******Official politics thread ******

[America]

Originally Posted by Wonkie [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

its not on purpose [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

i am a simple creature

[misterbonkers]

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[DinoTriz2]

Originally Posted by misterbonkers [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

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Strawman: The Animated Series

[DinoTriz2]

https://youtu.be/HNexgXJpeuM

[Mblake81]

The Supreme Court struck an extraordinary blow for criminal justice reform on Wednesday, placing real limitations on policing for profit across the country. Its unanimous decision for the first time prohibits all 50 states from imposing excessive fines, including the seizure of property, on people accused or convicted of a crime. Rarely does the court hand down a ruling of such constitutional magnitude—and seldom do all nine justices agree to restrict the power that police and prosecutors exert over individuals. It revolves around a single question of extraordinary importance. The Eighth Amendment guarantees that no “excessive fines” may be “imposed,” an ancient right enshrined in the Magna Carta and enthusiastically adopted by the Framers. But the Bill of Rights originally applied only to the federal government, not the states.

[Mblake81]

The other day I was late to dinner, but it wasn’t my fault. Traffic was backed up throughout the city of San Francisco, because chunks of concrete had started falling from the upper deck of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Unfortunately, this wasn't a particularly unusual occurrence -- in 2016, the Bay Bridge was shut after concrete chunks began to fall from the walls of a tunnel.

Nor are such issues limited to bridges.

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These little examples are the kind of incidents that one might expect to see in a developing country where things are built cheaply or badly.

All of this raises a disturbing question: Is it possible for a rich, industrialized country to fall back into the middle ranks?

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[Cecily]

Would repairing America’s decrepit infrastructure count as socialism? I think it would because it helps people without taking a pound of flesh to appease the floating eye in the pyramid as is rightfully required from other patriotic American institutions such as healthcare and higher education.

[DinoTriz2]

https://youtu.be/fHVPz1NmXXo

[DinoTriz2]

Originally Posted by Cecily [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Would repairing America’s decrepit infrastructure count as socialism? I think it would because it helps people without taking a pound of flesh to appease the floating eye in the pyramid as is rightfully required from other patriotic American institutions such as healthcare and higher education.

No.

Socialism is an extreme form of centralized power.

Repairing infrastructure is a normal thing every government does.

The world is much more than "socialism vs fascism".

[Cecily]

Originally Posted by DinoTriz2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Repairing infrastructure is a normal thing every government does.

How come ours doesn’t?

I mean if one of the richest cities in America has chunks of concrete falling from the sky, how screwed are the rest of us with our 1930s infrastructure?

Somehow I don’t think the free market is going to fix it.

I don’t know what fascism has to do with this topic, but it very much does have to do with capitalism vs. socialism and that dichotomy absolutely does define my world for me.