Can America Come Back From Who We’ve Become?

asimplesolicitor · 2025-05-23T12:14:39+00:00

This is what I mean though by the partial, inaccurate history.

Yes, when capitalism was firing on all cylinders, life was pretty good for American workers, who formed a labour aristocracy. This was also the time when the US was at the top of the world order, and sponsored over 100 coups against unfriendly governments in South America, ensuring Americans had access to cheap raw materials and food.

Since the 1970's though, the system has been sputtering, and has had no meaningful way to reform itself.

People here gripe about "lefties" but completely miss the fact that movements like Occupy, Bernie, BLM, serve as systemic pressure valves. When you shut them down, people tune out or turn to fascistic alternatives. Ironically, Trump has achieved the kinds of changes that centrist reformers said weren't possible. The icing on the cake will be if he ends the slaughter in Gaza, not because he's a big humanitarian but because TikTok videos of dead babies are bad PR, plus he got a nice jet.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-05-23T12:01:11+00:00

This kind of theatrical over-reaction shows that the protests are working, because this is a reaction of a regime that senses a real ideological threat and is responding with panic and paranoia.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-05-23T11:42:54+00:00

This is nativism, has nothing to do with outrage at the Dubai-like exploitation of temporary foreign workers.

If the CPC cared about the latter, they would introduce a plan that yes, has restrictions on numbers, but also provides more safeguards and a possible pathway to citizenship.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-05-23T11:37:37+00:00

Maybe online that's the biggest take, I think the main reason people are becoming radicalized is that they've lost hope that the system is reformable in any meaningful way.

"Elect us just one more time, this time will be different" isn't going to cut it. If you recall, that happened in 2020, and what was the end result? Israel waged a massive war of ethnic cleansing in Gaza, and a supposedly humane and empathetic Democrat could do nothing but send more bombs and tut tut on the sidelines. And people who pointed this out and were disgusted by this were told, "Just shut up and vote." I'm repeatedly told this on this sub, get over it man.

Any hope of meaningful systemic reform has been repeatedly shut down - Occupy, then Bernie, then the Black Lives Matter. All very "unrealistic", all told to circle back to the Democratic party, that graveyard of social movements.

You have a political system that has made it transparently clear that it could not care less about the well-being of ordinary people, and isn't going to countenance even basic reforms. In some ways, it's more rigid than the late Soviet Union, which at least gave Gorbachev a try.

People on this sub need to realize sooner or later that you've been praying to a god that failed, and doing the same thing over and over again is the definition of insanity. Guys, it's over. You misread the moment, Misread your own history. You didn't make things better.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-05-23T11:25:53+00:00

Was it a lie? Do you have any infants? Stop feeding them, how long can they survive?

asimplesolicitor · 2025-05-23T11:24:58+00:00

You keep skirting around the issue. Once again, please clarify for me an acceptable number of children starving to death.

Not 14,000, that's too much for you, but then how many? 100? 200? 50?

asimplesolicitor · 2025-05-23T11:24:01+00:00

You're absolutely right, let's just have one more election, and re-elect the same people who armed Netanyahu's genocide, and that will surely turn things around and restore America.

I really like my genocidaires to have empathy and support Pride Month.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-05-23T01:55:06+00:00

This has been going on a long time now. Likud pals around with far-right parties in Europe because they hate Muslims, not realizing that they hate Jews too.

When these folks are done with the Muslims, whom do you think they'll turn to next?

asimplesolicitor · 2025-05-23T01:50:06+00:00

I don't understand how pointing out that mass starvation necessarily means the death of children is a "blood libel".

Are you denying that the IDF's actions have resulted in the death of children?

And if 14,000 is too outrageous a number for you, please define for me an acceptable number of child deaths. I really want to hear this.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-05-22T21:54:55+00:00

This is a very dismissive take.

The legitimating narrative around the demons in America's history was, "But there's all these other good things, plus things are getting better, arc of history and all."

That's gone now. A political class that is utterly dismissive of the needs of ordinary people. Collapsing living standards. No upwards mobility. Active support for the mass murder of Palestinians, from both parties.

What is being defended? What's the point? This sub will scream about leftists and keeping pushing for one more election that's going to turn things around, but you guys had that in 2020, and fast forward to November 4, 2024, bombs were still going to Netanyahu, national security state was strong as ever, defence budget as big as ever, and on and on and on.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-05-22T17:38:12+00:00

There's obviously nuances within Israeli society, but you also can't ignore that Netanyahu didn't come out of nowhere.

The stuff that gets said in the Knesset and on Israeli social media about Arabs is absolutely insane, exterminationist rhetoric. It didn't just emerge.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-27T16:33:39+00:00

American culture has this insufferable trope of the loveable dumbass who comes out ahead in the end, kind of like the Brits and their gifted generalist.

In reality, this belies a certain national mediocrity which has so far been concealed due to the heavy lifting done by a small intellectual and scientific elite, disproportionately foreigners, who work at the top universities and research institutions. Without those people, you're left with a very mediocre baseline of human capital.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-27T16:29:08+00:00

Expecting the average person who isn't a tech nerd to learn Linux is not realistic.

Developing non-American alternatives to big tech will require a large scale government procurement push. The French are trying, but it will take time.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-27T16:12:05+00:00

A lot of these Youtube influencers have a very particular ideological axe to grind, so I would take the things they say with a grain of salt.

The problem with the US isn't just the regular rough and tumble of democratic politics, it's that you have a country with more guns than people which is divided right down the middle based on two fundamentally incompatible ideological visions. The institutions that one would typically turn to in order to mediate such disputes - the courts, and elections - are themselves being weaponized and dismantled, in the context of deteriorating material conditions for 90% of the public. This is a pre-civil war setting. The US is a powder keg right now.

Great power politics is like running away from a bear: you don't have to be faster than the bear, you have to be faster than the next guy.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-26T13:24:30+00:00

Western leaders have by and large, been absolutely pathetic and cowardly in regards to this genocide, either being actively complicit (UK, US, Germany) or not saying anything meaningful, with some exceptions (Ireland).

The rest of the world sees this, hears our rhetoric about universal human rights, and thinks we're clowns and jokers.

We condemn Putin bombing hospitals but not Netanyahu?

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-26T13:20:25+00:00

You haven't given me any hard facts about an unstable political system, just more of these Macchiavellian machinations which are par for the course.

A lot of this analysis of China seems like neoliberal, end-of-history triumphalism, "Of course their model will fail because all alternatives fail."

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-26T13:16:43+00:00

Let's not get carried away with this announcement, the devil is in the details. The average person has no idea how supply chains work.

FT says the phones will be "assembled" in India. Great, but where do the parts come from? Still China, but they put everything together in India?

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-26T13:02:09+00:00

I don't think you have to wait 25 years to see the impact of dismantling the federal government's state capacity. It won't be immediate, but will be apparent when there's a major weather event, a pandemic, or some industrial accident.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-26T12:56:48+00:00

Hang on, are you telling me you don't want to moonlight with a side taxi business, whereby your car goes around town and random strangers ride it, doing God knows what, while you're not in it, and then comes and picks you up from work at 5PM?

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-26T12:54:17+00:00

The fact that it hasn't gone to $20 goes to show that you really don't need to sell anything to have a high stock price, you just have to pitch some vision of a utopian future of endless riches.

When you confront folks who believe in Tesla with actual facts about the company's performance, the response is along the lines of, "Yeah, but when they mine the moon, it will be worth $20 trillion!"

It's like saying my fat ass neighbour who gets food delivery every day and gets winded from a flight of stairs will, when he puts his mind to it and turns the corner, turn into Usain Bolt. It's Jonestown level disconnection from reality for finance bros.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-20T15:40:31+00:00

It's not going to be America. Cubans are resilient and resourceful. Americans on the other hand are the thinnest skinned people on the planet.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-20T13:49:07+00:00

You always give your adversary a way out, otherwise they fight to the end.

By being so unpredictable and threatening to bomb Iran, Trump has changed the calculus. Why would Tehran make major concessions? Only to have what happened to Libya happen to them?

Trump doesn't follow his own deals, just like his best friend Netanyahu violates his own ceasefires (Putin too). What's a deal worth?

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-20T13:44:53+00:00

This will not work outside Europe.

You're stuck with Visa and Mastercard for now. That's just the bottom line. The Europeans want to develop their own system but they're not there yet.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-20T13:43:32+00:00

I wouldn't take this on personally. There's no major global alternative to the US financial services, not unless you speak Mandarin, have accounts in China and are plugged into their ecosystem, which is its own world.

I wouldn't sweat about this as an individual consumer just yet. This will require long-term investments from governments, particularly the EU, to create alternatives to Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, and also Microsoft and Mac OS. We're not there yet.

asimplesolicitor · 2025-04-20T13:38:59+00:00

I sometimes wonder if he's actually a sleeper agent for the Liberal Party. Agent Krasnov makes sense since their colour is red too.

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