You can fix the american democracy by upgrading it ranked choice voting, abolishing the electoral college, ending citizens united, giving all prisoners the right to vote, reforming the supreme court, make Washington DC and Puerto Rico states.
Eliminating the senate, massively increasing the size of the house, making registration automatic, executing anyone caught disenfranchising voters, etc
Eliminating the Senate might seem like a good way to reduce the outsized influence that voters in smaller states wield, but the Senate helps keep those states in the union.
Also, the death penalty should be eliminated, not expanded.
We obviously need to address the fact that our government doesn't represent the country, but drastically increasing the ability of larger states to ride roughshod over the interests of smaller states is not a recipe for stability.
... Introducing proportional representation and majority elected president, enfranchising all people, ending politically appointed judiciary, making intentional lies with the intention to mislead the public a criminal offence...
Have a look at the German system. They are also bicameral. Their primary house, the Bundestag, is like the US Congress. The secondary house, the Bundesrat, is representing the 16 German states. The votes the representatives there cast are bound to decisions of their State governments. So the state government decides yes or no on a question, and all representatives of that state are bound to that decision of their state.
This way, the first chamber represents the overall interests if the people on a federal level, while the secondary chamber represets state interests.
Yeah, I don't think the state governments in the deep south represent any of the interests of the citizens of the south, anymore than Vladimir Putin and his oligarchs represent the interests of the citizens of Russia.
The deep south are just failed states we've let limp on since we lost the stomach for reconstruction and left them in the 19th century.
You guys (Americans) need to stop with the personality cults. It was cute and funny when it was sports stars and actors, but it slipped down the slope when it’s dangerous malignant narcissists like Trump and Musk.
The attitude is the same, though, stop glorifying other people so much, whether it’s on the left or right.
No amount of democracy will fix that loophole for populists.
And exactly how peaceful do you think the scrapping of the entire system will be? Will you sign up for the inevitable fight? Or do you just like talking big?
Anyone with a brain understands that would only bring further pain and death.
Well, if you wanna call the religion evil, you do you I guess, but at least be accurate about it. The Bible doesn't condone fascism (in fact, much of the point of the New Testament is that laws are not the way to save people,) so using christofascist as a term to refer to Christianity in general is diluting the definition of fascism. If you wanna use that term to refer to the people who use Christian branding as an excuse to push fascist laws, that's fine, just don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
All it condones is slavery, incest, murder, the divine right to rule and a theocratic state, and the genocide of all non-Jewish people in Israel. Not fashy at all.
Slavery: Not condoned, not condemned, just regulated. See here for details. But that's a fair argument to make.
Incest: Only condoned in the early generations of humanity when it was necessary, directly condemned afterwards. I guess I can see how you'd be confused if you heard about it secondhand, but any familiarity with the cases in question ought to show this. Incest in and of itself (discounting other problems like rape and pedophilia it tends to coincide with) is a problem primarily because it leads to a higher incidence of genetic defects, and there were no genetic defects in the first batch of humans as God created them perfectly.
Murder: Obviously against the ten commandments. I don't know what you're talking about. Is it the death penalty? Are you trying to gish gallop me? I don't mind answering your points, but I'd appreciate it if you be more specific so I don't have to guess what you're referring to in order to address it.
Divine right: In the strictest sense, that God gives authorities their right to rule, sure, but they're not above accountability like divine right typically says. The Bible says to follow the laws of men only where they do not conflict with the laws of God.
Genocide: That's a tricky one, where the Israelites were to wipe out the Canaanites. I don't have a good answer for it. What I do know is that God's judgment is righteous, and that this one case is not justification for genocides at human convenience (though non-Christians might interpret it that way, including but not limited to a certain state. I'm not defending them.)
Also, just so we're clear, incest is gross, but it's not fascist.
Exodus 20:2-17? Deuteronomy 5:6-21? They're exactly what Sunday School told me they were (and what I've found through reading the Bible on my own,) and there are exactly 10. Is there supposed to be some kind of gotcha there? "You shall not murder" is written there plain as day. What are you trying to say?
Are you trying to draw attention to the fact that God's judgment is fearsome? Because that's a thing, God is both fearsome and forgiving. His wrath is justified because His judgment is unerring, while we shouldn't pass judgment because we are flawed. His forgiveness is offered because He doesn't want to see us go to Hell, while many do anyways because they don't accept it.
I guess a lot of people try to sugercoat the Bible and downplay God's judgment because it's not fun to tell people hard truths, but that's not a fair portrayal, and it can lead to crises of faith when people have an image of a super chill pacifist God and then read about things like Noah's ark.
By previous countries' standards. I meant advancement in terms of damage done, not strictly timewise. Humanity is speedrunning mass extinction, and America has been at the forefront.
The term state at the international level usually refers to a nation-state. Nations generally have different terms like state, territory, province, etc for their internal divisions, hence state can refer to both meanings.
States are defined by sovereignty over territory and a group of people. They are what we commonly call countries. [1] The United States, Great Britain, and Nigeria are all examples of states
"state noun (COUNTRY)
C1 [ C or U ]
a country or its government:
The drought is worst in the central African states.
member state Britain is one of the member states of the European Union.
The government was determined to reduce the number of state-owned industries.
Some theatres receive a small amount of funding from the state.
affairs/matters of state formal His diary included comments on affairs/matters of state (= information about government activities)."
The United States is a state. The united states that make it up are states, in a different sense of the word. The brain hurt is happening because you're using two different definitions of the same thing really close together.
Come check out Oklahoma! Where you can be both the Secretary of Transportation and head the Turnpike authority (at least for a year, until the attorney general gets off his ass)! You can opt out of complying with state law (the Open Meetings Act) if you really really want to bulldoze thousands of family homes to build a toll road and don’t like that people have opinions on it.
There’s no guarantee that your kids teacher is even background checked, much less that they are qualified to teach the subject they are teaching! Thousands of dollars in COVID funds earmarked for education went to buying Christmas trees and TVs. (State superintendent and Secretary of Education also got to be positions held by the same person - with two paychecks!) We also are trying to be national leaders in ignoring the first amendment and establishing a religious online charter school!
The state has the highest obesity rate, is the least developed state, the life expectancy is at age 74.4, has the lowest high school graduation rate, one of the lowest tax rates in the country, one of the lowest unionization rates, the state government has been under republican trifectas since 2012.
Stretches of the Mississippi River within the park corridor exceed water quality standards for mercury, bacteria, sediment, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl), and nutrients. Unfortunately, these "impairments" can make the water unsuitable for fishing, swimming, and drinking. Mar 6, 2023
Mississippi has been known for poverty and a lack of education and safety standards for quite some time now, not to mention the rampant sexism and racism that goes hand in hand with said lack of education
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That's just a fact. The whole US political system should be scrapped and re-developed to make it a democracy.
You can fix the american democracy by upgrading it ranked choice voting, abolishing the electoral college, ending citizens united, giving all prisoners the right to vote, reforming the supreme court, make Washington DC and Puerto Rico states.
Eliminating the senate, massively increasing the size of the house, making registration automatic, executing anyone caught disenfranchising voters, etc
Eliminating the Senate might seem like a good way to reduce the outsized influence that voters in smaller states wield, but the Senate helps keep those states in the union.
Also, the death penalty should be eliminated, not expanded.
We obviously need to address the fact that our government doesn't represent the country, but drastically increasing the ability of larger states to ride roughshod over the interests of smaller states is not a recipe for stability.
Death penalty only for white collar crime?
Don’t kill. Killing is wrong. No, seriously, it is so so bad. Don’t even think about it, because if you kill, we will kill you right back buster!
The death penalty thing was said tongue in cheek. And we already settled the whole can you leave the union thing a little while back.
Oh, so we need the Senate to keep such valuable states as Alabama, Mississippi and Florida in the union?
This is like arguing the need for the Senate filibuster, because of how important it was to such orators as Strom Thurmond and Richard Russell.
I'm fine keeping the Senate on the condition that if you suppress voting for a senator, he can't be seated.
In that case California should secede; we'll be better represented that way.
... Introducing proportional representation and majority elected president, enfranchising all people, ending politically appointed judiciary, making intentional lies with the intention to mislead the public a criminal offence...
Eliminating the Senate is not a good idea. Maybe just fix it by populating it in proportion to the states citizens?
And do yourself a favor and finally abolish the death penalty. It does not become to a civilized country.
Isn't that just the house?
Have a look at the German system. They are also bicameral. Their primary house, the Bundestag, is like the US Congress. The secondary house, the Bundesrat, is representing the 16 German states. The votes the representatives there cast are bound to decisions of their State governments. So the state government decides yes or no on a question, and all representatives of that state are bound to that decision of their state.
This way, the first chamber represents the overall interests if the people on a federal level, while the secondary chamber represets state interests.
Yeah, I don't think the state governments in the deep south represent any of the interests of the citizens of the south, anymore than Vladimir Putin and his oligarchs represent the interests of the citizens of Russia.
The deep south are just failed states we've let limp on since we lost the stomach for reconstruction and left them in the 19th century.
I thought PR just hasn't gotten 51% in favor of statehood?
you can't fix the foundation of blood and suffering that the house was built on top of
Show me one government not built on a pile of bodies
I can't! :) all governments are fucking evil and must be destroyed
And thus begins the new pile of bodies
No, but you don't understand, this time it will be justice because of we're killing the bad ones, well, and anyone who disagrees, that's different!
Remember that you enter a revolution with the culture you've got, not the culture you want. Think on that very carefully before you roll those dice.
It would be so cool to be a part of a true democracy.
You guys (Americans) need to stop with the personality cults. It was cute and funny when it was sports stars and actors, but it slipped down the slope when it’s dangerous malignant narcissists like Trump and Musk. The attitude is the same, though, stop glorifying other people so much, whether it’s on the left or right. No amount of democracy will fix that loophole for populists.
I seriously think that all constitutions should have expiry dates.
Do you have any idea how many rich and powerful people would dream of such power vacuums to take advantage of?
This comment reads like it was written by the Koch foundation.
And exactly how peaceful do you think the scrapping of the entire system will be? Will you sign up for the inevitable fight? Or do you just like talking big?
Anyone with a brain understands that would only bring further pain and death.
/u/beaver gets what you don’t: https://lemmy.ca/comment/11298416
I would just like to point out that it can still get so, so much worse.
That's what the French and Russian aristocrat's thought right before the French and Russian revolutions.
might be right, might be wrong, but I'll be fucked if I take my news from a bunch of christofascist vegetables.
THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE ARMS!
They don't have arms so they can't self-pleasure (it is a "sin")
Which means they can only pleasure each other.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
yeah they're left with mouths, vaginas and anuses AS GOD INTENDED VEG TO BE lol
Confirmed, VeggieTales is anti-2A.
Are we using christofascist as a way to call Christianity fascist now, or did I miss some fascist messaging in VeggieTales?
why not both?
Well, if you wanna call the religion evil, you do you I guess, but at least be accurate about it. The Bible doesn't condone fascism (in fact, much of the point of the New Testament is that laws are not the way to save people,) so using christofascist as a term to refer to Christianity in general is diluting the definition of fascism. If you wanna use that term to refer to the people who use Christian branding as an excuse to push fascist laws, that's fine, just don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
All it condones is slavery, incest, murder, the divine right to rule and a theocratic state, and the genocide of all non-Jewish people in Israel. Not fashy at all.
Slavery: Not condoned, not condemned, just regulated. See here for details. But that's a fair argument to make.
Incest: Only condoned in the early generations of humanity when it was necessary, directly condemned afterwards. I guess I can see how you'd be confused if you heard about it secondhand, but any familiarity with the cases in question ought to show this. Incest in and of itself (discounting other problems like rape and pedophilia it tends to coincide with) is a problem primarily because it leads to a higher incidence of genetic defects, and there were no genetic defects in the first batch of humans as God created them perfectly.
Murder: Obviously against the ten commandments. I don't know what you're talking about. Is it the death penalty? Are you trying to gish gallop me? I don't mind answering your points, but I'd appreciate it if you be more specific so I don't have to guess what you're referring to in order to address it.
Divine right: In the strictest sense, that God gives authorities their right to rule, sure, but they're not above accountability like divine right typically says. The Bible says to follow the laws of men only where they do not conflict with the laws of God.
Genocide: That's a tricky one, where the Israelites were to wipe out the Canaanites. I don't have a good answer for it. What I do know is that God's judgment is righteous, and that this one case is not justification for genocides at human convenience (though non-Christians might interpret it that way, including but not limited to a certain state. I'm not defending them.)
Also, just so we're clear, incest is gross, but it's not fascist.
If that helps you sleep at night.
You might want to read the actual Biblical text of the "Ten" Commandments. They aren't what Sunday School told you they were.
Exodus 20:2-17? Deuteronomy 5:6-21? They're exactly what Sunday School told me they were (and what I've found through reading the Bible on my own,) and there are exactly 10. Is there supposed to be some kind of gotcha there? "You shall not murder" is written there plain as day. What are you trying to say?
Are you trying to draw attention to the fact that God's judgment is fearsome? Because that's a thing, God is both fearsome and forgiving. His wrath is justified because His judgment is unerring, while we shouldn't pass judgment because we are flawed. His forgiveness is offered because He doesn't want to see us go to Hell, while many do anyways because they don't accept it.
I guess a lot of people try to sugercoat the Bible and downplay God's judgment because it's not fun to tell people hard truths, but that's not a fair portrayal, and it can lead to crises of faith when people have an image of a super chill pacifist God and then read about things like Noah's ark.
pffft endorsed in the bible is a funny way to put 'secondhand' lol
thank you, I will.
I don't entirely disagree but I think at this advanced stage, it's largely due to inertia.
I agree, this is just leftover momentum.
Reaganomics was a bullet to this nation's brain stem. Citizens United was just the capitalists pissing on the long dead corpse for fun.
This place is just the command center for multinational oligarchs to wage war on the rest of humanity to increase short term profit expectations.
Well said there in the back.
this country is still very young
By previous countries' standards. I meant advancement in terms of damage done, not strictly timewise. Humanity is speedrunning mass extinction, and America has been at the forefront.
Wouldn't it be, like, 50 failed states? 🤔
The term state at the international level usually refers to a nation-state. Nations generally have different terms like state, territory, province, etc for their internal divisions, hence state can refer to both meanings.
No, United States cannot be a state, that's just grammatical nonsense.
https://chass.usu.edu/international-studies/aggies-go/nation-states
QED. I stand corrected.
For fuck sake... : https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/state
"state noun (COUNTRY) C1 [ C or U ] a country or its government: The drought is worst in the central African states. member state Britain is one of the member states of the European Union. The government was determined to reduce the number of state-owned industries. Some theatres receive a small amount of funding from the state. affairs/matters of state formal His diary included comments on affairs/matters of state (= information about government activities)."
Still no, United States are STATES (plural), not a State (singular).
The United States is a state. The united states that make it up are states, in a different sense of the word. The brain hurt is happening because you're using two different definitions of the same thing really close together.
No, are you? (Wtf, is this reddit or something?)
"The US is a failed state" is just grammatically incorrect sentence.
No it fucking isn't, because the phrase "The United States" is a proper noun referring to a singular entity.
To bad for you, it's all just grammatical nonsense!
This exceeding trifling witling, considering ranting criticizing concerning adopting fitting wording being exhibiting transcending learning, was displaying, notwithstanding ridiculing, surpassing boasting swelling reasoning, respecting correcting erring writing, and touching detecting deceiving arguing during debating.
My pedant boner is in the stratosphere. I like you.
Do you write for Letterkenny?
See the above comment for an example of how America became a failed a state and why it will remain as such.
But countries like Romania can?
Yes. Single state. Although Spain complicates things a bit. I just find saying "States is a state" extremely weird. Like saying "Ducks is a duck".
Yes, but some of the states are more failed than others.
glares at Florida
Don't forget Mississippi.
Florida really saddens me, because environmentally it is such a great place (of course there are exceptions as always).
The weather is 90% awesome. The scenery is beautiful. The pace of life is nice. The roads are smooth.
And it was getting more progressive too.
Unfortunately that shithead desantis has ruined it.
Come check out Oklahoma! Where you can be both the Secretary of Transportation and head the Turnpike authority (at least for a year, until the attorney general gets off his ass)! You can opt out of complying with state law (the Open Meetings Act) if you really really want to bulldoze thousands of family homes to build a toll road and don’t like that people have opinions on it.
There’s no guarantee that your kids teacher is even background checked, much less that they are qualified to teach the subject they are teaching! Thousands of dollars in COVID funds earmarked for education went to buying Christmas trees and TVs. (State superintendent and Secretary of Education also got to be positions held by the same person - with two paychecks!) We also are trying to be national leaders in ignoring the first amendment and establishing a religious online charter school!
The United States is a cruel mockery of a developed nation especially when looking at the Mississippi
What's up with Mississippi?
The state has the highest obesity rate, is the least developed state, the life expectancy is at age 74.4, has the lowest high school graduation rate, one of the lowest tax rates in the country, one of the lowest unionization rates, the state government has been under republican trifectas since 2012.
it's full of shit.
It has the lowest HDI in the US. (0.866) That would put it between San Marino and Chile on the country HDI rating. (44th highest overall)
Mississippi has been known for poverty and a lack of education and safety standards for quite some time now, not to mention the rampant sexism and racism that goes hand in hand with said lack of education
It was fun while it lasted, but it's time for the crown to bring the colonies back to order.
The UK is worse.
"The UK political system is like the US, but whimsically worse" - John Oliver
From his piece on the UK elections. Probably not 100% correct, but should be somewhat close.
Also according to that show brits can't use recordings of parlament in comedy shows which is so bad.
Didn't say better, just order
I'm not sure I believe that after the brexit shit show
Brexit was the era of John Bercow and therefore the era of order.
UK political system needs a complete overhaul but it is not worse.
Incorrect.
The US are 50 failed states.
Nah, California could happily carry on by itself.
But every other state despises that we can. It's a real nut punch when other states are jealous of our GDP.
These vegetables have spoiled.
Yeah right, I'll only believe this it it comes from the Globgomgabgalab. He is the yeast of thoughts and minds.
Ok, but now who would bring back the Aztec empire?
Vegetables is murder!
"These are the children of Israel!" "Hello, children! It was nice to meet you, now go away!" https://youtu.be/WtoozRVFfgw
You helped veggietales. You tripe rotted the brains of many young Americans.