• notsure
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    fedilink
    -124 hours ago

    the government is not here to be your friend. the government is not here to be your enemy. the government is here to ensure there is a tomorrow.

      • @Sanctus
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        1823 hours ago

        Well, you see, you got a bunch of Neanderthals saying it should be run like a business, and businesses piss literally everyone off to a high degree, so here we are.

        • @SlopppyEngineer
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          1222 hours ago

          Running things like a business means all the money goes to the guy at the top and his buddies, and the rest should be glad they still have a job.

    • @theshoeshiner
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      1823 hours ago

      We had millions of tomorrows before governments even existed.

      Governments are here to more strictly enforce social contracts. They do this with varying levels of consent, but that is nevertheless what they do.

      • comfy
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        118 hours ago

        Hardly. They’re there to enforce the will of politicians, who are funded and influenced by the owning class (regardless of who voted for them once every four years).

        • @theshoeshiner
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          16 hours ago

          If you only vote every four years then you’re part of the problem.

          • comfy
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            116 hours ago

            I wasn’t being literal, in fact I vote every year (not US), along with participating in political parties and union organizing.

            • @theshoeshiner
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              152 minutes ago

              Neither was I. Just pointing out that “government” is far far more than the presidency. Random town councilmen and education board members aren’t funded by the owning class.

    • Troy
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      1823 hours ago

      Someone else posed it this way: The Democrats exist to solicit donors; getting elected sometimes is a side effect. Big money has wrecked their ability to oppose what is happening.

    • @Whats_your_reasoning
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      420 hours ago

      the government is not here to be your enemy.

      “The government” as an abstract entity might not mean to be anyone’s “enemy,” but the one currently running the show absolutely views its own people as such.

      I never set out to be anyone’s enemy. I want a peaceful life, like most people do. Yet, by doing no more than the radical act of “existing,” the current United States government has hand-picked me and others like me to be their enemies. Anyone who’s LGBTQ, female, non-white, foreign-born, science-minded, and/or financially poor is liable to be scapegoated (at best) or outright targetted by those currently in charge.

      Make no mistake - “the government” might not be here to be anyone’s enemy, but this government definitely is.

      • Lemminary
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        121 hours ago

        There’s reason to be cynical but not outright nihilistic. Also, most of that is due to corporations and lobbyists in the US.

        • comfy
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          117 hours ago

          No, that’s also the case in most countries. Corporations and their political influence aren’t a US-only phenomenon - they legally own almost all major media outlets around the world, along with holding influential positions in each economy which can pressure their governments into compliance. If a government doesn’t earn the general support of the owning class, it doesn’t have a realistic chance of remaining in government, either by corporations funding and endorsing alternative parties in elections, or through boss strikes to sabotage the national economy if a government they don’t like does somehow get elected (e.g. Allende in Chile). A modern government cannot survive without either the support of major corporations trying to exploit their workers, unless they empower the workers to overpower the corporations and survive off their strength instead (which, in practice, contradicts capitalism).

          Capitalism doesn’t exist without forming those corporations, so governments tending to billionaires isn’t some weird quirk, or some US phenomenon, it’s a systematic trait of capitalism which happens every time.