existence. American bombs would still be raining across the middle east, the Ukrainian war would be unjustly spilling blood in the name of empire, abortion would still be illegal across most of the US, and the govt would do nothing to challenge spirally costs of living for workers.

[-] djsoren19 5 points 4 days ago

I mean, the electorate is definitely unqualified to pick their own leaders, but that's what decades of gutting education funding with absolutely no public pushback gets you. An unqualified electorate elects unqualified representatives.

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[-] TheCriticalMember@aussie.zone 2 points 5 days ago

Without an educated, informed population and effective, constantly maintained checks and balances on those in power, the end results of either communism or capitalism are going to be exactly the same.

[-] yogthos@lemmy.ml 14 points 5 days ago

All these things happen far more naturally under communism because systemic pressures favor these things.

[-] TheCriticalMember@aussie.zone 2 points 5 days ago

What do you mean by "these things"?

[-] yogthos@lemmy.ml 17 points 5 days ago

I mean that communist system demonstrably results in far better education, and stronger checks and balances than capitalism. Communist countries focus on building infrastructure such as schools and housing, and make education free for everyone. Meanwhile, public ownership of the means of production means wealth isn't concentrated in the hands of the few. This precludes the problem such as oligarchs owning media and then manipulating public opinion in their own interest. Hope that clears things up for you.

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[-] Achyu@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 5 days ago

What about the intermediate results?

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this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2025
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