I’m just curious for the new or existing people? Lemmy.ml has taken a hard turn to the right since the reddit exodus. There’s been a lot of pro-imperialist propaganda being posted on world news, and a lot less diversity of opinion. It feels more neoliberal and neo-con to me.
Does anyone want to share what their political leanings are?
I’ll start; I’m anti-imperialist pro-state regulated capitalism. I believe we should have usage based taxes (toll roads, carbon tax) and luxury taxes, and I disagree with wealth taxes for people with less than $250 million. The state should spend more money on consumer protection in all industries (environment, health, finance, etc.) I believe in multipolarity vs. US hegemony.
Yeah, I can see how you might arrive at some of those things. I think in general a lot of people want mostly the same things, but by looking at a problem from a slightly different angle, you can arrive at largely different conclusions. Just as one of the things you stated, you think the government often doesn’t do a good job at the things it does. I can agree with that to a certain extent. However, I don’t believe that it is just intrinsically because the government is crappy at doing their job. I constantly see opponents fighting against these very institutions, trying to defund them, trying to make them ineffective. So yeah, its kind of hard for stuff to be done properly when certain people are trying to dismantle you every step of the way. But to that point, maybe the very fact that this is possible is proof that the American government doesn’t work well? I’d still think a functioning government is something worth working towards though.
This is why its incredibly important to listen to opposing viewpoints and respect those that dont agree with you, and welcome discussion. Not isolate those or push them away. I see it even happening here already on this platform over at kbin and shitjustworks. Its not a good approach imho.
I agree with that to an extent. But even when all parties band together to pass something, it often just goes haywire. Look at the PPP stuff and the early refunds for citizens. There was no real plan, it was rushed (for a lot of reasons, many very valid), there was LOADS of grift and even when there wasnt, it wasnt targeted. Some states werent good arbiters of the program either. Everyone got early refunds whether their income was impacted or not and the federal government had to kinda go that route because some state programs were a mess. Which put us in a corner with inflation now. It came from a good place, just the delivery was mangled.
To your point, i dont think it comes from a bad place. But the reason we need government is because the world has malicious actors and those on the take and the government is supposed to limit the damage those actors can do. That occurs from the individual level up to the company.
Government is supposed to limit the damage there. But if the government gets too big, it becomes a target itself for those malicious actors and can be abused in its own right. And thats been clear throughout history, and its not necessarily a problem for a specific type of government, though some are more prone to it than others imho.