this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2024
1047 points (99.2% liked)

politics

19240 readers
2783 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

Senator Bernie Sanders is intensifying his fight against U.S. oligarchy, targeting wealthy individuals like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg.

Sanders argues that these billionaires manipulate the global economy, influence elections, and control the government, hindering democracy and exacerbating global inequality.

He believes this issue is crucial, impacting various aspects of society, including climate change, healthcare, worker protections, and poverty.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 28 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 days ago

“Awesome. What’s on tv tonight?” -America

[–] [email protected] 23 points 6 days ago

If we ever take control of government again, we need to do a "Defensive Democracy" approach. Rich people need to be banned from politics.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

In the sense that it's part of how we handle climate change, and part of how we handle covid + other diseases + future pandemics properly, yes.

Yes it's very important to get your leg unstuck but yes your house is still on fire even if you do.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

Idk I think it makes perfect sense. Think of the oligarchs as someone actively firebombing the house in your analogy. It's not just about getting the leg unstuck but stopping the ones causing the biggest issue

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

You can’t continue to monetize every single aspect of existence with Oligarchs extracting vast sums of wealth out of the economy, without hurting quality of life for the average person and, eventually - the nation as a whole. Allowing these shit heads to exist hurts everyone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Narrator: They didn't.

[–] [email protected] 205 points 1 week ago (19 children)

As someone not from the US (but who has lived/worked/studied in the US), Sanders seems like the only member of the US upper house that is willing to speak honestly and engage in haram speech that goes against local provincial orthodoxy.

I was particularly intrigued by an article that claimed that Sanders was the only "outsider" in the US upper house and that all other senators were more or less on friendly terms (with the implication being that their polemics are a ruse). Unfortunately I can't find the article.

[–] [email protected] 115 points 1 week ago

Sanders seems like the only member of the US upper house that is willing to speak honestly and engage in haram speech that goes against local provincial orthodoxy.

He is, and he's loved by millions of Americans for it, and also hated by essentially the entire political establishment for it.

[–] [email protected] 61 points 1 week ago (3 children)

As someone not from the US (but who has lived/worked/studied in the US), Sanders seems like the only member of the US upper house that is willing to speak honestly and engage in haram speech that goes against local provincial orthodoxy.

As someone from the US, Sanders seems exactly like this to me, also.

Apologies if you already know this, but Sanders is not a Democrat. He caucuses with them and runs as a Democrat, but he's not a member of the Democratic Party. Depending on the article they may have been referring to that. (IMO this is one of many reasons the DNC ensured he couldn't get the nomination in 2016 and 2020.)

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 week ago (11 children)

It's honestly too bad he is not in his 40s. At the risk of being overly presumptuous, I will speculate that he would be a good leader for the US and the "free world".

load more comments (11 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 week ago

all other senators were more or less on friendly terms

This is true for the parties as a whole. They are far too comfortable trading positions of power between themselves because they're all interested in keeping themselves in the ranks of the privileged. Neither party is willing to make any serious changes that would risk upsetting the balance for the greater good. They don't want change. Not actual meaningful change.

They have their elections and one party rules for a while before switching to the other, but the poor remain poor and the powerless remain powerless. Meanwhile they keep (or expand) their wealth and influence.

They may oppose each other in some ideologies, but make no mistake that they're on the same side when it comes to their own privilege.

Bernie is on the outside of this, which is why they will keep him down at all costs. He's a threat to their power structure.

load more comments (16 replies)
[–] [email protected] 143 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I love Bernie, but it's hard not to just feel utterly hopeless when you see how Elon basically bought the government and we see the other oligarchs flying down to mar-a-swampo to kiss donvict's ring.

Putin's oligarchy is here.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It is amazing how quickly the elite is closing ranks around the Trump government this time around. This includes essentially all major media, billionaires and even some Democrats. Completely different from the first term when we immediately saw a major resistance movement.

Realistically he will end the Ukraine war (since Ukraine has to cede land without US support), and it’s likely that investment will skyrocket (as tariffs make it too costly to import). The same will happen to inflation and inequality (but we won’t see that in the media). Let’s not even think about minorities and women. My worst fear of competently-looking facism may well be on the way.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Tariffs will not significantly increase domestic investment. The US is at its maximum employment and that’s without deporting people. Who will even work in those factories?

Not to mention American labor means that products made here are at least double the price. So no it’s smarter to just raise your prices 20-30% than build a factory that will also have raw material costs 20-30% higher anyways.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago

There's some fictional reality where young people yearn for the factories. Ignoring the second half of the story where that actual generation dreamed of a world where their children didn't have toil in manufacturing.

Also ignoring the fact that wages have been going up for lowest earners.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago

Ukraine has to cede land without US support

Seems like that's going to be the best-case scenario for Ukraine. Worst case is the US starts supporting Putin instead.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 78 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It seems to me he should continue to work with labor and student unions to organize a general strike for explicit, specific goals by a given deadline. The best tool the working class has to take power back from oligarchs is to coordinate stop working at the same time until demands are met, and it requires politicians and labor leaders like Sanders and Sean Fain to build and coordinate alliances across the workforce.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

Yes this! I’ve been watching Bernie speak up about this. So far though, it’s just talk. Ranting. I’m looking forward to see what his plan of action is. I think gearing up towards a general strike, or threat thereof, is the only really tool we have given the incoming admin.

[–] [email protected] 69 points 1 week ago (16 children)

Yeah, Bernie just said Depose.

load more comments (16 replies)
[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 week ago

You don't defeat oligarchs by protesting alone. You also don't break their power hold by forcing them into concessions. The position of oligarch must be eliminated entirely, and anyone with links to the position they held is either removed from the planet, or imprisoned where they never have human contact to try and manipulate their way out.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 week ago

Jon Stewart & Bernie Sanders on Rebuilding Trust & Efficacy in the Government | The Weekly Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4vtiiIo_Bc

load more comments
view more: next ›