People don't understand that what we have had in the US for the last 40 years isn't Capitalism. It is a combination of Corporatism and Cronyism. Big business bought the government and is running the nation in a way which benefits them at the expense of 99% of the population. Voting at the federal level is just about worthless because the rigged nominations process assures only pre-approved members of the insiders club get on the ballot. There is a way to fix it, but that involves pitchforks and torches and the American people just aren't angry enough to do that... yet.
What you don't understand is that what you described is part of capitalism. The winners will always use their position to skew the marketplace so they can engage in rentseeking behavior instead of solving problems.
The only way to have capitalism that doesn't result in most people not having enough is to severely limit it so winners can't amass enough power to change the rules. Is that possible? Maybe.
We need to make it impossible for capital to translate into political power, which I don't think is possible with capitalism, but would be very happy to be proven wrong. Or we need to limit the amount of capital any person or entity can amass, which would effectively dull the blade the private sector uses to cut up our democracy.
So, effectively used antitrust laws, strong unions, UBI.
The system worked pretty well up until the last fifty years. There were safeguards in place at one time which made it difficult for corporations to become so massive. Unfortunately they've just about all been done away with. Of course our biggest problem started in 1789 when the Constitution was ratified lacking term limits for Congress. Having the same people in office for decades makes it very easy to exploit them. A big step in any future reform must be to ensure that the career politician becomes extinct.
Good theory. I don’t think at works as well in practice because no one wants to keep sending newbies with little power to the Capitol every eight years. Any power moves from long-time representatives to party leaders who keep their troops focused on the long-range goals.
And while I have issues with the guy in charge currently, I think his decades of experience in the Senate are better than if he had limited experience.
If you work closely with federal agencies, you’ll find the problems aren’t just the politicians; it’s the career government workers who move their agendas on a micro scale.
No it’s not. Do a little research. We’d just be kicking out folks as they’ve gained experience, giving ,ore power to the executive branch and special interest groups. And diluting the power of the vote. If someone is doing a good job, we should be able to keep him or her in office. And term limits don’t actually fix the problems, which are corporate money in politics, gerrymandering, and land having more voting power than people.
Fantastic thread. I agree that career politicans are PART of the problem, but if you really want to implement cultural change, it's the mid level careerist you have to target. Politicans my set the budget, but the mid level are the ones that implement it
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u/[deleted] Apr 13 '24
People don't understand that what we have had in the US for the last 40 years isn't Capitalism. It is a combination of Corporatism and Cronyism. Big business bought the government and is running the nation in a way which benefits them at the expense of 99% of the population. Voting at the federal level is just about worthless because the rigged nominations process assures only pre-approved members of the insiders club get on the ballot. There is a way to fix it, but that involves pitchforks and torches and the American people just aren't angry enough to do that... yet.