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artifex@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

• DandomRude@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Is that really what democracy is about, or is that just what billionaires have made of it?

  I ask because you are applying a monetary standard instead of what the citizens want. This leads me to suspect that you are a US citizen, as this system no longer has much to do with democracy at all since the fewer than twenty people who make up the Supreme Court, the highest judicial authority in the US system, ruled that there is no upper limit on “campaign donations,” that they do not have to be disclosed, and that “political consultants,” such as Musk, do not need confirmation by the people to be entrusted with powers that in any other democracy worthy of the name would naturally require the consent of the citizens.

  Oh, and one more thing: the Supreme Court has also ruled that the US president is de facto above the law – which is also incompatible with any democratic constitution.

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  • artifex@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    yes I’m in the US. No I don’t like that this is what has come to be. But, for a substantial portion of voters, what they see on their feed or on tv is what they think.

    It’s no coincidence that billionaire Murdochs have manipulated the conversation on FOX News for decades, or that Jeff Bezos bought the Washington post, or that TikTok US is now managed by a right-wing organization.

    What the billionaires own controls lot of what the non-billionaires think. Neutral media channels have either sold out, given up, or been strong-armed (a massive shout-out to those like 404Media who are trying to fill the void).

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    • DandomRude@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Yes, exactly. That’s why I’m concerned about the system in my home country. However, I find it incomprehensible how anyone who is a US citizen can still believe in the illusion that the US is a democracy. It has been an oligarchy for at least thirty years and, to be honest, always has been - that is to say, a nation that is actually ruled by a few instead of by its people. This was the case long before the first term of the current, unusually criminal president. He has changed little in terms of the facts, but is simply particularly unscrupulous, thus making it obvious that the US system has long since ceased to have anything to do with democracy.

      I’m sorry to have to say it so bluntly, but your comments suggests that, like many Americans, you are not really aware of what a democracy is. If there were such awareness in the US, it would not be possible, for example, for there to be no statutory health insurance, no protective rights for workers, and so on.

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      • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        It’s the illusion of democracy. We are voting to fill these positions, but we might as well be picking ponies at the track. If they wear out favorite color and we like the sound of their name, then we vote them in.

        And every year, the corporations parade their puppets about and we choose the shiniest one.

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