Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/12/29/corruption-in-america.html
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American Conservatives Ruling Class.
This was a bipartisan effort.
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It’s not just conservatives. Perhaps mostly at a federal level, but at a state level, you’ve got places like California, which is effectively a one party state and the ‘progressive’ Democrats seem to think it’s a Mexican state (you’re getting ahead of yourselves) and run it with half that mentality and many of the tactics you describe.
We’re currently paying people to grow almonds in the desert and spending tens of billions of dollars on a white elephant low speed rail project whose price will be 20x stated if it ever gets finished, and won’t meet any of the goals in the proposition or abide by any of the terms of the proposition - all because the money goes to Jerry Brown’s billionaire business buddies. The Sacramento Democrats and state employee unions are in a vicious circle of appropriated money serving appropriating more money while providing terrible services at astronomical prices and neglecting basic infrastructure (keep passing new highway upkeep taxes then stealing the proceeds lol) because upkeep isn’t as profitable. One woman is desperately trying to get them to take sexual harassment at State Govt level seriously, but lol why would we do that? First the notes of the previous meeting, then the putas. It’s one of the things that goes with the deep culture of corruption.
It’s just whenever politicians realize they can make more money by being whores than doing their supposed duty. @Wanderfound said it much shorter than me - two-party politicians and the rich (whether families or corporations) are the ruling class, and they’re in cahoots.
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Three of the last five Californian Governors were Republicans.
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It’s changed here. In the 1990s and early 2000s you could not call it a one party state - they weren’t really strong at the State government level but could occasionally win the governorship. Arnie was nominally a Republican. But since the state Republicans stupidly went all in on Prop 187 (the anti illegal immigration bill) their influence has continued to decline precipitously. They can win some federal seats because of the gerrymandering. But otherwise they can’t do shit now and haven’t had any influence in a decade.
Edit: Oh right, and Prop 8 (the anti-gay marry bill) certainly sped things up. The republicans have legitimately and deservedly put themselves out of business here, but it’s never good to have a single party with full control of everything - it inevitably corrupts.
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racists have managed to make pointing out racism into a graver sin than racism itself…
No, but they sure have tried. Conservatives sometimes practice a kind of rhetorical judo on Liberals, freezing us into indecisive powerlessness by labeling any real action with some word that Liberals hate: “You’re the real racists, or sexists, or whatever.”
But the alt-right overdid it, and we’re learning not to let our love of purity enslave us to the very trollies we despise.
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You’re talking about racial purity, right? Wait…I might be thinking of someone else…
You’re thinking of the purity of all of our precious bodily fluids?
Roger that.
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Wrong. Bad.
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Yeah I for one have never had an issue calling republicans racists when they act that way (which is often).
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I hope she runs again for office. I think an unambiguous anti-corruption platform can be a winner for a politician.
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I’ve been trying to come up with an analogy for what American leftists have done with the definition of “racism” over the same time period.
I think this works:
Fifty years ago, the anti racism sprayer was set on “highly focused jet of water”, narrowly addressing specific targets, knocking them to the side.
Now, it’s set on “broadly spread shower”, addressing wide swaths of the nation, but to no measurable effect.
Wide swaths of the nation ARE racist. Every single Trump voter was OK with supporting a candidate who ran on an explicitly racist platform. I’m not going to pretend otherwise just to spare their poor widdle feelings.
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I don’t think too many Trump voters cry themselves to sleep about that.
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No they’re too busy crying over conferate monuments coming down.
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That is an uncannily inappropriate analogy.
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Not a bad catch. Well done.
I just stole that! I <3 DS9 Worf!
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