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I have no idea how things can or will improve. As an outsider, America is a strange place. Unfortunately, the world seems hell bent on copying everything it does.
Nah they're definitely less insistent on copying us after this year. A huge chunk of the world has looked at Trump and went "that's not an ally. We need to diversify our allegiances in case the US goes nuts again"
It's part of the reason China is becoming so popular on the international stage. They want to trade, and they're stable. Trump's foot stamping and attempted "dick waving" power trips have absolutely buried our reputation and bargaining power in the global community.
Turns out, electing a corrupt man-child who ruins everyone's economy and messes with the global oil supply tends to make a lot of people not like you.
There will be executions after the midterms. The only question is whether they will be orderly and for the people, or chaotic and by the people.
We are so far removed from that prospect that it almost depresses me, because that's what we need to do to the oligarchs.
Such things only occur when it's an act of desperation. Reasonable people don't rebel. People who've been pushed beyond the point of reason rebel.
To rebel is reasonable when the alternative is decay and starvation. Revolution has generally improved the lives of the people where it's been had.
Exactly. And while they keep pushing us farther and farther, we are still far too comfortable.
A population is three meals away from revolution and with the current straining of supply lines due to diesel prices that threat is quite a bit close than most would assume.
Yes, most Americans are very upset with the establishment. They just can't agree on who the establishment is.
Obviously Trump is currently the establishment since he's the one in power right now, but the irony is a lot of the people who voted for him did so because they were angry with the establishment that preceded him. So, many Americans are angry at an establishment that was meant to take on a past establishment that many other Americans had been angry with.
A large chunk of the population would rather throw out the baby with the bathwater and any attempt to tell them they're insane for thinking so is an exercise in futility.
In fairness to them, even the best of our leaders are still operating in the framework that got us here.
It’s establishments all the way down. And what do they all have in common? Being servile to capital.
Obviously Trump is currently the establishment since he’s the one in power right now, ...
Trump and maga are not the establishment. They are extreme radicals with a completely different agenda than the establishment. Their agenda is to do away with the Constitution and replace it with an authoritarian regime centered on christian nationalism and fascism--of that's not radical, what is? The fact that they managed to take over the government doesn't make them "the establishment" unless you accept that they will maintain power and thus become a new "establishment".
He is practically embedded into the capitalist oligarchy which are ruling the US. You don't get more establishment than that.
Yes, he is not part of the professional politician gang which has been used to rule, but he is definitely part of the establishment which that gang also was subservient to.
Yeah, exactly. trump is part of the class who employ the "establishment" as it is usually understood. He is literally the boss of the establishment.
I understand what you're saying, but I don't entirely agree. Trump did win the presidential nomination of one of only two established major political parties. Many Republican politicians who had been part of the US political establishment for decades are now among Trump's coalition. Trump also has the support of some established media organizations, like Fox News. I would also argue that the business establishment is largely the same as it was before Trump came into office.
It's not radical, it's reactionary
No, it's radical, dude, totally
<not a serious comment, 100% a joke based on the 80s slang>
"The establishment" is a vague and nebulous term
I like this Leeland person.
When will they will figure out bOtH pArTiEs are "The Establishment"? Don't hold your breath!
I vote, and you should, too. They are not the same. One party is "pro-LGBT" and the other is "pro-church" and they are bOtH pro-corporate, pro-billionaire, pro-war, anti-union and so on.
The differences are the bait. The commonalities are the establishment.
"bOtH sIdEs" is only true for establishment Dems, and if you pay attention, progressives are gaining in power and prominence. DSA is not the only source, but it's becoming a lightning rod.
Show me ANY good Republicans. I'll wait.
The only hope for us is to support the actual progressives instead of lumping them in with the establishmen Democrats, because doing the latter is EXACTLY what the fascists want.
So it's like you're mostly right but critically wrong when you write off both parties. And yes, voting is critical, but what is even MOR critical is supporting progressive candidates before the primaries and into the primaries and THEN in the general. Always vote, and when you vote, always take the better - or less shitty - option. That's where "vote blue no longer who" comes into play - in the general election, an establishment Dem is still less shitty than a fascist Republican.
The problem is that, through the electoral system, the limit to progressiveness is social democracy. Social democracy in the context of a dying imperialist power cannot save the empire from collapse, nor can it establish socialism, because you cannot replace the material base of society within the boundaries of a state set up to reinforce and protect the material base of society. Revolution remains necessary for socialism.
Jared Golden is a halfway decent Republican
Cute, but for anyone else who had to look him up - he is a Democrat.
Not everyone, that's why establishment Democrats are fighting progressives in their own party harder than they are fighting Republicans. We need to vote in the progressives to actually represent us.
Yeah, realising your entire lineage’s lifelong earnings for generations amounts to sofa change to megalomaniacs who are also making sure your grandchildren will suffer even more than you are now is bound to make one testy.
e: all the while children are dying by genocide. The wrong people are being listened to.
79 years old.
Leeland’s list of frustrations is long: grifters, liars, the two-party system, money influencing elections, the US’s standing in the world, the growing national debt and a fixation on cultural issues, not just the larger problems that plague the country.
Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin' Then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin'
Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won't come again And don't speak too soon For the wheel's still in spin And there's no tellin' who that it's namin' For the loser now Will be later to win For the times they are a-changin'
Hopefully it's channeled productively for ounce.
Or pound
Americans: anything but metric ;-)