Plus, they still have slavery! In the constitution it says slavery is not allowed, "except when incarcerated". There are states where incarcerated people, convicted by a corrupt justiciary system, are forced to work without pay.
Plus, they just elected an autocratic hate and fear spreading idiot who is a puppet of Putin and does everything in his power to make the US an even worse oligarchy.
The world isn't just watching, the world is watching in extreme horror and disgust.
Plus, they just elected an autocratic hate and fear spreading idiot who is a puppet of Putin and does everything in his power to make the US an even worse oligarchy.
Oh sure, but we do that with every President. Trump's a Putin Puppet. The Clintons Shill for China. Biden bent backwards for Israel. They're all deeply in the bag for the Saudis.
That's before you get to Musk or Gates or Bob Iger or David Solomon absolutely leading our national leadership around by the nose
The world isn’t just watching, the world is watching in extreme horror and disgust.
They've been watching since Nixon. But they still keep cashing our checks, so they can't be that upset.
Guys like Starmer and Truduea and Shultz were lining up to kiss the ring as soon as the election results came in.
They've been watching since Nixon. But they still keep cashing our checks, so they can't be that upset.
It's the other way around. The US national debt is more than it's GDP. Where do you think they borrow that money from. We just don't want the US as an enemy because we want our money back. And so far the US has been the only country fucked up enough to drop not just one, but 2 nukes, not to wipe out military targets but 2 entire cities.
The American people voted a traitor into power that actively works for a hostile foreign power to destroy their country. And yet they can themselves patriots. Pathetic.
It took centuries for the Roman Republic to fall. At some point in time, they were past the point of no return without themselves even realizing it.
I think we are in that position now. We have been on the decline for more than a decade now, and have had several opportunities to correct or reverse course, but the wrong decision is made at every opportunity because it's far easier for powerful influential people to increase their power, wealth and status at the expense of everyone else and suffer no consequences for doing so than it is for them to sacrifice their own power, wealth, and status for the benefit of the collective. Are we past the point of no return? I'd say an argument could be made for either yes or no, but we are undeniably closer to the precipice than we have ever been as a nation since the Civil War (which never truly ended).
The US has been on the decline since the 80s. It's been propped up on a strong economy and tech domination, but it's losing its lead, and late stage capitalism is rotting it from the inside out. Reagan really got this crazy train going
From where I sit on Canada’s western end, I honestly expect America to never have a legitimate/meaningful election again.
As in, over the next 4 years the GOP will erode the election system such that it becomes equally as meaningful as elections in Russia or North Korea - theatre and a thin veneer of legitimacy, but nothing more. That the GOP will work things such that they will never “lose” another election, making America a permanent one-party state, no matter how many people would want them out of power.
The scary thing is, Canada risks much the same if “PeePee” (Pierre Poilievre, of the Canadian Conservative Party) gets elected. The man is a snake-oil salesman who is always eager to tell you what the problem is and who is to blame, but who almost never had any solution for the problem. Even his “axe the tax” shtick is a “solution” in desperate need of a problem to solve, will hurt working-class Canadians far more than it will help them, and is only meant to reduce taxation on the wealthy.
This is scary as they already win elections they should not because of lessons learned from the hanging chads. gerrymandering and voter disenfranchisement was always a thing but it was a bit more local and sporadic before then but after that it became part of national agenda.
Been an American in America for 4 decades. From my perspective American decline is undeniable. It is simple fact.
Largely because we can't connect the dots and accept that we should be focusing on the class war, not the culture war, because that's the root of the problem. A lot of the hate and ignorance in America comes from desperation. We're desperate because we aren't losing, we've lost, a class war.
In my opinion the election that just happened was the nail in the coffin. We came together and the majority of us decided to let our oligarchs assume total control. It was a signal to them that they're good to be open about it now, too.
Well said. We have indeed lost. Perhaps we can wipe the slate clean and start anew. I fear even if we did that though, there's enough of the population that would prefer the old way that something better could never come to fruition.
Perhaps we can wipe the slate clean and start anew.
History indicates that to do so will require a lot of time, violence, and death. And without a plan in place for what comes afterwards, we'd just end up with another shitty system.
.....you realize Christianity has existed in Europe for more than 50 years, right? Some of the most horrific things ever done to other people have been done in Europe in the name of Christianity.
A fall from greatness is inevitable and I'm afraid that the fall of America, with all of her hubris, is going to be spectacularly bloody and unpleasant for everyone. :(
When exactly was this greatness America is falling from? Was it back when things were built off the backs of slaves? Was it back when women were not allowed to vote or be professors? Was it back when interracial marriage was illegal? Was it back when gay marriage was illegal? When was it?
I get what you're saying, but the greatness I'm speaking of refers to geopolitical and economic greatness, and I hold no illusions that it is wholesome.
To literally answer your question, USA as a superpower came to be following the Second World War, more or less.
I love that Gladiator, the 2000 film, showed us Commodus a rich emperor who was insanely obsessed with getting everyone's attention and the US has Elon Musk showing everyone that he wants to be at least knows as the best digital gladiator of video games while we have Nero/Trump watching the city burn.
It is like we are working on The Decline of an Empire: Greatest Hits! double gate fold album for 2025.
It already fell, so I guess the real question is how long it takes for people to realize it.
The three branches of government are wholly owned by the triad of evangelicals, Moscow, and a billionaire, they don't have any intention of following the law or constitution, and won't give up power. America is dead.
the opposite. we brought so many people in who shouldn't have been allowed, that the country has turned hostile to immigration, and refugees is even worse.
if it wasn't for the fact that Europe F'ed around for 20 years and disarmed, leaving itself vulnerable right around the same time Russia decided to go on a Russkiy Mir-redraw the world maps and kill everyone who resists adventure. I would have been indifferent to it. the never ending lunacy of the US has left me with the belief that it should be broken up into different states. Its clear they hate themselves and each other.
Alas, World War II was for nothing, Fascism is back with a vengeance, it started in 2022 with Russia, and it's entering a new stage in America.
Normally hate political memes in this kind of tone and format. The bland "Occupy Democrats" type ones, you know. Can't really find fault in this one though.
“If you were able to overlook a genocide and cast a vote for Harris, you already know how a conservative was able to overlook Trump’s extremism and vote for him.” – Historian Robin D.G. Kelley
They’re asking if a civilized country would deny healthcare. They’re not calling themselves civilized other than they have healthcare and the US does not.
it's deeply embedded colonialism, and you are making excuses for it. they could have said compassionate or made some appeal to practicality. "civilized" is practically a synonym for white, which is to say a way to distinguish the colonizers from the savages.
At least in Denver we give enormous amounts of food away to poor people, and the policy at hospital ERs is to treat people regardless of their ability to pay.
But sure, keep pretending that we cut people off from healthcare and food. Gotta feed that narrative, regardless of the truth.
the policy at hospital ERs is to treat people regardless of their ability to pay.
Have you ever been in that position? I have. It took me over a year to pay off the resulting bills.
Yes, they will still treat you regardless of your ability to pay. Yes, sometimes they can decrease the bill for those without financial means. However, that doesn't mean the treatment is free (or affordable) - you will still be billed, and saddled with any resulting debt. That's a huge difference between the US and almost every other country, and it's a crucial distinction.
I went to Denver Health recently after being rear-ended. I told them I had no money and no insurance. They treated me for a concussion. I got a bill for $500.
The bill is far more affordable than dying. It’s ridiculous that you would assume someone should treat you for free. If it’s not worth the bill, don’t go. If it is worth the bill, be grateful for the help.
... But you still charge everybody into debt bondage for saving their lives. Here I do not pay for health insurance and have never walked out of the ER with a bill. I legitimately fear my American friends getting hurt in a way that simply does not apply to my domestic friends because I know that their lives won't be impacted financially long term. From what I have gathered from information about their wait times for surgery there isn't that much difference except for joint and mobility related stuff and even then it's not that far off.
The fact that employers are allowed to control what healthcare you receive and coerce you into staying with them or else you enter a dicey period where you have to cover you or your family yourself in any way just seems fucking exploitative and bonkers from a Canadian perspective.
Do i think American hegemony is in decline? Sure, but this is c/LateStageCapitalism and they tend to overblow things. As with the fall of the Western Roman Empire, life actually still went on despite the Gothic invasion. For many Romans, it is simply being under a new management. Those from us and the future tend to look at history as if everything happened in a flash. The same is happening right now with the gradual erosion of democracy. Events happen not with a bang, but with a whimper. The real creatures in a simmering pot with gradual increasing temperature are not frogs-- it is us: the humans. Literally and figuratively as we head into the slow descent into unknown of post-climate change world, civil strife and oligarchy. Some things may be better or alright, but the overall picture for humanity will be ugly.