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Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread

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Re: Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread

#241

Post by antonvs »

0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #127
tstrimple wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine there had been no Nuremberg trials. The Nazis just got a slap on the wrist and almost immediately let back into politics as usual. That's how we got here. We're still fighting the remnants of the confederacy. Germany and Japan in particular purged most of those elements from their society. Here we built statues to the evil fucks.

Here's a map which attempts to estimate when slavery was abolished across various parts of the world: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/zsnr8q/year_of_abo... The US wasn't much of an outlier. As a general rule, anyone who tries to use slavery as a skeleton key to understand US politics is most likely an ideologue with an agenda. Sane people don't propose struggle sessions for events which happened 100+ years…

As a general rule, someone trying to use a simple single numerical measure as a skeleton key to understand politics across nations is an ideologue with an agenda.

As for the Genghis Khan comparison, I may have made an error. We may just be dealing with severe cognitive limitations here.

Re: Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread

#242

Post by antonvs »

0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #155
ModernMech wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's recent enough that people living today knew former slaves. That's not ancient history at all, so I think the comparison is not good. I'm sure Brazil also has to deal with fallout of their practices, but I don't see how it changes how the fallout of US slavery impacts the US.

>It's recent enough that people living today knew a slave. Slavery ended in 1865. That's 161 years ago. So maybe there are a few modern 80-year-olds who interacted with 80-year-old former slaves when the modern 80-year-olds were infants. Those 80-year-old former slaves would themselves have no memory of slavery since it would've ended before they could form memories. And the modern 80-year-olds would have no memory o…

You know something that happened more recently than prohibition in the US? Civil rights legislation.

It’s impossible to take you the slightest bit seriously. Ignorance and stupidity are ultimately inseparable.

Re: Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread

#243

Post by jimkleiber »

DarmokTanagra wrote: post #223
hakunin wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying “US corruption isn’t new” is a truism. There are probably isolated incidents, and many unproven theories, but everyone is quick to agree with this statement because it’s a common feeling everyone has now for some reason. The reality of corruption is likely much smaller and more boring than people think. What we’re witnessing now is what should be called corruption. That corruption that everyone has been scream…

Corruption in the US went from proxying bribes through layers of shell corps and lobbyists to just buying Trump coin. It has always existed, but it is absurdly easy now and happening in plain sight.

I dont think it existed nearly at the same level, not even close. And honestly, even now, i still think it's a handful of actors doing a lot of it.

Kinda like when women say that men harass them in the bars and a lot of men seem confused because we don't think we harass them, when it can be like 1 guy harassing 20 women in a bar on the same night.

So I think it's quite unevenly distributed.

Re: Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread

#244

Post by baxtr »

dozerly wrote: post #219
chr15m wrote: post #166

Most democracy measurement projects and indices have shown a decline in democratic performance for the US over the past decade. EIU reclassified the country from "full democracy" to "flawed democracy" in 2016. V-Dem went from "liberal democracy" to "electoral democracy" in 2025. When you have a wide variety of entities measuring the same trend, it is probably broadly correct. The hope the good citizenry find a fix. […

The US’s democracy has been under fire from foreign nations and corporations for years. It has slowly degraded because of it. What we’re seeing now is the “all at once” portion.

It started on 9/11.

I find it sad that those terrorist might can get what aimed for after all.

Re: Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread

#245

Post by stinkbeetle »

atmavatar wrote: post #213
stinkbeetle wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes possibly so I'd have to see the evidence for that, but my point is it's great that such a large majority of people are now well aware of the horrific and disgusting corruption, inefficiency, and incompetence in governments.

For some quick and easy evidence, you could look at the history of the Post Office. USPS has always been the poster child for efficient and effective government agencies. Despite claims otherwise, the agency still manages to deliver letters and other postage to areas private industry like FedEx, UPS, et. al. would never touch. Unfortunately, over the years, Republican Congresses and Presidents have repeatedly attempt…

Oh no, I don't need evidence that governments are dirty hives of corrupt incompetent criminals, leeches, and parasites.

Re: Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread

#246

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

hackernud3s wrote: post #218
mjmsmith wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, in the sense that right wing extremists apparently have no agency and no responsibility for their actions or beliefs.

I was thinking more that Nazi's rounded up and gassed a million Jews. So I'm not in a forgiving mood if you're making joking comparisons or trying to be cute.

They did that in the end. In the decade leading up to the final solution they engaged in a lot of shenanigans that have already been replicated by maga.

Re: Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread

#247

Post by aprilthird2021 »

guerrilla wrote: post #237
hakunin wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying “US corruption isn’t new” is a truism. There are probably isolated incidents, and many unproven theories, but everyone is quick to agree with this statement because it’s a common feeling everyone has now for some reason. The reality of corruption is likely much smaller and more boring than people think. What we’re witnessing now is what should be called corruption. That corruption that everyone has been scream…

Reading things like this help me understand how so many people fall for scams. You're so extremely trusting that it's hard to wrap my mind around... I can't relate on any level.

Prove him wrong. Show us documented cases of corruption from, say Obama, or Biden, or Bush Jr. And then we'll compare it to the documented cases of Trump corruption, starting with his 2 crypto pump-and-dump schemes and his family's fake crypto company (3 already very brazenly open ones and there are more!) and let's see if you can pull similar for any of the previous presidents of the 21st century

Re: Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread

#248

Post by aprilthird2021 »

DarmokTanagra wrote: post #223
hakunin wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying “US corruption isn’t new” is a truism. There are probably isolated incidents, and many unproven theories, but everyone is quick to agree with this statement because it’s a common feeling everyone has now for some reason. The reality of corruption is likely much smaller and more boring than people think. What we’re witnessing now is what should be called corruption. That corruption that everyone has been scream…

Corruption in the US went from proxying bribes through layers of shell corps and lobbyists to just buying Trump coin. It has always existed, but it is absurdly easy now and happening in plain sight.

Can you prove any corruption from another President similar to one very obvious case of corruption, where the UAE invested in a very clearly scam crypto company run by Trump's family (who have no crypto expertise) and then very soon after got contentious export licenses for Nvidia chips?

Re: Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread

#249

Post by khriss »

Unfortunately, decades of media conditioning and extreme polarization has led to a situation in which the normal checks and balances have been severely degraded or are non functional.

A significant fraction of the population is happy to overlook excesses from 'their' side. Combine that with extreme gerrymandering and you have the recipe for a situation where a majority of elected lawmakers have no real fear of an election loss.

We have a situation where the same people who were apoplectic about Hunter Biden's laptop are whistling past things like the pardon of George Santos and the Binance founder(with Trump admitting he didn't who CZ was).

There is no easy path back from this situation. Democracies that have reached this stage of late have struggled to come back.

Re: Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread

#250

Post by spiderfarmer »

dozerly wrote: post #219
chr15m wrote: post #166

Most democracy measurement projects and indices have shown a decline in democratic performance for the US over the past decade. EIU reclassified the country from "full democracy" to "flawed democracy" in 2016. V-Dem went from "liberal democracy" to "electoral democracy" in 2025. When you have a wide variety of entities measuring the same trend, it is probably broadly correct. The hope the good citizenry find a fix. […

The US’s democracy has been under fire from foreign nations and corporations for years. It has slowly degraded because of it. What we’re seeing now is the “all at once” portion.

You can add rich people and religious zealots to the list of attackers as well.
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