Well just read some good old Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class or Pareto's (yes that Pareto) Circulation of the Elite all written hundred years ago, to understand this pattern is ancient. It doesnt break because it relies on human nature. Too much power corrupts everyone.
For the 100th time, the problem is not with the "Epstein class". The problem is with the general populace who has a comfortable enough life to basically vote on pure vibes.
All of this could have been avoided if people showed up and voted for Kamala in 2024 - even if you absolutely dislike her, its still a vote to not have a convicted felon who was proven to be in the Epstein files before the election.
Blaming all of that on some ruling class is stupid. The only way that argument works is if you assume that a ruling class can have such a hold over the populace that people don't have individual agency - if that is the case, then democracy needs to go away in favor of authoritarianism, and the battle should be over which person holds the full control over the population, not what the people want.
Until money is removed from the election process, class is important and can not be ignored.
Money is power. 100 people have the majority of the money. You can’t get elected without lots and lots of money from at least a few people with their own agenda. Establishment Democrats and Republicans both are part of the problem.
Look at productivity vs wages trends starting in the Reagan years. Look at how much more wealthy the extremely wealthy have become over the last decade, and how much your own wealth has followed that growth.
Again, if money can be used to influence how people vote, people dont have personal agency and that idea should be taken to its logical conclusion where everyones lives are tightly controlled.
There is no middle ground where you assume that people have rhe ability to think and make rational decisions, except for the times when theybmake bad decisions, but in that case its not their fault.
I can understand your sentiment, but you're wrong. You don't vote against someone, you vote for someone. Nothing else works. I also disagree with the vibes characterization. Looked at the extreme, almost noone in the western world should complain about anything -- the standard of living is so much higher. But that's not how it feels like because you compare yourself to your environment. The voters in the US had a lot to complain about.
Sure, when voting for Kamala, people would be voting for keeping the status quo, which is 100x better alternative than whatever the fuck is going on now.
And not voting is basically saying that you rate either candidate equivalent to each other, and in the context of Trump vs Kamala, thats insane.
It's weird that you think you're in a position to scold people who don't vote for your preferred empty suit back into conformity. You can keep doing it by all means, but it's not working and there are less of you every year as things continue to get worse.
What was remarkable about the last election was that there is finally a self-conscious critical mass of people who could force the establishment to choose between losing an election and continuing the genocide. Those people are not responsible for the choice the establishment made; in fact they are acting in a strategically rational way that has clearly led to great success for the Republican party.
On a post about JE no less! The personification of the falseness of American surface politics; the most prolific trafficker in human history who had a close, personal friendship with BOTH candidates in a presidential election.
Lol I'm a communist. I obviously wrote it for other people to vote on, but your original comment was actually so unpopular that no one gets to see any of it now
I.e "brainwashed control opposition". You got people like the twitch streamer Hassan Piker being paid by Bezos (who donated to Trump) to spread communism under name of progressivism, which basically gives conservatives the ammo to attack Democrats on.
It should be clear to anyone that the problem with the current administration is not the conservatism, but the authoritarianism that comes with its own set of people who are stupid that are not actually conservative. Republicans would easily hold down massive support if they were about conservatism and not about authoritarianism - i.e small government without expanding overreach, absolute freedom of speech, following the rule of law, and focusing on economic expansion.
And communism is authoritarianism, what you want is no different than what conservatives want, you just think your version is better, which is exactly what they think. But its easy to sell that to you because you think that you are on the left and thus different from republicans.
I encourage you to find people IRL who aren't in the same echo chamber as you to attempt productive political debate with! Doesn't seem possible to reach you through the internet. Can't say I blame you, I could be a 12-year-old mexican troll for all you know.
Massie is interesting, his whole identity as a politician seems to be challenging his own party on populist lines like this. It's one thing to use Epstein as a weapon against democrats when out of power, it's another to create headaches for the Trump admin that clearly wants everyone to forget about this now.
I feel like that tension led to the end of earlier, more Qanon-adjacent politicians like Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Matt Gaetz. Massie seems to have more staying power for now, but we'll see.
16 comments
[ 6.0 ms ] story [ 71.4 ms ] threadAll of this could have been avoided if people showed up and voted for Kamala in 2024 - even if you absolutely dislike her, its still a vote to not have a convicted felon who was proven to be in the Epstein files before the election.
Blaming all of that on some ruling class is stupid. The only way that argument works is if you assume that a ruling class can have such a hold over the populace that people don't have individual agency - if that is the case, then democracy needs to go away in favor of authoritarianism, and the battle should be over which person holds the full control over the population, not what the people want.
Money is power. 100 people have the majority of the money. You can’t get elected without lots and lots of money from at least a few people with their own agenda. Establishment Democrats and Republicans both are part of the problem.
Look at productivity vs wages trends starting in the Reagan years. Look at how much more wealthy the extremely wealthy have become over the last decade, and how much your own wealth has followed that growth.
There is no middle ground where you assume that people have rhe ability to think and make rational decisions, except for the times when theybmake bad decisions, but in that case its not their fault.
And not voting is basically saying that you rate either candidate equivalent to each other, and in the context of Trump vs Kamala, thats insane.
What was remarkable about the last election was that there is finally a self-conscious critical mass of people who could force the establishment to choose between losing an election and continuing the genocide. Those people are not responsible for the choice the establishment made; in fact they are acting in a strategically rational way that has clearly led to great success for the Republican party.
On a post about JE no less! The personification of the falseness of American surface politics; the most prolific trafficker in human history who had a close, personal friendship with BOTH candidates in a presidential election.
I.e "brainwashed control opposition". You got people like the twitch streamer Hassan Piker being paid by Bezos (who donated to Trump) to spread communism under name of progressivism, which basically gives conservatives the ammo to attack Democrats on.
It should be clear to anyone that the problem with the current administration is not the conservatism, but the authoritarianism that comes with its own set of people who are stupid that are not actually conservative. Republicans would easily hold down massive support if they were about conservatism and not about authoritarianism - i.e small government without expanding overreach, absolute freedom of speech, following the rule of law, and focusing on economic expansion.
And communism is authoritarianism, what you want is no different than what conservatives want, you just think your version is better, which is exactly what they think. But its easy to sell that to you because you think that you are on the left and thus different from republicans.
I feel like that tension led to the end of earlier, more Qanon-adjacent politicians like Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Matt Gaetz. Massie seems to have more staying power for now, but we'll see.
"For now" here means until the end of this Congress. He lost his primary in May, so he's not going to be a member of Congress in January.
why are so many democrats against releasing the truth about epstein? Are they also loyal to trump, and if not, who are they protecting? (bill gates?)