Greatest country in the world apparently.

And they say that American exceptionalism is a myth

Hang on. They said, “except Us,” so you’re supposed to drop that letter. The chant is now “SA! SA!!” 🇿🇦

I'd argue even with education, your defacto two party system still prevents true change/progress. Not sure if better education would be enough to change this.

I think the education is a symptom of a deeper problem still, and that is corporate entities owning significant parts of the governing process, through lobbying, campaign financing and a rotating door of government positions and coproate advisers.

They want an uneducated population, because that is how they get a greater and greater share of the say in what the government does each election cycle. Getting Citizens United through was one of the worst they accomplished in recent years, but it won’t end there.

I don't have kids so why should I pay for their healthcare

That's how they justify it. They're fucking ghouls

Even within free market logic free healthcare just makes sense. It enables people to more comfortably quit their job to start a business or take any better job. It also allows people more freedom to choose medical professionals based on their merits rather than on who their insurer says they can use.

I can’t fathom how anyone is against free healthcare

"We CaN'T aFfOrD iT! wE wIlL rUn OuT oF mOnEy!"

Every fucking time it's suggested. Every fucking time, you get some clown screaming about how it costs too much and it will bankrupt the country and how health care will go away if you try to federalize it.

And under this government? Maybe they're right. Maybe American business leadership would just rip the wires out of the walls anyways. Look at what UK politicians have done to the NHS, ffs.

It's very possible that Americans don't have access to health care because we are simply too greedy and cruel and stupid as a population to value it above carpet bombing the Global South.

The problem is there's a false scarcity. Healthcare is expensive for people in the US right now, so the idea of paying for someone else's healthcare via universal healthcare doesn't sound like a good thing, it sounds like taking the money you need for your healthcare to pay for someone else's.

It's NOT like that, but people have it in their heads that it is. And it's very hard to change a made up mind when there are people rallying against it to protect their own private interests.

"protect the children" mfs when children

Children can't work. So they shouldn't get any benefits actually.

They dont care 🤷

The issue really seems to be old people. And where I live it's a whole lot easier for old people to vote.

Because to them, the fight against the Others is so profoundly tied to their core identity that they would choose a rapacious trillionaire or low rent pedophile mob boss to lead them despite OVERWHELMING evidence either would gladly see them dead for a nickel.

Anyone not of their inner circle (church, Trump worship, family of they accede to the previous conditions) are the enemy. And they don't deserve even basic human rights. Unless they're a zygote/fetus, in which case they get a pass until birth.

I have coworkers from other countries who came to America and asked me if the contract they signed was true - that they can be fired at will.

It's incredibly embarrassing.

Those other countries can merely dream of doing as little as we do for our workslaves!

I mean, there are reasons the tax system is as complicated as it is. A big part is that the government does not agree on what the system should do.

One half (ish) wants a progressive tax system that applies more tax burden the higher your income and wealth are, and uses a bunch of different taxes (of various levels of progressiveness and regressiveness) to do it.

One half thinks any tax on anyone other than the poor is a sin.

Hard to reconcile those two positions, but it's what got us here

I'm hoping Mamdani can help shift people's perspectives here.

Is it starting to rash?

Invaed? That's too much work to even spell right. How about we just ask them nicely if they want to join and then just forge their enrollment paperwork?

It's the abuse of the system, the tax hikes, the standard of care given vs the biased care we can exploit now and the amount of productivity lost is bad for the US. Why? Idfk, that's just what they tell us.

So I guess the only thing we can do is try to cha ge at least one of them.

Remember Obamacare? The socialized healthcare system where everyone had health insurance? We should go back to that.

Nah, been going on probably before the banana republics. Soon as the people of the banana republic fought back, the American capitalist would cry socialism, then the American army would come and squash the uprising. Hey Mr. tally man tally me banana.

Glad to see some political commentators catching on to this too.

Economic freedom is not freedom in general. Hell you could even define economic freedom in different ways. Like freedom to let business do whatever they want or the freedom to not have to worry about needing to finance certain basic things. It is loose term and it very much depends on your values.

Phacking

I've heard that the justice system in Japan is absolute trash. Not only are many laws regarding things like recreational drug possession insanely punitive, they have a general conviction rate over 99%. Which is a major red flag imo. Makes you wonder how many people there have been wrongly convicted in order to keep the numbers up.

More info:

https://www.vox.com/world/2015/12/13/9989250/japan-crime-conviction-rate

https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/japan-s-hidden-landscape-of-violent-crime