You are right, the problem is very much a widespread attitude in USA.
They need to modernize their democracy, and they need to modernize their interpretation and regulation of what free speech is.
The 2 main reasons USA is as fucked up as it is now, is that the 2 party system undermines democracy, and way too much misinformation is allowed.
You can’t build democracy on lies.
I really really hope Americans will wake up soon, and realize this.
I’m an American immigrant in Germany, and I’ve come to realize that most Americans are very naive about government. The US has been very successful in the short time it’s been around as a country, and I don’t think most Americans really realize that it won’t always be like that. At the same time, the education system has been gradually but thoroughly gutted.
I hope we can wake up, but I worry we might need to see for ourselves before we can actually learn. I just hope the rest of the world doesn’t indulge us so long that we take everyone else with us.
Absolutely USA as a country has been a huge success, and I think you are right, that people think that proves the model is good.
But there are many other factors that have helped USA become a success. A huge population with a unified language is one, massive agricultural potential is another. Lot’s of natural resources, and oil to kick-start industrialization.
It will be hard to elevate public education much without social reforms. AFAIK USA spend more on public education than many European countries, but results are worse, maybe in part because of poverty.
It’s way harder for Children that live in poverty to pay attention to school to the same degree that better off children can. That’s been a well known fact for many decades, and USA is doing absolutely diddly about it.
I realized that my comment kind of sounds like I’m calling Americans dumb or uneducated generally, but I was thinking specifically about civics, history, and economics classes and I never mentioned that. Those courses are either missing from the curriculum or heavily biased to the point that I think it’s natural for people to have a poor understanding of fascism.
My parents both had masters degrees, and I grew up in a house where “communist” was a slur and “anarchist” was a synonym for chaotic. They weren’t stupid or uneducated, but they had been significantly propagandized. My dad fully thinks that leftists are fascist. Hell, I learned through high school that the US had never lost a war. My history classes never got past 1945, with the exceptions of the moon landing and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
heavily biased to the point that I think it’s natural for people to have a poor understanding of fascism.
There’s absolutely a tendency to gloss over things in American teachings in general history included.
So yes I agree, that could very well be part of the problem.
I learned through high school that the US had never lost a war.
Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan.
So I guess your point was easily mostly proven.
You forgot about apathy. Even with a healthier plurality of political parties, the big thing is the majority of potential voters don’t bother. Some because of being lazy, some because it is unreasonably hard for them to get time off of work/contend with suppression.
This administration also highlights that the president matters too much. You can’t have even two parties interest honored when a singular man gets his way so much.
hard for them to get time off of work/contend with suppression.
Part of having a working democracy, is that it’s easy to vote. That means it’s close to where you live, and that it can be done quickly. That you are automatically registered to vote is a given. Also that people in prisons can vote is a minimum requirement for a functioning democracy.
USA fails on so many counts, creating obstructions instead of facilitating voting, that many Americans don’t even know what a good democracy looks and feels like.
There will always be some that are prevented or don’t care, but that’s not normally a big problem for good democracies.
If the election is non controversial, it’s not as important, and if it is controversial, more people participate. Most functioning democracies have about 80% voter participation AFAIK. Here we usually in the high 80’s.
Half of the voters voted for Trump, so no thanks, I don’t want to have good relations with the US. I want to isolate them as much as possible.
You are right, the problem is very much a widespread attitude in USA.
They need to modernize their democracy, and they need to modernize their interpretation and regulation of what free speech is.
The 2 main reasons USA is as fucked up as it is now, is that the 2 party system undermines democracy, and way too much misinformation is allowed.
You can’t build democracy on lies.
I really really hope Americans will wake up soon, and realize this.
I’m an American immigrant in Germany, and I’ve come to realize that most Americans are very naive about government. The US has been very successful in the short time it’s been around as a country, and I don’t think most Americans really realize that it won’t always be like that. At the same time, the education system has been gradually but thoroughly gutted.
I hope we can wake up, but I worry we might need to see for ourselves before we can actually learn. I just hope the rest of the world doesn’t indulge us so long that we take everyone else with us.
Absolutely USA as a country has been a huge success, and I think you are right, that people think that proves the model is good.
But there are many other factors that have helped USA become a success. A huge population with a unified language is one, massive agricultural potential is another. Lot’s of natural resources, and oil to kick-start industrialization.
It will be hard to elevate public education much without social reforms. AFAIK USA spend more on public education than many European countries, but results are worse, maybe in part because of poverty.
It’s way harder for Children that live in poverty to pay attention to school to the same degree that better off children can. That’s been a well known fact for many decades, and USA is doing absolutely diddly about it.
I realized that my comment kind of sounds like I’m calling Americans dumb or uneducated generally, but I was thinking specifically about civics, history, and economics classes and I never mentioned that. Those courses are either missing from the curriculum or heavily biased to the point that I think it’s natural for people to have a poor understanding of fascism.
My parents both had masters degrees, and I grew up in a house where “communist” was a slur and “anarchist” was a synonym for chaotic. They weren’t stupid or uneducated, but they had been significantly propagandized. My dad fully thinks that leftists are fascist. Hell, I learned through high school that the US had never lost a war. My history classes never got past 1945, with the exceptions of the moon landing and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
There’s absolutely a tendency to gloss over things in American teachings in general history included.
So yes I agree, that could very well be part of the problem.
Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan.
So I guess your point was easily mostly proven.
You forgot about apathy. Even with a healthier plurality of political parties, the big thing is the majority of potential voters don’t bother. Some because of being lazy, some because it is unreasonably hard for them to get time off of work/contend with suppression.
This administration also highlights that the president matters too much. You can’t have even two parties interest honored when a singular man gets his way so much.
Part of having a working democracy, is that it’s easy to vote. That means it’s close to where you live, and that it can be done quickly. That you are automatically registered to vote is a given. Also that people in prisons can vote is a minimum requirement for a functioning democracy.
USA fails on so many counts, creating obstructions instead of facilitating voting, that many Americans don’t even know what a good democracy looks and feels like.
There will always be some that are prevented or don’t care, but that’s not normally a big problem for good democracies.
If the election is non controversial, it’s not as important, and if it is controversial, more people participate. Most functioning democracies have about 80% voter participation AFAIK. Here we usually in the high 80’s.
Europeans are still clinging to the delusion that Trump is an aberration.
He kinda is though. There aren’t many presidents that run on a platform of gutting literally everything that can be gutted.
Only 1/3 of eligible voters voted for Trump. That’s what makes it even worse. 1/3 didn’t even fucking vote.