Because you are just as guilty and complicit in maintaining the system as the Republican voter

This is false

I disagree. Pick a random Republican voter from this country and you’re very likely to grab someone from a red state. Let’s say Alabama. Their vote is as insignificant as a blue voter in California. So regardless of who you or who they voted for, their impact is nil.

But when we talk about complicity we’re not simply talking about voting. We’re talking about participation in the system. For example, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that in the last few months you have drank a Coca Cola beverage. I don’t mean just their cola, but any of the myriad of drinks they provide. Whether it’s Sprite or Dasani or what have you.

You have contributed to the bottom line of a company that hires death squads to kill labor leaders (this is has been proven in court).

That’s just one infinitesimally small example out of an infinite number of actions you and everyone else have taken that perpetuates the system of exploitation we live. We are the chosen people that get to live in relative opulence while billions around the world struggle to survive.

So I’ll say it again. You are just as complicit. There is just as much blood on your hands as that Republican voter and yet you choose not to see it because it’s easier to maintain the delusion of moral superiority. Why? Again- reducing cognitive dissonance.

The ultra wealthy that keep us in this hellscape are republicans. They have much of the blame.

Here you get closer to the truth. It’s the ultra wealthy that ultimately decide what happens in this country. I’d go so far as to say they have all of the blame. Why? Because they are the only ones that actually have any autonomy. The research has been done before- American public opinion has zero impact on policy.

No matter who you vote for; over the long term the same policies will be enacted regardless.

If you have ideas on how to instill class consciousness in the kind of people who vote against their interests, let’s hear it.

The first step is to get rid of this atmosphere of hostility. You blame someone for the country collapsing, they get defensive and blame you for the country collapsing. We’re in the post-truth era so it doesn’t matter what is true or what is false. People believe what they do based on vibes. This isn’t an accident but intentional.

It is not the same as the imaginary harms “the jews” do. People would make up stories about nefarious evils of jews, but meanwhile the republicans are right there on TV doing evil. There was a nazi salute. There was an insurrection. These are things that happened.

I think we need to make a distinction here.

What we are seeing in the last few months of this administration is not the traditional Republican party. Trump has hijacked the Republican party much like Hitler hijacked the Nazi party. There is no more Republican party- it’s the Trump party.

The question instead that we need to ask is how was this allowed to happen?

The answer is that wealthy people thought it was in their interests. Simple as that. It’s why for example when you had the Trump inauguration the top tech CEOs all came to bend the knee and sat in the front row. The capitalist system has decided that having Trump at the helm is the most profitable outcome.

Trump worked hard to get to this point- he had to defeat the Republican establishment party. The Mitt Romneys and the George Bushes and the Mitch McConnels. Wealthy powerful people who wanted the status quo to continue indefinitely.

I think one key thing you are missing here is that the Democrats are just as guilty as the Republicans in creating Trump. Bill Clinton for example amplified Reagan’s economic policies that accelerated our descent into brutal neoliberal capitalism. As we descend further down, people become increasingly insecure.

People who are scared for the financial future vote for dictators. This has happened before and it will happen again. I believe fascism is like a herpes outbreak. It’ll never go away, but your immune system keeps in check most of the time. The issue is that our immune system is weakened and now it has a breakout.

Have you ever considered that this hostile attitude you show towards individuals is exactly what the system wants out of you?

What feels like resistance is actually just maintenance of the status quo. The elites have replaced class consciousness with culture war. Instead of hostility towards individuals who have been led to believe falsehoods through information warfare and weaponized insecurity, why not aim that hostility towards the systems in place that intentionally makes people afraid and angry?

If we wanted to get a little more psychoanalytical about it- this hatred of the individual who has been duped is pathological. It’s sort of like the Nazi and the Jew. The Nazi needs the idea of the Jew to maintain the Nazi world view. Certain excesses are only justified if you have an omnipresent internal enemy. By placing the Republican voter as the villain, you put yourself in the position of moral superiority.

By placing him down, you put yourself up. But really, I believe this may be subconscious projection. Because you are just as guilty and complicit in maintaining the system as the Republican voter. It’s hard to fix the cognitive dissonance of that position. All of us work, pay rent, pay taxes, buy products, post online, etc- we are tiny cogs that moves the machine forward.

So the elites have created an easy safety valve for that cognitive dissonance. Blame the others. Your life sucks? It’s illegal immigrants. Your life sucks? It’s Republicans. Your life sucks? It’s the gays. Your life sucks? It’s the Miami Cubans. And so on and so on.

Until the working class unites and redirects the hostility towards the pillars of power that keep us in line, there will never be any meaningful change in this country. This hostility you and other users show towards Republican voters is ironically supporting the very thing you claim to hate. We’re doomed to endlessly loop around a Möbius strip.

Most Americans have absolutely no clue how involved the immigration process actually is. Unless you have specific skills, have immediate family in the country you’re going, or are loaded… 95 times out of 100 you’re not going anywhere.

Although where there’s a will there’s a way. You get a tourist visa, overstay, marry a local.

I’m glad I’m a dual citizen with money stashed away in both the US and the country I was born. If shit gets too bad in the US, I can lay low elsewhere while things calm down.

The current administration’s strategy is to try and see if it sticks. For example one executive order was to end birthright citizenship. Blatantly unconstitutional. Was immediately blocked by a judge. But they still made the order.

They are starting to ignore the federal courts here and there. Dipping their toes in the water. Starting to indicate that judges are “radical left activist judges” and that they “have no authority” and that they should be removed and impeached and the system overhauled as a whole.

Right now the institutions are trying to block this administration but they are doing their best to set up for the moment where they will basically cross the Rubicon and ignore the Supreme Court.

I have a feeling we’re only months away from that moment and after that moment it will be clear to everyone that the US does not have 3 branches of government anymore but just one.

well said. I’m surprised at the reaction towards this specific event.

the administration is purging the federal government, rerouting tens of thousands of federal agents to enforce immigration (literally 80% of ATF is now focused on immigration. DEA, FBI, IRS, and more are all being recruited to help with immigration), illegally ignoring court orders, using a Stasi-like group of unmarked federal agents to intimidate with threats of criminal prosecution and force people into compliance (look at what happened at the SS office or the non-profit U.S. Institute of Peace), giving executive orders that are blatantly and explicitly unconstitutional (like the one to end birthright citizenship)

that isn’t even starting to mention the genocide happening in Palestine that is not only being condoned but openly embraced. we are arresting and attempting to deport individuals whose only crime is that they are anti-Israel. permanent residents are being denied entry into the country because they have a photo of a Hezbollah leader on their phone

the administration is using coercion and threats to force over 60 universities (Colombia being the most visible) to change the things they are teach, abandon certain policies, suppress student speech, and dramatically increase police presence. all in the name of fighting “anti-semitism”

it has only been a couple of months and right now Congress is making a stink about a text message

That’s true although it’s quite impressive regardless.

First, the Florida state government is actively hostile to solar. Just a couple years back they passed a law that made it so you couldn’t sell your excess power back to the grid- a huge benefit of installing solar.

This was at the request of FPL (Florida Power & Light) because just like in the federal government, the Florida government is essentially bought and paid for.

So I don’t know the specifics in CA, but I’d imagine their government is more friendly to renewable energy.

And we also need to consider CA has a little less than double Florida’s population and a little more than double Florida’s GDP.

So the fact that Florida surpassed California’s solar usage is actually quite impressive, especially considering CA had a significant head start.

It’s really a testament to how useful this technology is. Solar is not growing in Florida because it’s renewable or has lower carbon emissions, etc. It’s growing because it’s economically feasible.

And I think it’s a good sign for the future of renewable energy. Also goes to show Florida is rapidly growing. Few years back we surpassed NY as the 3rd largest state (in terms of population).

Right now Texas & Florida (and certain states in the SE like S or N Carolina) are the fastest growing states. Meanwhile states like New York, California, and Illinois are stagnating.

In the next couple decades, Florida and Texas will eventually surpass NY and CA as the two most important states. And I predict they will both turn blue just like what happened to California.

The federal government’s countermeasures will come into effect at 12:01 a.m. on March 13. The 25 per cent tariffs will hit steel products worth $12.6 billion and aluminum products worth $3 billion.

In addition, Canada is hitting another $14.2 billion worth of imported U.S. goods with fresh tariffs, totalling $29.8 billion in retaliation.

I wasnt aware new ones from yesterday. It was for $30B, though. Combined with the last set of tariffs its $60B total out of $350B of US exports to Canada

So about 17%. So let’s say Canads is at a conservative 3 generous 4

pretty much. we all grew up in the US being taught it’s a country of immigrants and the “bring me your weary your hungry your whatever masses to be free”

it’s actually kind of fascinating to see that ideology shift so fast it’s giving whiplash. turns out we actually kinda need these people for our economy otherwise we’ll end up like European countries with stagnating economies until we eventually get overrun by China

if you look at the numbers, Canada’s not that far from Australia. they’ve only instituted a tariff on like 10% of American imports

it’s very common in colonial societies like most of the Americas. without this type of law there wouldn’t be any American citizens. even before the 14th amendment we had birth right citizenship by common law precedence

But they are mistaken. Europe is not giving in to that again.

how do you have so much faith? if you look at the Nazi elections it went something like

~2.5% ⇒ ~5% ⇒ 10% ⇒ 20% ⇒ 30something% ⇒ dictatorship

if you look at AfD it’s following s similar pattern and we’re currently at 20something%

Looking at past history, just one more successful election cycle and the far-right can consolidate and eliminate any democratic opposition

What do you think it’s platform should be?

If the name was “Tax the Rich” then I would assume the platform should be a tax on the rich. Either land or capital gains. I think increasing income tax on the rich is meaningless.

Would it need a social agenda?

I don’t think so. In our polarized environment, any social agenda you set will turn someone off. If this party were to succeed, theoretically, it would have to get elements from both the right and the left. And there are many on the right who are anti-establishment and upset with the current economic situation. I feel like if you put other issues like “pro-abortion” or what have you, you will dramatically shrink your base.

What conditions would be necessary for you to vote for it?

I would realistically never vote for a third party unless it had some serious momentum. For example during the 1912 election cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_United_States_presidential_election

I would have voted for a third party. Teddy Roosevelt got 27% of the vote and he ran as a “Progressive” party candidate. Eugene Debbs got 6% (almost 1 million votes) as a candidate of the “Socialist” party.

But really, these elections are like once in a century type of event. Where a 3rd party actually has a chance in hell of winning.

But for reference with Eugene Debbs… 1 million votes in 1921 is like 3.2 million votes today. For reference the Green party got like 800k votes in 2024

I would very much like to preserve the freedom that attracted you to this country in the first place

i would very much like to preserve the freedom as well. i’m not pro-fascism if that wasn’t clear

i was just saying that even if shit gets really bad here people may still come because everything else could be worse

i was born in a country with a military dictatorship who used to disappear people. just because the country is going to hell doesn’t mean you can’t carve out a meaningful life for yourself in the chaos. and living in a dystopian version of the US is probably still better than living in a dystopian version of a 3rd world country

then history has a very important lesson to teach you.

at no point in US history has the US been at war with a neighboring country over a trade war escalation and instituted a draft as a result of that war

any future war is going to be versus China and we’ve probably got at least a few years before that comes to fruition.

we’re in the years leading up to WW3. think of it like the early 1930s. if you look at history, everywhere sucked. i’d rather be in a 1st world country when the bombs go off rather than a 3rd world country where i’m liable to starve due to mass famines

Imagine there are still people who chose to go to USA voluntarily?

I’d rather live in neo-fascist USA than in a war zone where I’m liable to be sent to the frontlines and die bleeding out in a trench after a drone blows my leg off.

I’d rather live in neo-fascist USA than live in poverty in many parts of Latin America where I would make 10x higher salary for unskilled labor. I would also have a 10x lower chance of getting my throat slit walking down the street at night.

Sometimes I feel like I was the only one who remembered that this is what it was like the last time he was in office

I feel like it’s worse this time. Darker. We didn’t have the Ukraine or Israeli war. We didn’t have perverse AI videos like the Gaza video with a giant golden Trump statue.

2016 was the rise of Trump. Right now we are in the age of Trump. Trump is steadily increasing his power and I believe fairly soon he will be able to more or less unilaterally control the federal government as he continues his purges.

believe me, i’m not under any illusion. but i do genuinely encourage you to do whatever you think will make things better. can’t get much worse

So, your solution is to quote Marx and hope the revolution will materialize.

it’s actually not quoting Marx. Marx believed that a capitalist society will over time always result in a worker’s revolution. I’m more pessimistic about human nature. I think a capitalist society will always result in fascist authoritarianism

I wish I had the privilege of letting things get worse

do it then. make things better, I’m rooting for you.

a capitalist society will always inevitably devolve into fascism, as short-term profit-driven thinking dominates decision making

the DNC is right up there with the GOP in terms of causing this clusterfuck. decades of neoliberal policies have left Americans financially insecure which has caused a total loss of faith in institutions over the last few decades.

in a good decade, a little crisis here and there is maintainable. but when you have dramatic knock-off effects of new technologies combined with global economic shockwaves like COVID and the Ukraine war, all of a sudden the establishment hold on power starts to slip. the corporate world doesn’t care about democracy. they’re more than happy to switch over to a fascist government- there’s a very high potential ROI in bending the knee.

Trump took advantage of this and beat them. We saw the corporate world switch sides during the inauguration. He is now purging the federal government of any elements that may oppose his further renovations.

This problem did not start last year in November. This problem started decades ago and spans generations.

It’s unfortunate but it’s the reality. We as a society are sick. We are fundamentally sick and getting worse. We ignored it and persevered, but it can only be ignored for so long. We are now starting to see serious symptoms, like a person who gets a fever and starts shivering.

Trust me, it’s going to get a hell of a lot worse before it ever gets better. We’re in for a rough decade.

i think the only way we can survive and create a successful egalitarian society is by having some sort of overlord ruling over us

so for example let’s say we write a constitution and then have a super-powered generalized artificial intelligence machine force us to follow the rules

or aliens. we could become pets for alients https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgPeP_pfjp4