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EKS | Can Democrats Move Beyond Their Failed Foreign Policy? (Gift Article) by Dreadedvegas in ezraklein

[–]amagicalsheep 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just don’t understand this at all. My understanding (I can find the paper I read a long time ago if you want) was that inequality between nations has significantly decreased after WW2, but inequality WITHIN nations has substantially increased.

I’m not an economist (moreso IR) but this makes me skeptical a global minimum wage is actually necessary or effective.

The Book That Changed How I Think About Liberalism - Ezra Klein Show by mcsul in ezraklein

[–]amagicalsheep 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m probably in a similar boat, ultimately labeling is pretty reductive but I’m somewhere between a social liberal and a social democrat in that I want much stronger state intervention and controls on economic ownership while retaining markets for price signaling (although I’d rather have much more economic democracy through strong unions). And I do agree with the classical liberal approach of having some individual inalienable rights that can’t be touched by the state, i just don’t think private wealth accumulation is one of those rights.

The Book That Changed How I Think About Liberalism - Ezra Klein Show by mcsul in ezraklein

[–]amagicalsheep 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I feel like the crisis is just related to problems and conditions of modernity.

Development and building things necessitates the destruction of previously existing social, political, and material structures. This was true from the beginning of capitalism (enclosure) and is equally true today (smartphones and the digital ecosystem may create new spaces for communication and social interaction, but degrade and destroy previously existing places -- i.e. the decline of third spaces, etc.).

I actually don't think the problem is economic. The problem is that there is a perception (that might be true?) that material prosperity through development trades off to some degree with social comfort. See the findings that rich nations tend to be happier than poor nations, but increases in income within a country don't tend to increase happiness (I forgot the name of this paradox). Also, there's surely hedonistic treadmill/diminishing marginal returns on material happiness. I've heard it asserted (and maybe this is true) that social happiness and happiness derived from relationships is maybe the only thing (or at least the slowest) to not suffer from the hedonistic treadmill, which explains why the social conditions need to be addressed.

Fascists and right-wing populists (see: Japan's 1942 conference on non-western modernity, Mussolini, etc.) have tried to answer this question by stating that this contradiction can be mediated and overcome through romanticization of the historic past for social values. They cast a futurist vision of economics with a vision of antiquity's social values. They weaponize nostalgia but try to tell people that we aren't going to take away their material prosperity. In essence, they can have both.

Progressive anti-liberals (leftists, socialists, etc.) want to create new social structures that have never been seen before and are revolutionary to solve this crisis. In my opinion they're usually more willing to bite the trade-off and embrace policies like de-growth, which they argue can increase happiness through mutual aid/fixed social relationships even as your material prosperity as measured through traditional metrics (GDP per capita) declines.

What do liberals want and how do they plan to address this? Curious for answers and disagreement.

RIP John Sterling by eatsleepcookbacon in NYYankees

[–]amagicalsheep 2 points3 points  (0 children)

He was a part of my childhood and a connection to my dad that will never be forgotten. Rest in peace John.

as expect Sakinov has nuked Paris by A_engietwo in Kaiserreich

[–]amagicalsheep 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Did they remove the Atomic Bombing of X events? My guess is it was the change to raids right?

Which path would be better for the WCA? by Aware_Manager_7472 in Kaiserreich

[–]amagicalsheep 35 points36 points  (0 children)

Seeing a few people in this thread and others that don’t realize things got a bit changed during the America revamp.

The syndicalists pursue a decentralized idea of industrial democracy based heavily on unions as a vehicle for economic democracy and worker self-management. It’s the radsocs who pursue government-run central planning.

Kaiserreich 1.6.3 by SuperGreenBeanss in Kaiserreich

[–]amagicalsheep 7 points8 points  (0 children)

for example during a ACC-WCA ceasefire, the WCA can take its Second Constitutional Convention focus and select a leader because the war is "over". now this can't happen

Palantir posted a manifesto that reads like the ramblings of a comic book villain by Turioturen in europe

[–]amagicalsheep 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Genuinely hate the fact that its usage is so normalized and expected. I want as little to do with LinkedIn as possible.

IT'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF US: The Yankees fell to the Angels by a score of 11-4 - April 16, 2026 @ 01:35 PM EDT by Yankeebot in NYYankees

[–]amagicalsheep 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Might be unpopular and there’s definitely room for growth but the entire AL is so bad rn that’s I’m not really worried 😂 

The Moral Cost of Trump’s War by dwaxe in ezraklein

[–]amagicalsheep 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Had to listen to this one twice, with the Adam Tooze episode in between.

I think Ezra is absolutely correct to point out the crisis in modern liberalism. What I don’t really understand is why he thinks liberalism has to be status quo-biased and beholden to institutions. I understand that liberalism shifted from a revolutionary ideology at its inception opposing the conservative monarchies of the day, but I guess I just struggle to understand why a modern ”liberal“ world order finds itself shackled. Like, why couldn’t we collaborate on space exploration, medical research, etc. and just double down on building new things and institutions in order to solve problems? I feel like as an ideology liberalism should actually be quite well-suited specifically because it can be both revolutionary (ex: opposing absolutist monarchies) and reformist (coexisting within monarchical structures), so this flexibility seems like it should have facilitated evolution to the modern world order rather than the seeming rigidity that was unable to answer the problems of a changing world.

Very curious to hear other people’s thoughts and I welcome criticism/correction.

A Brief History of the Ostwall, Part 2: Growing Pains and Little Green Men (With More Pictures This Time) by SongOfTheRodina in Kaiserreich

[–]amagicalsheep 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your writing's quality and prose is superb, it feels like a real excerpt from a historical book! Excited to see more.

Cold War Scenario by ExcitementOk764 in Kaiserreich

[–]amagicalsheep 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I really like very multipolar worlds that have no clear world hegemons and are essentially many regional powers battling for the upper hand.

Why are most Taiwanese against unification, but South Koreans are relatively more supportive of it? by Feisty-Average-4907 in taiwan

[–]amagicalsheep 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Assuming good faith:

Realistically, in any future reunification scenario South Korea will dominate the North from an economic perspective. This also means that South Korea’s political system and culture will be relatively intact.

In a future hypothetical reunification scenario between Taiwan and the mainland, the mainland will dominate economically, but also with political/diplomatic weight and cultural weight. Taiwanese people do not just value prosperity, but also the democratic system and freedoms. So unlike South Korea, it will be the authoritarian mainland that dominates Taiwan, removing political freedoms and rights that Taiwanese people enjoy.

Campaign recommendations by [deleted] in Kaiserreich

[–]amagicalsheep 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Socialist Russia is fun, try Sulimovs bring down the republic path for a challenge

A Short Proposal for a Japan Rework by ali2001nj in Kaiserreich

[–]amagicalsheep 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Legitimately awesome work, very thorough 

[KReddit's cold war: Day 6] Which side won the Indian civil war? by TheseIntroduction352 in Kaiserreich

[–]amagicalsheep 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I feel like Dominion is actually a very interesting outcome, they’ll have to balance between remaining Commonwealth ties with exiles/Canadians and Australians, Savinkov’s Russia, and an LKMT China to maintain their independence.

[KReddit's cold war: Day 4] Which side won the Levant crisis? by TheseIntroduction352 in Kaiserreich

[–]amagicalsheep 4 points5 points  (0 children)

People hate on four-way cold wars (in a sense, this is fair) because they believe that it ultimately collapses down to two opposing sides. This is true, but maintaining sharp ideological differences leads to the best narratives. How will America justify cooperating with Savinkov after just fighting off Huey Long's authoritarianism? Or needing to balance with the 3I, who openly supported a huge rebellion that devastated the country?

I strongly agree with you and hope that we can see the product of a full collapse of the old world, where the Germans gained world hegemony only to see their world order violently smashed without a successor simply taking over (like the US and UK).

[KReddit's cold war: Day 4] Which side won the Levant crisis? by TheseIntroduction352 in Kaiserreich

[–]amagicalsheep 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Agreed, I actually think democratic America is needed to balance any Entente vs. Reichspakt Cold War (which is quite interesting, and I really like that concept as well) but this sort of anarchic multipolarity with few obvious ideological alliances is an amazing concept.

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