6 ms·

It's sad to see the US being dismantled from within.

by devrandoom 1y ago

loloquwowndueo 1y ago
[flagged]
- lenerdenator 1y ago
  For most sane people, yes.
FirmwareBurner 1y ago
[flagged]
- lenerdenator 1y ago
  More of a dismantling-in-place, but still a dismantling.
  - FirmwareBurner 1y ago
    Where are the arguments for that?
    - lenerdenator 1y ago
      The idea is to greatly reduce the size of the administrative state and take what used to be functions of government and make them either go away entirely or privatize them. Whether this is a good idea or not is not what I'm getting at, but yeah, it's a major dismantling of institutions that touch the everyday lives of Americans (and the world).
      - daveguy 1y ago
        Agreed. This is very clearly laid out in Project 2025, which is guiding this administration's policies.
        devrandoom 1y ago
        Currently 42% done https://www.project2025.observer/ https://www.project2025.observer/
- peterhadlaw 1y ago
  100% agreed. The best part is nobody ever could provide an explanation for when the beast of bureaucracy would stop being fed. It is just a given that it must grow and grow and grow. Whether you voted for it or not. And don't you dare question it because questioning it is Fascism (from people who have never seen the actual results of real Fascism).
  - jrockway 1y ago
    The government could be more efficient, but you have to look at the exact choices being made by the current administration. Why are we heavily taxing trade and the flow of ideas? Why are we dismantling our military with 2 major wars going on? Why are we being soft on financial crimes and crypto scams? Why are we accepting personal gifts from nation states? Why are we micromanaging medical care? Why are we removing our "soft power" influence? Why are we spending our money to "crack down" on people with autism? Why are we using the government's money to fund religious indoctrination? There is always an argument to make the government more efficient, but I don't think this <gestures> is what anyone really has in mind. People want cheaper eggs, the ability to receive medical care, the ability to stabilize their living situation through property ownership, and a stable job. What are we doing about those things? The reality is that the "machine" has always tried to add stability in those areas, and throwing away the machine isn't making things better for anyone. Like, if we made the government so efficient, why am I still paying 40% of my income in taxes? When we disappear people to El Salvador without trial, that's fascism, my friend.
    - peterhadlaw 1y ago
      The thing with Americans is that they've had it so good for so long they don't even know what bad looks like. People who come from oppressive governments and have lived through it actually do. Notice I never mentioned efficiency in my original post, you assumed that's what I meant. I meant the oppressive nature of just the shear unending growth of the US government and the weight that bears upon it's people, its businesses, and most importantly it's morale.
      - 1y ago
Duwensatzaj 1y ago
I’m very torn. Obviously USAID, NSF and academia in general do valuable things. But when organizations get hijacked and used as a slush fund to fund naked ideological activities and organizations barely related to the original purpose, I’m not surprised when the eventual response is to just hack and slash. I wish it was done more thoughtfully and carefully, but that doesn’t appear to be a choice. Just a choice of funding hostile NGOs and academics who endorse discrimination in education, employment, health care and even law nowadays or the current mess. It all sucks and I don’t have any solutions other than focusing on my career and family.
- stavros 1y ago
  I'm out of the loop, can you give some context as to what you're talking about? What were they funding?
  - asacrowflies 1y ago
    [flagged]
    - HideousKojima 1y ago
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_Fair_Admissions_v._Harvard https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_Fair_Admissions... Educational institutions that have been banned from practicing racial discrimination in admissions (such as all public universities in California since the 90's) have insisted on continuing to find other ways to covertly racially discriminate in admissions. It's clear from their actions that racial discrimination in admissions is a fundamental value for these institutions, and they should not receive any taxpayer funding until they stop such disgusting and bigoted behavior. Stop carrying water for them. https://www.npr.org/2023/06/30/1185226895/heres-what-happened-when-affirmative-action-ended-at-california-public-colleges https://www.npr.org/2023/06/30/1185226895/heres-what-happene...
- wvenable 1y ago
  > But when organizations get hijacked I haven't seen any reasonable evidence on this. I'm not saying that evidence doesn't exist, it's just everything that I've heard so far as been debunked. The current administration has been shown to lie and exaggerate over and over to justify these actions so I don't know why anyone would assume they're telling the truth about this.

It's sad to see the US being dismantled from within.

loloquwowndueo 1y ago

[flagged]

lenerdenator 1y ago
For most sane people, yes.

FirmwareBurner 1y ago

[flagged]

lenerdenator 1y ago
More of a dismantling-in-place, but still a dismantling.
- FirmwareBurner 1y ago
  Where are the arguments for that?
  - lenerdenator 1y ago
    The idea is to greatly reduce the size of the administrative state and take what used to be functions of government and make them either go away entirely or privatize them. Whether this is a good idea or not is not what I'm getting at, but yeah, it's a major dismantling of institutions that touch the everyday lives of Americans (and the world).
    - daveguy 1y ago
      Agreed. This is very clearly laid out in Project 2025, which is guiding this administration's policies.
      - devrandoom 1y ago
        Currently 42% done https://www.project2025.observer/ https://www.project2025.observer/
peterhadlaw 1y ago
100% agreed. The best part is nobody ever could provide an explanation for when the beast of bureaucracy would stop being fed. It is just a given that it must grow and grow and grow. Whether you voted for it or not. And don't you dare question it because questioning it is Fascism (from people who have never seen the actual results of real Fascism).
- jrockway 1y ago
  The government could be more efficient, but you have to look at the exact choices being made by the current administration. Why are we heavily taxing trade and the flow of ideas? Why are we dismantling our military with 2 major wars going on? Why are we being soft on financial crimes and crypto scams? Why are we accepting personal gifts from nation states? Why are we micromanaging medical care? Why are we removing our "soft power" influence? Why are we spending our money to "crack down" on people with autism? Why are we using the government's money to fund religious indoctrination? There is always an argument to make the government more efficient, but I don't think this <gestures> is what anyone really has in mind. People want cheaper eggs, the ability to receive medical care, the ability to stabilize their living situation through property ownership, and a stable job. What are we doing about those things? The reality is that the "machine" has always tried to add stability in those areas, and throwing away the machine isn't making things better for anyone. Like, if we made the government so efficient, why am I still paying 40% of my income in taxes? When we disappear people to El Salvador without trial, that's fascism, my friend.
  - peterhadlaw 1y ago
    The thing with Americans is that they've had it so good for so long they don't even know what bad looks like. People who come from oppressive governments and have lived through it actually do. Notice I never mentioned efficiency in my original post, you assumed that's what I meant. I meant the oppressive nature of just the shear unending growth of the US government and the weight that bears upon it's people, its businesses, and most importantly it's morale.
    - 1y ago

Duwensatzaj 1y ago

I’m very torn. Obviously USAID, NSF and academia in general do valuable things. But when organizations get hijacked and used as a slush fund to fund naked ideological activities and organizations barely related to the original purpose, I’m not surprised when the eventual response is to just hack and slash. I wish it was done more thoughtfully and carefully, but that doesn’t appear to be a choice. Just a choice of funding hostile NGOs and academics who endorse discrimination in education, employment, health care and even law nowadays or the current mess. It all sucks and I don’t have any solutions other than focusing on my career and family.

stavros 1y ago
I'm out of the loop, can you give some context as to what you're talking about? What were they funding?
- asacrowflies 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - HideousKojima 1y ago
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_Fair_Admissions_v._Harvard https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_Fair_Admissions... Educational institutions that have been banned from practicing racial discrimination in admissions (such as all public universities in California since the 90's) have insisted on continuing to find other ways to covertly racially discriminate in admissions. It's clear from their actions that racial discrimination in admissions is a fundamental value for these institutions, and they should not receive any taxpayer funding until they stop such disgusting and bigoted behavior. Stop carrying water for them. https://www.npr.org/2023/06/30/1185226895/heres-what-happened-when-affirmative-action-ended-at-california-public-colleges https://www.npr.org/2023/06/30/1185226895/heres-what-happene...
wvenable 1y ago
> But when organizations get hijacked I haven't seen any reasonable evidence on this. I'm not saying that evidence doesn't exist, it's just everything that I've heard so far as been debunked. The current administration has been shown to lie and exaggerate over and over to justify these actions so I don't know why anyone would assume they're telling the truth about this.