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It's different because it's all about that now. The Clintons had their scandals, the "pay to play" lists etc. We all know they are in bed with the moneymen. But
by wkat4242 9mo ago
It's different because it's all about that now. The Clintons had their scandals, the "pay to play" lists etc. We all know they are in bed with the moneymen. But it didn't define their administration, and they were pretty hush-hush about it.
Trump on the other hand is completely open about this. He even brags about making money from deals, something that was previously considered a huge conflict of interest. He appoints people based on loyalty alone, not knowledge or experience. He bullies countries into compliance with mafia tactics ("appease me or else..." tariffs or even war like venezuela and greenland). It's a huge moral shift where that is no longer unthinkable. The US used to have values. It was a country that was at least trying to be the good guy.
Also, the constitution used to be holy. Now Trump is flaunting the 1st amendment on a daily basis (limiting LGBTIQ+ speech, establishing America as a "christian country" which is explicitly forbidden). I think all these developments are very concerning. I don't live in America but considering it is still a big world power it does worry me.
- bdangubic 9mo agoI love the spirit of your comments but IMO it is misguided The US used to have values. It was a country that was at least trying to be the good guy. This really is all wrong. One might think this based on pitches from different times but all Empires are evil by their definition and America has always been that, always
- wredcoll 9mo ago> This really is all wrong. One might think this based on pitches from different times but all Empires are evil by their definition and America has always been that, always Again, the problem with this train of logic is you inevitable condemn everyone and everything as evil, at which point the word completely loses its meaning. Evil is only useful as a term if there are actually things that are not evil. America has certainly done immoral, unethical and frankly evil things. It's also done moral, beautiful and even heroic things. It's a big complicated entity made up of literally millions of people and trying to summarize it as "good or evil" is pointless. The reason this nuance matters is that we want, need to encourage doing good and the first step to doing that is to actually be able to distinguish between good and evil.
- bdangubic 9mo ago> It's also done moral, beautiful and even heroic things give me a list of these “beautiful and heroic things” - very interested to read them
- wredcoll 9mo agoOk, I'll play: > We estimate that over the past two decades, USAID-funded programmes have helped prevent more than 91 million deaths globally, including 30 million deaths among children. How about that? Or are you going to come up with some excuse that somewhere, somehow, an american also benefitted from saving all these lives and therefor it doesn't count? [1] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01186-9/fulltext#:~:text=We%20estimate%20that%20over%20the,of%20US%20global%20health%20engagement. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...
- bdangubic 9mo agoI mean you are making this too easy that I can copy&paste above the fold..: The core reason for creating USAID in 1961, under President John F. Kennedy, was to consolidate and revamp U.S. foreign aid into a single, more strategic agency to counter Soviet influence during the Cold War, promote democracy and free-market principles, and fulfill America's moral and economic role as a global leader. It aimed to separate economic aid from military assistance and make it more effective in fostering development, spreading U.S. values, and creating stable partners, distinct from the bureaucracy of the State Department.
- wredcoll 9mo agoHow can you copy and paste from wikipedia but not even read the entire comment you're replying to?
- bdangubic 9mo agodidn’t copy and paste from wikipedia (though I can if needed) - wasn’t expecting to read USAID as american spreading goodness out of our pure hearts but here we are, have read crazier things than that for sure
- bdangubic 9mo agojust do a simple thing - ballpark how many lives of innocent people has America taken, lets just say since WWII. then lets see after you ballpark this whether you still think we are (or ever were) “good guys”
- queenkjuul 9mo ago[flagged]
- wredcoll 9mo agoSure: define innocent.
- breppp 9mo agoThe major difference is the disappearance of shame. However, the greatest enablement was the overblown cynicism large swaths of the american elites had towards the national proclaimed values. When you think everything is cynical even when it is not then the next step is to have governments that are completely cynical.
- bdangubic 9mo agoso it is shame that is important? As long as we are shameful of corruption etc it is good but once the shame goes away we gonna draw the line?
- wredcoll 9mo agoNo, what they said is we had less corruption when people were ashamed of it.
- bdangubic 9mo agoThis should be political slogan for 2026/28 election - “Bringing Shame Back to Politics”
- breppp 9mo agoyes, when politicians aren't ashamed of corruption, corruption has no self imposed limits