If the law has one standard for the rich and powerful and another for the rest of us, it will be hard for ordinary Americans to maintain their faith in democracy.
  • IninewCrowEnglish
    43·
    10 months ago

    It’s Way Too Easy for a Crook Like Trump FOR EVERYONE TO ALLOW HIM to Pervert Our Legal System

    Trump doesn’t have any magical powers or a strong personality or even the charisma that people think he does … wealthy funders, supporters, backers and financiers are throwing their money at him for the sole reason of wanting to place an arrogant tyrant in place to overthrow democratic norms and make it easier to fleece money from the public.

  • Nougat@kbin.social
    40·
    10 months ago

    Society and politics work only when people agree to abide by the same general set of rules. When a sufficient amount of sociopolitical power stop agreeing to rules, it all falls apart. Most importantly, that sufficient amount is not anywhere near a majority. A large enough minority behaving with disregard to existing rules and norms, and only in their own self-interest, will overwhelm the ability of the rest of us to manage a functioning society. Not only are the disregard of rules and selfish aims a threat, the unpredictability is, too.

    • Wrench@lemmy.world
      9·
      10 months ago

      This is why we, the voters, need to react to blatant corruption and fascism by voting the offending party out of office. If the dems get a super majority, they can actually oust the corrupt politicians and judges, oust the Trump appointees still causing havoc.

      That’s how our democracy is supposed to work. If there’s rot within, all parties are supposed to band together and cauterize the rot. But the Republicans are entirely taken over at this point, so voters need to rip them from their seats until we have enough dems (or aligned independents, though that’s not really plausible) to have a super majority so they actually have the authority to do what needs to be done.

      Voting matters. Enough of this bullshit “both sides”. One side isn’t perfect, but the other side are literal fascists trying to establish a dictatorship.

        • Wrench@lemmy.world
          1·
          10 months ago

          That’s why we need to be vocal that your vote matters, that if you participate in democracy, there is an actual avenue to solving the massive problem we’re in.

          Our democracy has mechanisms to rip power away from bad actors, but it needs a super majority. And since elected Republican officials are unwilling to remove their own, it’s up to the voters.

          After dems have a super majority and purge the rot, they will undoubtedly split into multiple parties, since dems aren’t anywhere close to one mindset. This is actually the path to ranked choice voting that gets touted here repeatedly. Same with the electoral college.

          Lemmy is plagued by tankies trying to make it seem like there’s no point in voting, that “revolution” is the only way forward. They need to be shut down every time. They breed this apathy you mentioned, and it’s simply not true.

      • lolcatnip@reddthat.comEnglish
        12·
        10 months ago

        That’s how our democracy is supposed to work.

        Is it, though? The people who put our system in place seemed–through both words and actions–to believe democracy isn’t supposed to be an enduring system, but rather something that’s supposed to serve passably well until it’s inevitably corrupted and has to be overthrown. You know, “the tree of liberty” etc. etc.

    • gndagreborn@lemmy.world
      2·
      10 months ago

      The social contract is an implicit agreement we sign when we are born into or under whatever nation/state/government we reside within.

      Torching the contract will throw us in mass chaos, mob rule, hyperpartisanship, tribalistic regression, the list goes on.

      Used to think it was blown out of proportion in the hyper-reality of social media, but I see it in everyday life now. Small cracks in society form huge wedges between people.

      Basic trust in others, society, the government and it’s institutions has been eroded. That might not seem like an important thing for daily life to some, but it is essential to work together as social organisms. Restoring that trust is a generational task. Complicating that task are modern problems beyond the wildest dreams of even the wisest philosophers.

  • killeronthecorner@lemmy.worldEnglish
    201·
    10 months ago

    If the law has one standard for the rich and powerful and another for the rest of us, it will be hard for ordinary Americans to maintain their faith in democracy.

    Yes… Do come join us at the conclusion we reached many decades ago.

    “People having faith in democracy” is, at this point, not even remotely close to being on the list of goals for those involved in administering that democracy.

    • MonsiuerPatEBrown@reddthat.comEnglish
      9·
      10 months ago

      Which is funny because we have laws to make the democracy more important than the people running it.

      Oddly enough the people wanting to destroy it see those laws merely as guidelines. Much like how criminals use the world. And the police.

      • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
        3·
        10 months ago

        Almost like they should be treated as the criminals they are and not like powerful people…

  • Pyr_Pressure
    13·
    10 months ago

    No shit. People have been complaining about it for decades, centuries probably.

    If you have money and/or connections, you do not have to follow the law like average people do.