this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2024
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[–] [email protected] 92 points 9 months ago (2 children)

It has become embarrassingly clear that US Republicans are not interested in honoring alliances, reassurances, and good relations.

The world best take note that dealings with the Republicans must be transactional. And until they have no reasonable chance of governing, so must any deal with the US be concluded within a 2 year frame. And any nation being cheated by a cancelled deal have only themselves to blame.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I agree with you except for this part:

And any nation being cheated by a cancelled deal have only themselves to blame.

It is still the US as a whole to blame. It is the US citizens who vote this party and it is the country that is failing its obligations.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago (2 children)

A Republican president hasn't won the popular vote in 20 years.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yet the Republicans are regularly voted to be a majority in the House and Senate.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Well, yes, that's how gerrymandering works...by giving outisize political power to a minority. I'm certainly not blaming the EU for the way a minority (like ~~Turkey~~ or Hungary) vote on things.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Turkey is not part of the EU.

The people of the US have the choice to not only elect their parliaments, but also the president. They also elect DAs and Sheriffs in many places. The people of the US have more democratic rights than most other people in countries considered democracies. This includes the ability to adress issues like gerrymandering and politically demanding to change them. But the people chose not to.

The people of the US are not victims of a system that they cannot possibly adress. Some marginalized groups are. But the majority of the American people are either in favor or indifferent to the current system. And if you are not sure about it, think about how bipartisan the resistance becomes, when marginalized groups are demanding a change to the system, like how the white democratic voters reacted to the civil rights movement or BLM.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

The people of the US have more democratic rights than most other people in countries considered democracies.

This isn't true. We've got a lower democracy index than all of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Chili, and Uruguay.

As far as gerrymandering goes, states draw their own districts, and they're usually drawn by the party in power and only once a decade after the census. I'm assuming based on your instance that you're German...so try to imagine an election where everyone's only choices were between the AfD FDP (far-right proto-Nazis vs. neoliberal center-right) and whichever party won got to redraw all your voting districts. Neither of the parties really need to listen to their voters because the fascists will vote fascist no matter what, and everyone else is torn between voting for a party that's still too-right or not voting and risking the fascists taking it all. I think mosy Americans are about as culpable for the current state of things as the average German was right before Hitler was elected by about 43% of the electorate in 1933.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

The people of the US have the choice to not only elect their parliaments, but also the president. They also elect DAs and Sheriffs in many places. The people of the US have more democratic rights than most other people in countries considered democracies.

The fact that they're having more elections does not mean they have 'more democratic rights'.

I for example fail to see the point of the US mid-term elections. It doesn't make the US system more democratic, just more complex.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

It is most definitely NOT the peoples' fault. 2/3rds of the government's branches aren't even elected (by the people at least).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Additionally there are massive propaganda machines dedicated to maximizing the power of the right wing across all aspects of society and government

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Propaganda is ever-present. What doesn't have to be present is a "representative democracy" that is hardly democratic and only represents the rich...

[–] [email protected] 37 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Nice to see we're dealing with the enigma machine codebreaker Poland again, and not the iron curtain, russian lapdog Poland

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Generally, when one tastes of two fruit, they will continue to eat of the one they prefer.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 months ago

Challenging Republican won't solve them bowing to Trump, but it's good to make them try to weasel out of explaining their obvious lack of consistency.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You can't shame people that have no shame.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Right? Who's gonna break it to the Polish PM?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Ugh, crediting Reagan with the liberation of the Eastern Bloc like that is hugely disrespectful to the people from those countries who put themselves on the line to fight for freedom - including Solidarność in Poland itself. Reagan didn't have that much to do with it, especially his 'famous' speech which didn't really have much of an impact at all at the time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It is a good talking point against Republicans though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's assuming Republicans have a moral compass or consistent ideological positions. That's not the case though. It's all just about what benefits them and their donors.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Sure. But a few republican voters might get the message. Republicans were historically the hawkish party, it must be difficult to square the circle that they are now basically the party supporting today's Hitler.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Joke's on him. Conservatives cannot experience shame. If they could, they would not be conservatives.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 9 months ago

Oh noes, the terrorist state that's couping other nation's presidents to install dictators that'll happily sell our their county to US interests in exchange of power does terrorist state things. Who could've seen that coming! Surely not the world the last hundred years.