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shocked I say
(lemmy.ml)
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this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2026
365 points (93.1% liked)
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A democracy reflects it's voters opinions. I'm not shocked that the Trump government would do this, but had Biden or Obama done the same, well I wouldn't believe it.
I don't consider the US a democracy or the state reflective of the people's will. It often acts far outside of the people's will.
The US is only a democracy for the business owning elite and its policy reflects that. I agree that someone like Obama wouldn't do this but that's exactly why Trump is in power now. The monopoly capitalists need someone like him to maintain their position of power, local and geopolitical.
Only 1/3 of Americans voted for Trump and of that 1/3 the vast majority deeply misunderstand his purpose and goals within the state.
What's this from? And what is the definition of an interest group? Does that overlap with economic elites? In common parlance I would think it does.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/abs/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B
Interests groups are lobbyist of varying types which effectively serve the interests of economic elites
What are the variables behind this?
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/abs/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B
You'd have to check the study which is sourced in the 3rd image. I'd do it for you but I am cooking
No stress mate, internet doesn't go anywhere! Take your time
Someone else linked the study 👍
Yeah I'm swamped with my own research atm and cba to read through studies not relevant to my work 😮💨
Bourgeois democracy isn't really democracy
Never heard that definition before, could you define it? The official designation of the US is a federal presidential republic, a presidential democracy, no?
Bourgeois democracy is a democracy for the business/land owning class. In the US it is largely the large business and land owners that have real economic control. They accomplish this through lobbying and control of political parties through donations and vetting candidates or becoming elected officials themselves. Most of our politicians are landlords or business owners. All of them are involved in the stock market and this makes them materially interested in maintaining the capitalist mode of production as well as imperialism. This is why popular policies amongst the working class don't get passed if they reduce profit margins for the bourgeois. Policies like universal healthcare and ending the forever wars won't happen because they harm the bourgeois which actually control the state. Housing as a right will never happen because it would harm the investments of landlords which actually control the state. This is bourgeois democracy. Its a democracy in which the bourgeois fight over how best to profit of our labor and how best to maintain that system of exploitation. Bourgeois democracy is effectively a dictatorship of the capitalist over the working class. They only let us choose which flavor of exploitation we get.
If you are open to more radical literature that can explain it to you better than I just did I recommend The State and Revolution
Interesting. This doesn't seem to be a established concept within political science, or at least, it's the first I've heard of it. Why?
Anyway, economic power doesn't necessarily translate into political power but then again, maybe so in the US. However, the US has passed plenty of policies reducing profit margins for the rich, so it seems like this does not hold true?
I don't consider Marxism or Lenin radical and have read some, but thank you!
The US has always been a very flawed democracy at best, though, with government policy reflecting the wants of the already rich and powerful few MUCH more often than the needs of everyone else regardless of which of only two major parties is in control.
It's just become more obvious now that the establishment-friendly mainstream media are no longer the primary source of information and one of the parties has gone full fascist and anti-competence.
A two party state is just a failed one party state.
If we're talking specifically about this Venezuela coup attempt, Obama did equally bad things.
Can't remember when Obama bypassed congress and attacked another country, but I must confess I don't have a 1:1 timeline of Obama's presidency.
Obama literally attacked Libya without congressional authority and that's not even the only time he bypassed them. His government argued the 2001 AUMF gave him the authority to do so which is the same law Trump is using for his strikes.
Thank you! That's an example on the same niveau. Do American presidents need congressional authority to follow resolutions by the Security Council?
I consider bombing weddings, starting the policy of drone strikes, starting the double tap policy (war crime btw), and expanding the Iraq war which led to the death of over a million Iraqis to be fucking awful. Tbh thats not even half of the awful shit he did in service of American imperialism, just the worst examples I could think of on the spot. Congressional approval of these actions doesn't make them any less bad and we shouldn't be upset with Trump for bypassing congress, we should be upset over his ceaseless murder of innocent people and violations of foreign political sovereingty. Why does the decorum of politics matter more to you than the immense violence of the American war machine?
There's no discussion of how horrendous any of that are, but that is not what I wrote about.
Good for you if you can disregard unlawful and unilateral actions of a fascist. However as I wrote, I cant see neither Biden nor Obama act in such a way and would they have, I would have been extremely surprised.
🙄
I swear it's every single .ml user.
Don’t worry, it’s bullshit.