• ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Like the wealthy capitalists who own practically everything in your country and who run your government. I guess in your fantasy world, a Princeton study analyzing decades of US policy is just a hair away from saying the exact same thing a Nazi would say.

    In the United States, our findings indicate, the majority does not rule—at least not in the causal sense of actually determining policy outcomes. When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites or with organized interests, they generally lose.

    😂

    • FaeDrifter@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      Again, it’s like you didn’t read the article except the tiny bits that fit your confirmation bias. It’s not saying that America is “not independent”, it’s not saying the oligarchs “control America”. It’s saying disproportionate wealth equals disproportionate power. Which should be obvious, no person should have too much wealth or too much power. That’s why the US government was designed with checks and balances built in, which is not working as well as desired, but works farrr better than you see in a dictatorship like Russia.

      There’s no secret group controlling this big US Empire of vassal states. It’s many many rich people of varying degrees of wealth (from the US or the UK or elsewhere) all fighting amongst themselves for more, and most of the time hurting the rest of us common folk in the process.

      • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        I said that UK and the rest of US vassals states weren’t independent because they’re entirely dependent on US for military protection as well as US economy. This is the system US set up after the end of WW2 which is what NATO essentially is, a protection racket. US has a long and well documented history of political influence and interference in Europe, and entire books have been written on this subject. Claiming this is some sort of a conspiracy theory is the height of hilarity.

        It’s saying disproportionate wealth equals disproportionate power. Which should be obvious, no person should have too much wealth or too much power. That’s why the US government was designed with checks and balances built in, which is not working as well as desired, but works farrr better than you see in a dictatorship like Russia.

        What it says in black and white is that the government in US passes policy in the interest of people with disproportional wealth. The study actually very clearly explains that the checks and balances US has are no better than in Russia. Again, don’t take my word for it. Here’s what the authors of the study conclude as reported by BBC:

        “American democracy is a sham, no matter how much it’s pumped by the oligarchs who run the country (and who control the nation’s “news” media),” he writes. “The US, in other words, is basically similar to Russia or most other dubious ‘electoral’ ‘democratic’ countries. We weren’t formerly, but we clearly are now.

        Nobody is cherry picking anything here. You just keep acting like you’re being told something outlandish out of sheer ignorance.

        There’s no secret group controlling this big US Empire of vassal states. It’s many many rich people of varying degrees of wealth (from the US or the UK or elsewhere) all fighting amongst themselves for more, and most of the time hurting the rest of us common folk in the process.

        Nobody suggested anything of the sort. That’s just a straw man you’re using to pretend you have some point here. There doesn’t need to be a secret group controlling US empire of vassal states. All that’s needed is having shared class interests that rich people have. Meanwhile, it’s obvious that US oligarchs want to exploit countries like UK to create more profit for themselves, and US being the dominant economy in the west puts them in a position to do so.

        • FaeDrifter@midwest.social
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          1 year ago

          Here’s where this turns into a low IQ conspiracy theory.

          You take a man, whose entire life and personality are devoted to business and capitalism and profit. Born with a golden spoon in his mouth, he’s in every wealthy inner circle, he even pays a ghostwriter to write him a book called “The Art of the Deal”.

          He gets voted into the single most powerful position in the US. He now has the single best position to enrich himself and his family, like he has literally devoted his life to doing. He talks to his inner advisors, they crunch him the numbers, and he decides he wants to pull out of NATO, because it costs the US more than it profits.

          I’m a business man. That’s how business works. You want to be profitable. If a deal isn’t profitable, you back out. Only keep the deals that make your business money.

          It’s a no-brainer, if NATO was the imperial profit generating machine you claim it to be, Trump would have been all over it. Trump would have expanded NATO, expanded the borders, made more wealth. That’s what Business men like Trump do. That’s why Nazis, like Tankies, are anti-NATO. Nazis don’t want to pay to protect other countries, Nazis want more power. Nazis would just invade a country, like Russia does, not tried to maintain an expensive treaty.

          If you find yourself often agreeing with Nazis on worldview and policy, you need some self reflection.

          • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            I agree, your straw man is a low IQ conspiracy theory.

            The reality is that there are plenty of different capital interests in US, and not all of them are aligned. Some US capitalists make money from financial investments and prefer globalization, others are industrial capitalists who run the military industrial complex. Anybody with a couple of brain cells to rub together would understand that US capitalists don’t have homogeneous interests and that Trump represents the financial camp that doesn’t see much value in NATO.

            The only low IQ take here is to think that Trump speaks for your entire capitalist class when it’s pretty clear that US capitalists are fighting each other.

            I also love how you expose yourself as lacking any capacity for critical thinking here. Just because the nazis are against NATO doesn’t make NATO a good thing. The fact that you frame what you support solely in terms of opposing what the people you don’t like support really underscores your intellectual capacity. I guess if nazis eat food and breathe air then you should stop doing that too.

            It’s always hilarious to see how liberals are incapable of thinking of anything in systemic terms. Everything is just a knee jerk reaction.

            • FaeDrifter@midwest.social
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              1 year ago

              I never framed NATO as a good thing, lol (reading comprehension is difficult I guess). I just pointed out that it costs the US more than it makes. Although given Putin’s invasion, the capitalists of the military-industrial complex are 100% making a profit, so I guess they can thank Putin for his choice to make them lots of money.

              True, the capitalists don’t have homogeneous interests. You can’t have an empire without an emperor - a single unchanging authoritarian leader that decides the movement for the rest of the country.

              • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                It’s a no-brainer, if NATO was the imperial profit generating machine you claim it to be, Trump would have been all over it. Trump would have expanded NATO, expanded the borders, made more wealth. That’s what Business men like Trump do. That’s why Nazis, like Tankies, are anti-NATO. Nazis don’t want to pay to protect other countries, Nazis want more power. Nazis would just invade a country, like Russia does, not tried to maintain an expensive treaty.

                That very clearly frames NATO as a good thing since otherwise the orcs would invade you. Never mind the fact that NATO expansion was the reason for the war and that NATO is the primary destabilizing force in the world today.

                You can’t have an empire without an emperor - a single unchanging authoritarian leader that decides the movement for the rest of the country.

                You used so many words to say you’re historically illiterate. Late stage empires have always looked precisely the way US empire looks today where the oligarchs put in political puppets to do the governing. Late Roman empire often had demented old men as emperors who didn’t actually make any decisions.

                I just love how you flaunt your ignorance with each and every comment.

                • FaeDrifter@midwest.social
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                  1 year ago

                  That very clearly frames NATO as a good thing since otherwise the orcs would invade you.

                  I wouldn’t call anyone an orc, but Russia is an imperialist power trying to expand its border through a military invasion, so that is always something you need to consider. I don’t consider it to be a good thing to lay down and let colonizers run over you.

                  NATO is not good, but Putin gives reason for NATO to not disband yet.

                  Never mind the fact that NATO expansion was the reason for the war

                  Lol, no. Did it influence Putin? Sure. Did it make the decision to lie about invading and then immediately after invade like he’s a helpless little puppet on strings? No.

                  The $1 billion question is why isn’t Putin reaching out to create defensive treaties with his neighbors first. Why not a defense treaty with Ukraine?

                  Once you can figure that out, your worldview will start to be a lot more sane.

                  Late Roman empire often had demented old men as emperors who didn’t actually make any decisions.

                  The US is not a late state empire like Rome. That’s a * hits bong * “what if history is just like repeating itself over and over again man” kind of take. Not that no similarities exist.

                  Just list for me for how many years the US has a demented old man in charge.