bsmall2Jan 13, 2025
> .. fewer than half of Americans believe that the US is democratic; is a democracy. The reasons given against the US being a democracy are 1) corruption (73%), followed by 2) corporate control of the political system (72%). In other words, the reasons for this missing democracy are economic.
> From the advent of neoliberalism in the mid-1970s to today, the US has been systematically deindustrialized...
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/09/11/will-it-be-socialism-or-barbarism-for-the-twenty-first-century/
#uspol #USADemocracy #RobUrie #CounterpunchOrg
bsmall2Jan 10, 2025
> ... few political conservatives know that Barack Obama structured his signature program, the ACA (Affordable Care Act, Obamacare), using the same capitalist principles that Elon Musk is currently espousing. Mr. Obama’s goal was to make the American healthcare system better by making it ‘more capitalist.’ With health insurers currently in the news for denying legitimate claims at rates suggestive of looting, the ACA is indeed capitalist...
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/01/09/doge-nations-arent-corporations-and-efficiency-means-austerity/
#ACA #DOGE #uspol #RobUrie
DOGE: Nations Aren’t Corporations and ‘Efficiency’ Means Austerity

Apparently unbeknownst to my Republican friends, the effort to cut ‘government waste’ has a long, bipartisan, history in the US. While Republicans point to Ronald Reagan as the original budget chide, the Federal budget deficit doubled under Reagan (graph below). It was Democrat Bill Clinton who last ‘balanced the budget,’ a feat that was rapidly followed by a deep and lasting recession. And Joe Biden dedicated his career to cutting Social Security, Medicare and Veteran’s benefits.

CounterPunch.org
bs2Jan 10, 2025
> Americans currently live five fewer years than the citizens of peer nations. Throughout history, governments have been toppled for less egregious outcomes.
https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/doge-nations-arent-corporations-and-efficiency-means-austerity/
#RobUrie #LifeExpectancy #USALifeExpectancy
Bo MorganSep 12, 2023

Counterpunch's Rob Urie calls for US Socialist and Communist parties.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/09/11/will-it-be-socialism-or-barbarism-for-the-twenty-first-century/

#counterpunch #roburie #socialism #communism #capitalism #libertarian

Will It Be Socialism or Barbarism for the Twenty-First Century?

The nature of the American political system is often hidden behind theories of how democracy works. In these we, the people, choose politicians to represent ‘our’ interests within the realms of government, foreign affairs, and commerce. In contrast, at least according to the annual polls conducted by the Alliance of Democracies, fewer than half of Americans believe that the US is democratic; is a democracy. The reasons given against the US being a democracy are 1) corruption (73%), followed by 2) corporate control of the political system (72%). In other words, the reasons for this missing democracy are economic.

CounterPunch.org
Show threadStrypeySep 4, 2023

"Wars based on ideological competition end only when an ideology is ended (as in never). This incongruity led to the Cold War practice in the US of anti-authoritarian authoritarianism, of using the techniques of authoritarianism to crush authoritarianism abroad, only done ‘at home’... The same is true in the present when politicians use propaganda and censorship to crush views that they find politically inconvenient."

#RobUrie

https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/08/04/fascism-is-the-western-answer-to-class-struggle/

#ideology #ColdWar

Fascism is the Western Answer to Class Struggle

Setting aside culture war animosities for the moment to consider the direction of politics in the US--- to the extent that doing so is psychologically and / or economically possible for dedicated culture warriors, recent revelations that the FBI and CIA were active participants in the 2016 and 2020 national elections run headlong into longer history. While ‘American democracy’ has always been tenuous and abstract (‘representative’), the US has now returned to a pre- and inter-War melding of state with commercial interests. The American political ‘system’ now fits the Marxist-Leninist conception of the capitalist state.

CounterPunch.org
Show threadStrypeyAug 14, 2023

"To paraphrase political writer Thomas Frank, ‘every culture war in recent history has been a stealth class war.’ If the political and oligarch classes lived in the same country that the rest of us do, they would know this. But class divisions define the ‘American’ experience. A different class means a different experience."

#RobUrie, 2023

https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/08/04/fascism-is-the-western-answer-to-class-struggle/

#CultureWars #ClassWar #US #oligarchy

@GottaLaff

Fascism is the Western Answer to Class Struggle

Setting aside culture war animosities for the moment to consider the direction of politics in the US--- to the extent that doing so is psychologically and / or economically possible for dedicated culture warriors, recent revelations that the FBI and CIA were active participants in the 2016 and 2020 national elections run headlong into longer history. While ‘American democracy’ has always been tenuous and abstract (‘representative’), the US has now returned to a pre- and inter-War melding of state with commercial interests. The American political ‘system’ now fits the Marxist-Leninist conception of the capitalist state.

CounterPunch.org
Les capsules du prof LutzJul 4, 2023

🤔

“Does science have the capacity to recognized the sacred?”

Vous avez 1h30; 500 mots maximum.

https://youtu.be/TYB6tHKZ2-0?t=796 #ChrisHedges #RobUrie #capitalism

Chris Hedges enters the capitalist labyrinth with Rob Urie, explores wealth across the U.S

YouTube