• @breadsmasher
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    114 days ago

    The beginning of the end was 2016. This is the continuation of the rot.

    America had a single chance to change course, and threw it away for a charlatan

    • @Skyrmir
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      54 days ago

      Honestly you could see this coming in 1980. Even as a kid, just seeing Reagan, it was immediately obvious he was evil. Also the overall response to stagflation, tax changes, and the Dems were stupidly corrupt at the time.

      Taken as a whole, the shift of the religious right coming in, while the currency and regulatory set up collapsed. It very much looked like the beginning of the end.

      • @AA5B
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        3 days ago

        Reagan may have been a low point but we had an upward trend going. The Bushes were never as far right, and well counteracted by Clinton, Obama, and yes, Biden. There were rising stars for a better future, The Squad, Pete Buttigieg, etc. we were getting the payoffs from investments in efficiency, cleaner energy, building a new EV industry, a new Space industry, pandemic preparedness and public health, the hope of continued medical care reform. Acela was a game changer, cities finally started to build transit, and it finally seemed like high speed rail was coming. Society had never been more accepting of all sorts of non-traditional people. By so many measures our environment was getting cleaner, our health and nutrition getting better, we were kicking cigarettes after a long struggle, etc. we were a healthy influence on the world improving, acting together (ok, the Iraq thing is debatable)

        • @Skyrmir
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          13 days ago

          https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/jy1708-Figure1.png

          Yeah, I’m not seeing that upward trend. And there’s a thousand other similar charts with various measures. The left has at best slowed our downfall for the past 50 years. There’s never been an actual improvement. This is why there’s decades and decades of Bernie videos warning us how a public policy is going to hurt the public, and then we do it anyway. It’s not like Bernie is some oracle, it’s just really damn obvious where we’re screwing up.