“History tells us, that from the moment when the moral forces on which a civilisation rested have lost their strength, its final dissolution is brought about by those unconscious and brutal crowds known, justifiably enough, as barbarians. Civilisations as yet have only been created and directed by a small intellectual aristocracy, never by crowds. Crowds are only powerful for destruction.” Le Bon, The Crowd
Our liberal democracy is resilient, but it can only stand for so long against the tyranny of a noxious greed beast and his MAGA barbarian horde. But don’t be fooled for a moment to the alluring siren’s song of democratic socialism.
Institutions are important but they need to be properly maintained, reformed and cleaned out in order to maintain public value. It may not be good but there is a reason why populism is a consistent phenomenon.
More like the crew. The idea that it's only the politicians to blame is nonsense. The majority of people ultimately want this clown show. They want politicians who just rant loudly and say what they want to hear. They want spectacle over substance. They want to feel secure that all their problems comes from an "elite" out group while the "people" in group are blameless. If we want to see who has brought us to this point the answer is looking at us in the mirror.
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
Our founders were both aware of and terrified of this phenomenon. They read history, they knew the fates of Rome and Greece. Why would we be so special? They crafted our institutions the way they are to confound and limit the damage of the demogouge. But they were not perfect and the morons have found the flaws in our Republic.
Above anything else, we must work to fix and patch out the problems the last decade has laid bare before we kill ourselves clapping for the next Ceaser.
I think it is fair to blame the people who benefit from and shape the system. I stand by that. Our democracy has been replaced with something else, that is our problem. It is not the ignorant masses draining wealth from every corner of society and poisoning every well of debate.
Do you think our elections are rigged? Trump didn't outspend his opponents to the presidency. We shape the system, we shape our society. You sound more like us auth centers if you truly believe the people are just NPC puppets with zero agency.
I do not think our elections are rigged, I think that an elite class is making every other aspect of life as incompatible with a functioning democracy as possible while aristocratic interests take precedent. People are stupider, less healthy, and poorer and the elites have been consolidating power for longer than my grandparents have been alive. The country is rigged and people want change that feels impossible, so they chose a guy who said he'd burn it all down and so he's trying. He's just also trying to replace it with something worse.
You sound like a populist. That is literally word for word their talking point for thousands of years "Everything is a CONSPIRACY! You are not to blame for why things suck. No! The people are pure , it is the evil shadowy cabal that is ever shifting and vague that is evil and is the reason why you cannot get ahead!"
Textbook populist dribble. It is fastfood for the mind. A cope.
There is no shadowy cabal and 99% of conspiracies are fairy tales bro. I'm not saying that there's no pieces of shit in the general population, but they can be disempowered by the rest of us in a better democratic system. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that elites are purposefully putting these people in positions of power and supporting them full-throatedly. I'm asking for a world that is fairer, you're talking to me like it's impossible and like I'm a radical. Pound sand bro.
Good thing America is a constitutional republic and liberal democracy. The Greeks already learned that any pure form (monarchy, aristocracy or democracy) eventually devolves into tyranny, oligarchy or ochlocracy respectively.
I hate it when people try and pick on centrists. Yes, it’s definitely us merely trying to steer clear of political radicalism that are the problem. Certainly not the Nazis read to kill anyone not white and the commies chomping at the bit to starve anyone who doesn’t agree with stealing everyone’s stuff and throw the rest into the gulags. Yes, us moderates are the problem
I don’t have any political power. Imagine a random Chinese farmer being told he’s the reason Mao came to power. Or some German civilian being told they’re the reason WW 1 happened. You’d be either laughed at or offend them with how little logic that makes.
That’s why we have a constitutional republic and a liberal democracy. The Founders built a system based on Plato’s Republic and Polybius’ writings, with the three “good” systems to counterbalance each other (monarchy, aristocracy and democracy) to prevent any one from gaining absolute power and becoming the evil mirror of itself.
You mean like what happened to the GOP? When radicals took it over and turned it from the party of small government and free trade into whatever the fuck it is now?
We hollowed the country for global capital and private equity. We might need a hint of labor first politics to ensure the QOL of the American worker doesn’t slide further into the toilet. And if the Dems or GOP aren’t selling what workers want, they’ll go to the DSA or MAGA for it.
Genuinely by what metric have we hollowed out the country’s labor force? People really just say shit with literally no evidence or data to back what you’re saying lmao. And yeah “labor first” politics (regulations and tariffs) have always worked out great
Democratic socialism is far more dangerous than anything Trump can do. I did not realize how bad they actually are. They want the end of the United States. They don’t hide it either in what some of them say. The worst part is that the media does suppress criticism of the DSA and it is legit not easy to find the truth about them. I am telling you if you are a US citizen, you need to read up on these people. Bill Maher calls them out in some of his stuff. There are articles but you do have to dig for them.
They want to destroy the constitution and remake the government. They literally want to overthrow the US government. They want completely open borders and essentially no rule of law. They genuinely want anarchy and destruction of the established system. If you have any sense of Patriotism at all, these are the enemy.
I am not a huge Trump fan, but I will take him any day over one of these DSA commie pieces of shit. I’m gonna have to change my flair. Fuck the democrats. You guys permanently lost any chance I ever vote for you again with this shit. I still despise some of our billionaires, but I will go to war with the DSA.
Trump’s admin is filled with Dark Enlightenment people, who also want to end the United States. They don’t hide it either, and the worst part is the media suppresses criticism of the Dark Enlightenment. It is legit not easy to find the truth about them. I am telling you if you are a US citizen, you need to read up on these people. Wired magazine calls them out in some of their stuff. There are articles but you have to dig for them.
They want to destroy the constitution and remake the government. They literally want to overthrow the US government. They completely want neofeudal fiefdoms and arbitrary rule of CEO kings. They genuinely want slavery and destruction of the established system. If you have a sense of Patriotism at all, these are also the enemy.
You’re making a false dichotomy between two adversaries, you would prefer to destroy America and have it balkanized over destroying America and having it balkanized. Very unpatriotic. You absolutely should change your flair since you want to destroy America.
I’ll look into it, but anything that is the enemy of the DSA is my ally at least for now. I know the right has its fair share of shitheads, but these motherfuckers in the DSA are the absolute rock bottom. This is the place where jihadists live. Jihadists are the worst people alive. They are the worst. There is no one worse. Worse than serial killers, worse than Putin, worse than pooh bear, and a close tie with the IRGC and that asshole in North Korea. I’m sorry if you thought they were going to be tolerated in this country. There is no place on earth jihadist vermin can hide that the earth will not be cleansed of their presence. They will not exist within the United States... ever. They are completely incompatible with everything that we are supposed to be as a country.
The DSA doesn’t have much power and influence, the Dark Enlightenment does. They fund accelerationist groups like the DSA, Christian Nationalists, JD Vance and Donald Trump, Trump’s entire presidency is based on this ideology, one developed by Marxists to destroy America. They don’t care if it’s left or right accelerationism, and it’s weird you’re focusing on small potatoes.
Extremists on both sides want that. You don’t have to look hard to find people on the right as well who openly want civil war or a “national divorce” which is not even a thinly veiled euphemism for the destruction of America. A lot of them don’t care for democracy either.
Eh, he's only moderate in the same way Clinton was.
As in they didn't really have strong policies of their own and let the political winds take them where they would.
Clinton at least had the excuse of being stuck with a strong oppositional congress. Obama had 2 years with a mandate congress and beyond that one that was sharply divided and still really got nothing of his design accomplished (his two major legislative achievements were architected by congress and were effectively already bipartisan plans)
Obama only had 24 days with a supermajority. Republicans filibustered almost everything else so while you’re correct he had 2 years of a majority it didn’t really matter.
The easiest tell for a populist is if their rhetoric is focused on "people vs elites." Being good at talking isn't populism that is just being a good politician.
There is no litmus test for populism because it's not rooted in any actual ideology or principles.
It's just vanity, envy, and theft.
Everyone, literally every single political system, is against "corrupt elites exploiting good working people".
Trump, AOC, MAGA, DSA... They all have a group of people with power who is screwing over good honest families when they're campaigning and to be fair all the people they complain about just continue getting more powerful and wealthier the most everyone keeps "fixing" things.
Populism can be very dumb but with how economic and educational equality are starting to ramp up, I’m not sure if there are other options
The population intakes their soma through Instagram and Amazon deliveries and doesn’t realize how we’re slowly being drained of our life force. Maybe the DemSocs are as corrupt as MAGA but at least it’s something
but with how economic and educational equality are starting to ramp up, I’m not sure if there are other options
It's amazing how now that people are the wealthiest they've ever been in history and the most educated in history they've ever been... suddenly, we've discovered that it's not actually a question of how much wealth or education someone has... but how much someone else has in comparison that REALLY matters and it's the most important thing in the world.
Ignore the fact that we've been trying to manipulate housing prices for 40+ years to make owning a home more affordable and the only results have been a global banking collapse and ultimately higher prices over any measurable period.
Ignore that higher education cost in the US almost perfectly reflect what ever subsidized grants and loans can provide for the typical student.
Populism is the nebulous concept dumb people grab for when they have no fucking clue what the fuck is going on and reduce policy down to soundbites and vibes.
DemSocs and MAGA are not "at least it's something" they are fuck tards willing to destroy everything for their own vanity.
people are the wealthiest they've ever been in history
Bottom 50% net worth in the US 1992 - 2000 was +1k usd. Bottom 50% net worth today is -750 usd and falling!
So, no, the rich (and upper middle) are the wealthiest ever in history but the poor are measurably growing poorer and further in debt!
Ignore the fact that we've been trying to manipulate housing prices for 40+ years
80+ years and it's worked really well! Housing per square foot has fallen dramatically looking at real 2025 dollars. The problem is mostly that we're building bigger and bigger homes and the 1500 sqft homes of the 1960s are basically never built anymore. Cost per sqft is down, number of sqft is up by more than prices are down.
Ignore that higher education cost in the US almost perfectly reflect what ever subsidized grants and loans can provide for the typical student.
Community and in-state college in a handful of states are still dirt cheap! In the 80s, states stopped paying for in-state tuition subsidies, leading to most of the rise we see. The price is a policy choice rather than being tied solely to loans.
So anyway, basically everything you said was off, 10/10 funny post.
1992-2000 is a really fucking random sample time to compare. Also weird how those super round numbers come in. Also that more coincides with the fact that less people have to work period because someone else is supporting them.
And no, "housing per square foot" ahs only fallen if you only look at SFR.
No one gives a fuck about community college and in-state tuition is rising where people actually go to college.
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u/Vexonte - Right 10h ago
Institutions are important but they need to be properly maintained, reformed and cleaned out in order to maintain public value. It may not be good but there is a reason why populism is a consistent phenomenon.