It’s not capitalism per se. It’s the lazy, stupid populace that allows the system of regulatory capture we have.
The fossil fuel industry also gets a metric fuck ton of tax payer funded subsidies. That’s not capitalism. That’s a quasi state economy.
In a true capitalist system, we’d see more competitive forms of energy taking off, like solar and wind which are cheaper than fossil fuels at this point. But because the government keeps fossil fuels going, we’re not getting off them.
And it will never happen because the people who control the resources also control the narrative. They promote their candidates, who change the laws in their favour, and progressively make things worse for your average person.
The system you describe is a pipe dream, and it’s a nice dream, but it’s not reflective of the world we live in today.
It’s literally the only possible system that could work. The alternative is just giving unrestricted power to politicians, and the people have no say at all.
Their power is ultimately derived from the voting public. That’s it. That is the power. You either have the ultimate power rest with the people, or the people have zero power.
It’s a cop out excuse to not put in the effort to be active and informed in the system. “It’s pointless anyway” is just defeatist bullshit.
I really wish I could believe in the system as much as you do. I think I’d be happier that way.
However, all the power lies with the capital. The capital controls the narrative, which in turn leads to people voting against their interest. The capital promotes their politicians. The politicians enact politics in favour of the capital. Then ultimately, capital controls the forces.
See for example how Murdoch and Thatcher completely destroyed the newspaper unions in England during the 80s. They went from having really strong worker rights and collective power, to being completely powerless and literally shot at by police within the span of a few years, all due to processes the workers were purposely locked out of.
It’s the only system we can have that the people will have any power. It’s either democracy, or being ruled over. And we will always trend towards the latter if the people abdicate the power they have.
There will NEVER be a time where we can just sit back and say “cool, things are good now, we don’t need to participate in politics anymore”. It will ALWAYS be either fighting to enforce our own power, or fighting to get that power back through revolution.
The power may lie with capital right now, but that’s because >1/3 of people (at least in the US) simply sit at home on their fat asses and don’t even try to participate in the system. And that’s for the biggest elections too. Where things really matter, at the state and local level, primaries where you get a say in who is even on the ballot, turnout is even worse.
Where I am, we have mail in voting, and a ballot is automatically sent to you, along with a booklet with everything on the ballot. The full text of what you’re voting on, a plain English explanation of what it will do, any tax changes that would happen from it, and arguments for and against. For primaries, if you’re not registered with a party you get both ballots and get to choose which one to vote in. It literally could not be any easier to vote. Our primaries this year? Thirty-fucking-six percent. 36%. And that was a “surge” in participation.
You can vote in your underwear at home, for weeks before the election date. And 64% of people still said fuck it, they don’t care enough. **That’s **entirely why the wealthy are able to control things. The people do not give a shit enough about it to even do their basic civic responsibility and exercise their vote, from their goddamn couches.
Well, voting for one. The US has abysmal voter turnout. More people stayed home and said they don’t give a shit in 2024 than either candidate got in votes.
The highest turnout we’ve had in over 100 years is 66%. A full 1 in 3 people that can vote put literally zero effort into voting.
That would be a decent start. Just actually doing anything to participate in the system.
And why don’t people want to participate in voting? Could it be that they feel like their vote doesn’t matter for some reason? Tell me, who should I have voted in 2024 if I’m pro-palestine?
By not voting you explicitly stated you’re fine with exactly what we have now.
Voting is a zero sum game. Someone is going to win whether you stay home or not, and that someone is going to massively affect your life and the lives of others.
And Harris would have been infinitely better than Trump for Palestinians.
So congratulations, you decided that your protest no-vote was more important than Palestinian lives. Because by not voting you said you’re fine with Trump openly supporting their genocide. Their blood is on your hands just as much as Trump supporters.
I am so sick of you idiots letting perfect be the enemy of good, and sleepwalking us all into fascism because you think you’re so special and they need to earn your vote specifically. It’s childish and selfish.
Competition encourages you to seek every loophole and exploit to keep ahead, even if it means kneecapping yourself in the long term. It’s no different than an athelete drugging themselves up for the Olympic Gold Medal just to end up hospitalised for the rest of their lives.
Regulations are just another barrier to be bypassed under the law of competition. Why? Because optimising fun out of the equation is the meta.
It’s not capitalism per se. It’s the lazy, stupid populace that allows the system of regulatory capture we have.
The fossil fuel industry also gets a metric fuck ton of tax payer funded subsidies. That’s not capitalism. That’s a quasi state economy.
In a true capitalist system, we’d see more competitive forms of energy taking off, like solar and wind which are cheaper than fossil fuels at this point. But because the government keeps fossil fuels going, we’re not getting off them.
I think it’s inevitable of any human system that it eventually is undermined by greed and selfishness. Some systems are just more prone to it.
If a system were to work, it would have a way to deal with the psychopaths and other cluster b folks. It’s always been us vs them, throughout history.
Genuine question. how are the voters supposed to keep their leaders accountable?
I hear the French have ideas
By voting. The US has set term lengths at every level. If the leaders are not fulfilling their job properly, they get fired.
For representatives it’s every two years.
That requires having an informed and active constituency though, which we do not have.
And it will never happen because the people who control the resources also control the narrative. They promote their candidates, who change the laws in their favour, and progressively make things worse for your average person.
The system you describe is a pipe dream, and it’s a nice dream, but it’s not reflective of the world we live in today.
It’s literally the only possible system that could work. The alternative is just giving unrestricted power to politicians, and the people have no say at all.
Their power is ultimately derived from the voting public. That’s it. That is the power. You either have the ultimate power rest with the people, or the people have zero power.
It’s a cop out excuse to not put in the effort to be active and informed in the system. “It’s pointless anyway” is just defeatist bullshit.
I really wish I could believe in the system as much as you do. I think I’d be happier that way.
However, all the power lies with the capital. The capital controls the narrative, which in turn leads to people voting against their interest. The capital promotes their politicians. The politicians enact politics in favour of the capital. Then ultimately, capital controls the forces.
See for example how Murdoch and Thatcher completely destroyed the newspaper unions in England during the 80s. They went from having really strong worker rights and collective power, to being completely powerless and literally shot at by police within the span of a few years, all due to processes the workers were purposely locked out of.
It’s not about believing in the system.
It’s the only system we can have that the people will have any power. It’s either democracy, or being ruled over. And we will always trend towards the latter if the people abdicate the power they have.
There will NEVER be a time where we can just sit back and say “cool, things are good now, we don’t need to participate in politics anymore”. It will ALWAYS be either fighting to enforce our own power, or fighting to get that power back through revolution.
The power may lie with capital right now, but that’s because >1/3 of people (at least in the US) simply sit at home on their fat asses and don’t even try to participate in the system. And that’s for the biggest elections too. Where things really matter, at the state and local level, primaries where you get a say in who is even on the ballot, turnout is even worse.
Where I am, we have mail in voting, and a ballot is automatically sent to you, along with a booklet with everything on the ballot. The full text of what you’re voting on, a plain English explanation of what it will do, any tax changes that would happen from it, and arguments for and against. For primaries, if you’re not registered with a party you get both ballots and get to choose which one to vote in. It literally could not be any easier to vote. Our primaries this year? Thirty-fucking-six percent. 36%. And that was a “surge” in participation.
You can vote in your underwear at home, for weeks before the election date. And 64% of people still said fuck it, they don’t care enough. **That’s **entirely why the wealthy are able to control things. The people do not give a shit enough about it to even do their basic civic responsibility and exercise their vote, from their goddamn couches.
And what happens when the elections are not-so-subtly influenced by corporate lobbyists and whoever has more money to spend on campaigning?
Then the people need to put even more effort into exercising their power. It’s that simple.
And how do you propose they do that, since it’s so simple?
Well, voting for one. The US has abysmal voter turnout. More people stayed home and said they don’t give a shit in 2024 than either candidate got in votes.
The highest turnout we’ve had in over 100 years is 66%. A full 1 in 3 people that can vote put literally zero effort into voting.
That would be a decent start. Just actually doing anything to participate in the system.
And why don’t people want to participate in voting? Could it be that they feel like their vote doesn’t matter for some reason? Tell me, who should I have voted in 2024 if I’m pro-palestine?
By not voting you explicitly stated you’re fine with exactly what we have now.
Voting is a zero sum game. Someone is going to win whether you stay home or not, and that someone is going to massively affect your life and the lives of others.
And Harris would have been infinitely better than Trump for Palestinians.
So congratulations, you decided that your protest no-vote was more important than Palestinian lives. Because by not voting you said you’re fine with Trump openly supporting their genocide. Their blood is on your hands just as much as Trump supporters.
I am so sick of you idiots letting perfect be the enemy of good, and sleepwalking us all into fascism because you think you’re so special and they need to earn your vote specifically. It’s childish and selfish.
The word 'competition" here is the trap.
Competition encourages you to seek every loophole and exploit to keep ahead, even if it means kneecapping yourself in the long term. It’s no different than an athelete drugging themselves up for the Olympic Gold Medal just to end up hospitalised for the rest of their lives.
Regulations are just another barrier to be bypassed under the law of competition. Why? Because optimising fun out of the equation is the meta.