Even as cynical as I am, it astonishes me that the Republicans have become entirely up-front about the fact that they don't really give a shit about the American people and are only interested in how policy decisions affect them personally.
It's not just the case that they'll institute harmful policies if they can blame the Democrats for them or oppose beneficial policies that they can't claim credit for themselves, but that they do it openly and obviously.
And their wholly emotion-driven supporters remain completely oblivious...
And here we have the root cause of every other problem that plagues the US - the entire nation, socially, politically and even psychologically, has been warped towards the sole purpose of pouring as much wealth as possible into the pockets of a relative few.
What you need to know is that the government is corrupt and works almost exclusively for the benefit of the wealthy few, which has caused considerable problems for everyone else, which problems they want you to blame on someone other than them.
It's the state of mind caused by simultaneously believing two (or more) things that conflict with each other.
And while they’re arguing about who’s causing the most chaos, the rest of us are left wondering—how did it get this bad?
Actually, that's easy.
It got this bad because our system is so warped and corrupt that most politicians can no longer even pretend to run on policies and principles. If they get elected, they're going to do one and only one thing - they're going to serve the interests of the wealthy individuals and corporations that pay them the fattest bribes. They obviously can't run on a promise to do that, but they can't promise to do anything else because they're not going to do anything else. So they run on hatred and fear - they run on things like "ELECT US BECAUSE THE IMMIGRANTS ARE EATING YOUR PETS!!"
It really is just that simple.
And if the world were a just place instead of a twisted shithole designed to maximize the privilege of a relative few wealthy and empowered parasites, you could work fewer hours, make the same or even more money and afford a house.
But instead the system has been warped so that you have to work long hours for insufficient pay and still can't afford a decent life, and all so that a relative few executives, board nembers, bankers, investors and politicians can siphon off the bulk of the wealth you generate so that they can buy more houses and bigger yachts.
No - actually I was talking worldwide. Russia's just a notable example.
And I would say that all of the things you listed are, directly or indirectly, consequences of the fact that wealthy authoritarian parasites have warped societies to their benefit regardless of the harm done to others, so are actually examples of exactly what I'm talking about.
News flash for wealthy authoritarian parasites around the world, because you all seem ignorant of this fact:
Declining birthrates are a direct result of the simple fact that more people all the time decide that they have no desire to bring children into this world, and that in turn is a direct result of the fact that you've turned this world into a warped, corrupt, toxic, authoritarian shithole.
You have no one to blame but yourselves.
@WatDabney
@sopuli.xyz