2 in 3 Americans say U.S. democracy is in danger of failing
https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/two-three-americans-say-us-democracy-danger-failingOpen linkView original on mander.xyz587
Comments102https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/two-three-americans-say-us-democracy-danger-failingOpen linkView original on mander.xyz
"in danger of".... Bless their hearts...
US democracy, not real democracy
I am not living under the illusion that we have much more of a democracy in Europe. We're just less openly fascist - with a tendency for the worse.
we are the most right wing western country, that should tell you something. it attracts the worst conservatives,s cammers to us. nick adams, murdoch many russians, canadians(like ted cruz), J peterson. plus all those pharmaceutical corporations
The core is so rotten that even the façade is failing
1/3 are fine with fascism and lying about it being democratic.
And another 1/3 didn't bother to vote.
What, exactly, would change?
I wish we had Rick's Portal Gun to find out. I'm of the basic belief that both parties are owned by the same handful of ultra-rich people, but maybe voting for the one that didnt outright promise to become a dictator might have helped.
I think we're in a Philip K Dick novel. The Valis cycle, "Radio Free Albemuth" to be precise.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Albemuth
America isn't failing, it has already failed.
People so fucking unwilling to face reality, for any number of reasons. No one likes to admit that their actions or lack thereof might make them in some way culpable.
The cancer's been in us since Reagan. The Bushes, Clinton, fucking Obama didn't do shit about it because they were profiting from it. Just like they still don't actually care, because they're part of the owner class. They ain't the ones at risk from any of the insanity in the world. Their wealth, status, and privilege protect them.
Trump wasn't the cause of this. He's just the point at which the cancer had metastasized to the point it couldn't be ignored. Maybe we'd have survived if Biden hadn't been such a drizzling, spineless shit of an administration. Radical surgery and treatment might have been able to bring us back from the brink. Weakened, damaged, diminished, but able to recover if we hold to a new way of living.
Trump 2 was us deciding as a nation to be the smoker with COPD and two heart attacks lighting up another smoke.
Biden refusing to make examples of the ringleaders of the Jan 6 coup attempt - the congresscritters, media personalities, and yes fucking Trump himself - sent a message that was heard loud and clear. Treason's okay. If the leaders of the coup had been charged and tried for treason, with all that entails, then maybe it would have caused the cult to wither. Because it's not just the dumb, poor cultists you need to go after, you gotta get the leaders too. Cults can't survive without their leaders.
But maybe if Obama hadn't been such a spineless fucking coward, we wouldn't have been here. Whip your stupid party into shape, run roughshod over any wet pants senator or representative that tries to get in the way of delivering on those promises of aid programs for the people, tell Glitch to pound sand and just bypass Congress entirely and appoint Garland to the SCOTUS if Congress refuses to do its fucking job. Because the failures of neoliberalism set the stage for a fascist populist to take over. People wouldn't buy into that messaging if they were happy.
But there's no coming back from the kinds of damage Trump has done, both domestically and abroad. The damage that piece of shit Musk did with DOGE will be paying dividends for years, let alone what his little Hitler Youths were doing by stealing social security data and selling it off to Palantir.
America's dead. People need to stop being stupid and accept it.
Ha, If americans ever admit that they will be in for a world of change. And since change is uncomfortable, they will always talk about vague risks in the future instead of admitting they have already come to pass. There is no logic here, they state USA is number one even when by every metric they are not. Education, life expectancy, average quality of life, average income, rights, democratic systems and more are all below number one. The last bastion of american greatness was military, and look at it crumble. Vietnam has a better track record, yet you don't see them banging their chests.
laugh you have No education right? grow up kid! go back to school.
You’re kidding right? The nation built on slavery and genocide, that fomented 99% of the coups and dictatorships of the 20th century… started “failing” around Reagan’s time? Suuure
You're not wrong. But that line of reasoning is literally without end. You're essentially talking about the problems that are caused by formal, enforced hierarchies.
… dude slavery and genocide are not facts or all hierarchies. And I’m not a pro-hierarchy guy. But this is basically whitewashing one of the greatest evils the world has ever known, the great Satan, the American Empire.
Slavery has existed since antiquity. That's my fucking point. You can do this "the actual original evil was X!" shit forever, because humans have been monsters to each other since the time of Sumer. Slavery, rape, genocide, it's all there because some rich asshole wanted more.
I'm not disputing the horrible acts of America or the colonists and explorers that predate it. I'm saying that your line of reasoning isn't useful here and just distracts from the topic of discussion.
The topic of discussion is what? Americans are ignorant of their own history? You know we can discuss whatever we want right? You don’t even need to respond to me, if this isn’t a “topic of discussion” you’re not interested in.
I was trying to point out the fallacious reasoning you're operating under but you apparently come into discussion threads to talk about things that aren't the subject of the thread so you do you, champ.
Truly though, I thought they were making a connection between a nation built on slavery and genocide, fomenting much of the coups and dictatorships of the 20th century and recent failures. I thought they were just pointing out that there's a pattern, and that it's rooted in our country's history.
1/3 clearly living too comfortably to notice
My parents are in that group. They say everything you hear bad about Trump is a lie and fake news.
It's mind numbing the amount of gas lighting going on
Someone in my neighborhood has a sign up in their yard that says "Thank you President Trump". I for the life of me cannot think of a single thing he has done that's even remotely improved the lives of the average person.
I'm genuinely curious what these people think Trump has done that's so fantastic that they need to put a sign out to thank him. Their reality must be completely batshit crazy.
Less brown people.
Brown people bad.
they ignited the gases.
they told them to not believe with thier eye and ears. Only based on assumptions and heresay. thats why they fall for actual scams quite often.
I'm sorry for your loss
I know people like that. Thousands of cases of fake news is way more likely to them than it obviously just being true. It's maddening.
Including what he actually says?
Literally yes.
Huh. How the heck do they justify that?
Justify? I don't understand the question....
They simply do not bother trying.
It's pretty soul crushing when it's your parents.
Or they think it's failed already
The 1/3 are the ones who like what's happening
Actually I think a LOT of people who like what is happening think that the US democracy is at risk, and what is happening now is the solution to that risk, which absolutely sucks.
Including so called "leftists" on Lemmy who think that accelerating all of this is a good idea because they're under some insane notion that rebuilding from the rubble is easier/better?
So goddamn fucking stupid.
But it worked out so well in Weimar Germany!
I wonder how many of them would even understand this reference. They don't seem very educated on world history.
Or they don't understand the question.
You're an optimist.
Elon musk etc
It began failing in the
lateearly 1970’s and was sped along by Reagan in the 1980’s.It has been failing slowly for a long fucking time.
Honestly, Wilson fucked everyone over when he signed the Fed back into existence.
Early 70s. Nixon's resignation started everything.
They are right, the democracy in USA is decreasing rapidly and is back at 1960s level now according to the latest V-Dem report
"in danger"?
1 in 1 non-Americans say it already is.
So then strike. En masse. Now. Do it. You know this is the way. The billionaires don't care about boycotts until they actually affect them enough. Stop going to work. March to the capitol. Demand change. Now. Do it.
I've stopped going to work. Been doing it for the past year and a half!
After all, pretty pointless to go back to the workplace from which you've been laid off.
I am on perpetual strike, the people I know though that are still working would lose their home and health insurance if they went on strike. We need solid support structures to plan such a thing, the large general strikes in the 20th century had massive amounts of organizational support from unions which now have few members or don't exist now, canteens set up, people occupied places and made encampments and had to battle police and private secuity. The organizations that are capable of building a coalition to enact such a thing are co-opted by the state, dismantled or deradicalized. And with the surveillance panopticon, any failure or capture by the state for such radical acts could essentially end a person's life, either literally or by imprisoning them for years or charging them with terrorism.
I agree though that shit is so dire, if a critical mass of people suddenly checked out of the genocidal war machine, whatever complications we'd have to iron out, it would still be a massive improvement over the status quo of endless global murder and repression.
And on top of this, a dangerous rhetoric I keep seeing/hearing from the Right is that "the left has taught America to hate itself". This is dangerous because any criticism, even those intended to improve the country is considered a "problem". After all, all we need to do is just say America is great, without actually doing anything to make it so.
We've just learned to hate their America.
It's working as intended and was designed to fail the common man.
2 in 3 Americans also say that we're not going to fix this until we do something about those 1in 3 "Americans."
If you ask the fourth American, they'd probably say that US democracy had already failed quite a while ago. If you want evidence if democracy has failed in America, just look at the clown show in its current leadership and have a cursory look at what they are doing and keep doing right now.
It's probably the greatest democracy break in modern history because it's obviously broken, yet like a cowboy running the dog and pony show with the carriage on fire, no one really wants to admit that anything is wrong with this picture or do much about it.
The fact that more and more sources are saying that 'it might fail', 'it's approaching failure' or 'in danger of failing' ... is probably a sign that it has already failed.
Historians will even have a definitive date 06 Jan 2021 and the following 4 years of no consequences. America is a con nation of lies always has been since day 1.
NO SHIT
it was bound to fail when only white men straight are allowed to be truly free. everyone else is dealing with the fall out of what they impose upon us.
Right, cishet white men, the root of all evil.
Everyone else not in that category is just fine and dandy, a worthy human being.
"Democracy"?
I’d be curious of the definition of failed. I’d say it’s passed there’s a guy parading round mocking pretty much every law, and promoting corruption. I’m curious just what action would constitute its failure.
Election results being ignored. Currently Americans are either voting for or at least not voting against fascism. The current government is the government Americans voted for.
But if Americans actually vote against the fascists, and that is ignored, or elections are simply "suspended" (this is what fascists normally do) then democracy has failed.
Sure when the history books are written, maybe it might be considered that democracy failed when 2/3 of Americans either voted for fascism or didn't bother to vote against it, but we currently don't know how things will play out.
Once again, a story warning people of an issue that has long come to pass.
Does the other 1 of 3 think it has already failed? Cuz I'm with that dude.
Nah, the other 1/3rd are Mgats or so…
Personally, I think balkanization or civil war are the most likely outcomes. The US has a lot of cruft from generations of oligarchy and the spared leadership from the Confederates. It would require a deep cleaning and reorganization to secure a better future for many states.
Anyhow, I believe that the American Dollar would probably die. If the US balkanizes, we might see a Californian Peso or Pacifican Bills to become a thing. Being anchored to a sinking currency would kill many states, so it would behoove them to separate on the fiscal basis alone.
Call it the Californian Dollar just to fuck with the Canadians. Look at me I am the CAD now.
Edit: Also make it a fractional currency to annoy everyone.
Please no, it's bad enough already that Canada and California both use CA
(Am in CA)
That's why we must, we need to make it super annoying for everyone. This only works if the Canadians and Californians only use the first initial.
Remove chud.
"Too late for what? The Republic to fall?! It already has, and you just can't see it! There's no justice! No law! No Order! Except for the one that will replace it!
The time of the Jedi has passed! They cannot defeat Sidious... But together, you and I can."
This administration operates illegally largely ignoring some of the most foundational parts of the constitution. People have said the country operated illegally in the past but that was largely international law. Now its boldface just ignoring its own and non of the branches are defending it much. Pretty much half the states and half the judiciary are doing the best they can and a bit under half of each house is somewhat doing what it can.
Oh, my sweet summer child.
Is the Democracy in the room with us?
And the third one is still asleep.
It failed the moment we allowed nazis and pedophiles hold positions of power rather than executing them on sight.
Because we allowed it to fail.
Democracy is fucking trash. Genuinely awful way to run things because it requires that the people be both educated and motivated about their civic duty and fails catastrophically if that stops being true.
But it's still way better than anything else we've tried, or at least better than anything we've tried that can scale to needing to manage millions or billions of people.
We badly need the constitution amended. Two would be the clarification that corporations do not have the same rights as individuals and corporate speech isn't protected. Sadly the right wing media and red states would never let them pass so nothing ever changes.
I would also add term limits for supreme court justices.
Wouldn’t be the first time it’s failed, out of curiosity, what would it look like if it actually fail like no longer functions/works, and what do people do? Ig international/state laws are the last lines, along with what little allies ppl have
Right. But they all think it’s the other side doing the damage.
There is no democracy in USA since Trump came.
Two out of three Americans believe there's democracy in the U.S.?
Lol
Bro what democracy? Where!?
Sounds about right. The other 1 in 3 want democracy to fail.
As an American, I’m surprised it isn’t higher
What democracy? Americans don't know what that is. In a democracy everyone has an equal vote, while in the US that's not the case. There is voter corruption, gerrymandering, it's harder to vote in black neighborhoods, companies can buy votes, companiea can buy politicians, etc.
You seem to be confusing representative democracy with direct democracy.
As the names imply, both are democracy.
I have no idea what they're worried about. Democracy in the US has been perfected twice, Mencken style.
hahaha, chances of this is the chances of Russia becoming a Democracy, UM No And No.
So this POLL is way wrong
Wow, I'm convinced!
This is such a stupid poll question. As if democracy ever existed in the United States.
I still don't know how it counts as a democracy when you have both sides of the one party system supporting hard military power, global corporate hegemony and AT LEAST ONE active genocide
never an actual one, just one on paper.
Reeks of a bad survey. Did they ask if it has already failed??
Only 2 in 3?
The other third keep voting to shoot themselves in the foot.