deryq t1_iug92sw wrote on October 31, 2022 at 2:14 AM

Reply to comment by Sun_Devilish in The Discovery that Lemons Cure Scurvy Caused the Formation of the Sicilian Mafia by agreea

Here’s a thought: stop voting for people that don’t have your interests in mind. Example: the Republican parties only aim is to eliminate taxes and destroy the federal and state governments. That’s not in your interests unless you’re a billionaire or a corporation. Soooo… maybe pay attention?

Sun_Devilish t1_iuhb649 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 10:06 AM

That's a caricature.

The Grifters On Parade want to maximize their own power and position...just like the Democrats.

To do this, they lie to voters and pretend to share the values and interests of those voters...just like the Democrats.

JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER POLITICAL PARTY AND FACTION.

All of the above employ propagandists whose job it is to persuade voters that their team are the good guys and opposing teams are comprised of fools and demons. All are lying. There are no good guys in politics, just power hungry psychopaths who want to rob the public treasury, seize control over private industry, and tell the rest of us how we must live.

In societies that are not morally and spiritually bankrupt, the ability of these villains to rob and enslave the public are limited. They must maintain a facade of legitimacy in order to maintain the support of their victims, aka voters. They can only go so far. When one political faction or another oversteps its bounds and does things that are clearly immoral or contrary to the public good, their support drops, they lose elections, and another faction increases its power instead. Over and over, round and round, every faction competes for the folly of the electorate, with no side gaining permanent supremacy.

We call this the political process, in which we the people decide which band of criminals we are going to give power to based upon whose lies and empty promises seem most appealing at that moment. Criminal ambitions on all sides are constrained because criminal ambition is set against criminal ambition, and no gang ever wins forever.

But as America proceeds headlong into abject moral and spiritual bankruptcy, this mechanism increasingly fails to function, and the worst of the worst on all sides are emboldened to be overtly criminal in their actions and aims.

Welcome to 2022.

SquashParticular5381 t1_iui1hj2 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 2:21 PM

You can say "just like the X" all you want. Fine, there are shared traits. But some politicians ARE worse than others, and the GOP has openly embraced complete manipulation of elections not just through influencing people, but by invalidating actual results. They are actually saying "I will only accept the result of the election if I win. Otherwise I will declare victory anyway and try to stop me - my supporters have more guns". And the platform they push is control of people's personal individual choices with not only an implied threat but explicit threat of physical violence. In America, on a broad scale, this is a low point. Maybe not unique or the lowest, but it's really very low.

Conservatism and authoritarianism go hand in hand. And no, communism is not a counterpoint. Communism is not liberal, nor has it ever been practiced as a form of government. That was fascism pretending to be communism.

And for the record, yes, I believe that could be a real threat too. It's just not currently the imminent threat.

Sun_Devilish t1_iuimxfm wrote on October 31, 2022 at 4:47 PM

All of the propaganda which portrays the Grifters On Parade as demons and villains can be matched by equally deceptive propaganda designed to portray the Democrats as demons and villains.

Some of this propaganda, put out by both sides, might even be true. Using the truth to tell lies is the hallmark of high grade propaganda.

Do not be fooled into thinking that one or another political party is on your side and fighting the good fight. All political parties are fundamentally corrupt, run by people whose only interest is increasing their own power, wealth, and position.

The most that we as voters can do is play them off against each other and make sure that none ever gain enough power that elections no longer matter, which is something that ALL of them would like to achieve.

SquashParticular5381 t1_iuj6s06 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 6:58 PM

Truth. I'm pointing out which one I perceive to be (by far) the greatest current threat. I perceive that because their plan could make it impossible to rebalance the system, and remove all possible checks on their power.

We've been lucky, historically, as bad as things have gotten. At least we've had politicians willing to concede defeat and step back to try again. There is honor in honoring that system. Now it's not even that gerrymandering is out of control, but a plan to forcibly ignore results and remove all possibly points of opposition to coup.

Sun_Devilish t1_iuje8zt wrote on October 31, 2022 at 7:49 PM

I've been hearing from the Republicans that the Democrats reject the results of every election that they do not win, and have plans and schemes in place to seize power by force.

I hear the same thing about the Republicans from the Democrats.

These partisan hack accusations have been going on for decades now.

Go spend some time on partisan blogs for both factions and you'll soon discover that they are each making much the same accusations against the other.

The choice between the Republicans and the Democrats is the same as the choice between the Gambinos and the Lucchese.