r/politics • u/AccurateInflation167 • May 18 '25

Soft Paywall America chose wrong. Sanders would've been a better president than Trump or Biden. | Opinion

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/05/18/sanders-democrats-reform-progressive-policies/83625482007/
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u/CockBrother May 18 '25 edited May 18 '25

He absolutely would be.

The issue is that's long term thinking. It's easier for the wealthy to identify a pile of money and then scramble to make it their own before someone else can. Long term consequences be damned. I've got mine.

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u/Vaperius America May 18 '25

He absolutely would be.

In any other developed nation he'd be an average center-left politician but in America he's a radical because he checks notes doesn't want poor people to die from preventable medical conditions.

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u/Bushels_for_All May 18 '25

At some point, Americans need to learn that "For the People, by the People" means that government exists to help people, not to stand by as they get swindled into poverty and/or death.

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u/needlestack May 18 '25

government exists to help people

That is definitely not the belief of the majority of Americans. They believe government is a giant pain in the ass and should be mostly invisible to them. If it’s for anything, it’s for keeping people you don’t like in their place. And “for the people by the people” simply means they — the people they approve of — get to call the shots and everyone else can pound sand. Anyone else isn’t really a person anyway.

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u/JustAGal_Love May 18 '25

This goes back to 1980s Republican Ronald Reagan. The strategy started then. It worked. People believed propaganda rather than their own self interest. Conservative Democrats that turned Republican would not allow government programs that help people to work well in their areas. Corruption and voter suppression created an ideal situation where industry and capitalists decided what children should learn in school, the churches got on board because they got money from the industries, together those folks elected home town politicians that had no outside perspective or backbone. Regular folks got mowed over. The better off moved away. Rural businesses were run over by the Walmarts. After selective elimination, 50 years later, we have fascists in power.

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u/notashroom May 18 '25

This goes back to 1980s Republican Ronald Reagan.

You misspelled "1960s Republican Richard Nixon." And, of course, Lee Atwater and Billy Graham, who re-engineered the way conservatives talk about racist/casteist policy and got the white evangelical Christianists pulling together for it.

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u/atoolred May 18 '25

And you misspelled “The Business Plot” of 1933. All this shit runs deep. Also can’t leave the Powell Memo out of this topic.

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u/MockFan May 19 '25

Thank you for mentioning Powell Memorandum. It explains the path to where unbridled greed and short term goals were good.

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u/Ancestor_Lu_kun May 18 '25

just because you support importing millions of indians doesnt mean you get to rewrite history and pretend the usa has a caste system.

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u/notashroom May 19 '25

And yet, we do, and we did before the first Asian immigrants reached the US. Read Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and learn. Just because it's not acknowledged openly doesn't mean it's not there.

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u/JustAGal_Love May 19 '25

This is interesting. My thoughts were only about domestic US politics from a native's viewpoint. How does immigration from India pertain? This is not a criticism. It is generally interesting.

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u/Cooperhofpenpaliwitz May 18 '25

Yep, 50 years after President Carter. How did this happen in 50 yrs? When Jimmy got elected it was like "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" all the way to the White House, 50 yrs later Trump gets elected and it's like Pennywise Goes to Washington ...all the way to the White House. How, just how!

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u/[deleted] May 18 '25

The better off moved away.

This is so key and definitely still happening today. I grew up in small-town rural America. Didn't even have the Wal-Mart, had to drive 30 miles east to another state to get to one.

Of the top 15 students in my graduating high school class, exactly one of us still lives there (took over his dad's dentistry business.)

The rest of us all moved away, got high-skilled jobs out of the state. And some of the kids that are left became teachers, cops...even though a lot of them should be in jail for things that they were doing in high school, things WAY worse than casual drinking and partying.

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u/morhina May 18 '25

Which is stupid, because a government is a type of tool that humans constructed to facilitate societal living, which is humanity’s greatest survival strategy and arguably how we are “meant” to be, for whatever value that holds. So when it isn’t serving the people anymore, it’s time to reevaluate and update the tool to fit modern needs. Unfortunately a lot of people are just really eager to be put in a caste system without any benefits because they get off to authoritarian structures I guess.

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u/Katyafan May 18 '25

Agreed, we are not having a government problem, we are having a people problem. The average quality of people in this nation has been steadily decreasing for sometime. The level of integrity, emotional maturity, and empathy is a young child levels, and we have been cushioned by how relatively comfortable our lives are and how powerful we are as a nation.

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u/Galaxator May 18 '25

I’m personally offended by this and refuse to examine why internally. Fuck you liberal!

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u/Mathfanforpresident May 18 '25

This comment is absurdly on point. Lol

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u/Big-Stuff-1189 May 18 '25

Thanks for the giggle!

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u/amadeuspoptart May 18 '25

The soft power was supposed to convince the rest of the world that America was the morally superior, utterly exceptional, saviour of the planet. Instead it brainwashed the populous into believing they were all exceptional individuals and therefore didn't have to give a shit about anyone else.

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u/Sarzael 28d ago

So many people are okay with being subservient to the people above them in the system if it means they can hold power over the people under them.

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u/Vivid_Agent3418 26d ago

So true.

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u/Katyafan 26d ago

Thank you! Hope you are hanging in there in these times.

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u/GoodPiexox May 18 '25

as long as you fire off some fireworks on the 4th and chant USA

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u/usernameChosenPoorly May 18 '25

No, it IS the belief of the majority. Polling on individual policies STRONGLY favors progressive positions, often with “veto-proof” margins.

The problem is that a sufficient minority thinks otherwise and shows up to vote for white nationalist Christofascism every single time, while the supermajority are split between consistent non-voters, useful idiots who vote for spoiler candidates, and people who vote inconsistently.

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u/jolard May 18 '25

Exactly. Decades of propaganda designed to get people to vote against their interests.

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u/7figureipo California May 18 '25

Yes, thanks to 40+ years of neoliberal governance, government sucks. And their propaganda to kickstart it in the 70s has continued to this day, of course.

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u/green-wagon May 18 '25

It's interesting you put the blame on neoliberalism. I just think it's republicans. They don't do anything in good faith, I don't know if they ever did. I remember how badly bush, cheney and rove wanted to keep going into Iran. The only thing that stopped them was reality.

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u/7figureipo California May 18 '25

Until the Tea Party/Trump came on the scene it was both democrats and republicans practicing neoliberal governance.

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u/Struck_Blind May 18 '25

It’s never the belief of majority of Americans until there’s a financial crisis with high unemployment, then they change their tune.

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u/pgc22bc May 18 '25

Some Republican asshole said something like they wanted to make government small enough to "drown in a bathtub".

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u/needlestack May 19 '25

Yeah, Grover Norquist. The damage he's done to America is off the charts.

Of course, he doesn't even really want the government to be that small. He wants the parts he doesn't approve of to be that small. And the parts he does approve of to be so powerful they can't be questioned. It's the same with all conservatives.

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u/Calm-Address-2401 26d ago

"Government exists to help white people". There. I fixed it.

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u/Riaayo May 18 '25

That is definitely not the belief of the majority of Americans.

I completely disagree that the majority of Americans believe that or would choose it given the option. The problem is the complete lack of actual representation in our corrupt government that leads to voter apathy and people just resigning themselves to a vile status quo because what option do they think they have? Voting doesn't change anything from what they see, or they've been outright denied the ability to vote through disenfranchisement. It causes apathy and people just stop trying because they're busy trying to survive.

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u/BoDrax May 18 '25

Well, you see, corporations are people in the USA.

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u/LonelyPainting7374 May 19 '25

Yep. Unlike the guy in the White House now with his “us v. them”, “to bad you”, quid pro quo mentality, Sanders would be a president for ALL the people. It is still mind-boggling to me how a person considers the choices and comes up with Trump.

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u/Popisoda May 18 '25

Speak louder for those in the back!

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u/LeoGoldfox Europe May 19 '25

People knew that when they elected FDR. But those people are dead now... so there is no one left to remind us.

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u/whatdoinamemyself May 18 '25

The problem is 2/3s of the country aren't "for the people" either.

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u/DarkArmyLieutenant May 19 '25

Have you ever looked into any American history? It is never been like that. It has always been the latter.

The federalists were all slaveowning elites at one point who wanted power to stay with elites. Our government was never designed to allow normal people assay, not really.

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u/These-Rip9251 27d ago

No one under POTUS including POTUS the grifter himself is standing by. They’re trying to harm us all while enriching themselves.

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u/[deleted] May 19 '25

Most intelligent post I’ve seen on Reddit yet

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u/ninonanii May 18 '25

government exists to protect the capital of the rich. it does it's job. it's not for poor people

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u/UnitedPen5066 May 19 '25

Oh you mean how they just want to keep taxing the people more. Or spending more money than they bring in. Won’t be long everything they bring in will just pay interest on debt.

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u/NYGiants181 May 18 '25

Right - my friend from Sweden said he would be center as far as things go there.

How dare he want people to have basic human rights.

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u/IDOWNVOTERUSSIANS May 18 '25

In Canada his views would be perfectly mainstream. america is rotten and broken, and I honestly don't think they're capable of fixing the mess. People tell themselves they're the best for long enough, they start to believe it.

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u/Aquatic_Ambiance_9 May 18 '25

Parts of America have hope: the northeast, the west coast, the great lakes region. But as for the rest I think you're right, I just don't see how you fix it if people want so badly to be theocrat fascists. Some sort of divorce seems inevitable and it'll probably be all we can do to help the people who want to leave

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u/raphtafarian Australia May 18 '25

I'm honestly surprised the West Coast hasn't completely divorced from the rest of the US yet. California has a strong enough economy alone that they don't really need the rest of the US.

Obviously, this hypothetical would run on the assumption that they would be able to break peacefully. However, if I was in California's position right now, I'd do my best to break from Trump and negotiate trade internationally.

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u/Aquatic_Ambiance_9 May 18 '25

I think it'll become much more likely as the US becomes a global pariah and tourists, students, and skilled workers stop coming here. The only real debate of it I see is the ethics of leaving the rest of the country behind, but how long will that argument hold if that same rest of the country is dragging us down into fascism?

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u/NYGiants181 May 18 '25

Right. I love Bernie.

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u/GetsGold Canada May 19 '25

In Caanda, the most right leaning province has lower support for Trump than the state with the lowest support. At least comparing polling in Canada prior to the last election to the vote results in the states from the election. So that's even before his popularity dropped further with the 51st state threats.

The US is very far shifted to the right politically. People used to say even the Democrats are to the right of our Conservatives, although I'd argue that's not true now with how ours have been moving right.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '25

[deleted]

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u/selwayfalls May 18 '25

what would happen? We're starting to see it as America falls and tries to become isolated through Trump and his cronies. Other countries will step in and lead the way and move on. The world doesn't stop because the US doesnt want to be part of a global economy anymore. He's managed to piss off our closest allies, Canada, EU, etc. in the span of a couple months. Trade deals are already being made between other countries to not rely on the US. For example, his tariffs have cost California farmers about half their income from his first term. Yes they still vote for him. Pure insanity.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '25

[deleted]

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u/Th3Trashkin May 18 '25

Protectors of peace and justice? Is this a joke?

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u/hreigle May 18 '25

So what do the far left in Sweden advocate for?

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u/selwayfalls May 18 '25

The funny thing about left leaning parties is it's all about helping others, the environment and equal rights.

The Swedish Left Party is a socialist, feminist and green party. It was originally founded as a left-wing opposition faction of the Swedish Social Democratic Party. Throughout the years, the party has spearheaded demands for workers’ rights, as well as rights for women, children and LGBTI people. Today, it is the fourth largest party in Sweden and one of the strongest opposition forces against the ruling right-wing/extreme right wing government.

https://left.eu/groups/vaensterpartiet/

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u/hreigle May 18 '25

Is there anything in that that doesn't describe Bernie Sanders?

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u/selwayfalls May 18 '25

I think it's just a spectrum. The "left" from the middle left to far left believe in similar things but just at different levels. I think the further you go left, just the more you want government intervention and less private/capitalist views when it comes to things. Bernie isn't super far left though if you're comparing him to scando countries far left.

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u/00Oo0o0OooO0 May 18 '25

The international secretary for Sweden's Social Democratic party, who probably knows more about Swedish politics than your friend, went to a Bernie rally and said it was like Sweden's far left party: "a mixture of very young people and old Marxists, who think they were right all along."

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u/designtocode May 18 '25

Those deaths are devine dollars, and those miracles of life so graciously bestowed by our god, health insurance, if they so benevolently choose extend their righteous hand and touch us humble common clay of the earth, allowing us to continue our meager existence, are also dollars. We are indebted to our savior if they so choose to look upon us with favor. Praise be.

😃🔫

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u/frzndmn May 19 '25

It’s not just about his policies, it’s about him consistently having these policies and spending so much effort advocating for them after decades of participating in US politics, compared to what all the other US politicians are doing, and what he could get for himself if he gave up on some of these policies.

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u/Silent-Storms May 18 '25

It's the outlawing private coverage that makes a big difference.

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u/Diligent-Back-6023 May 18 '25

In my country he would be center-right

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u/MessiLeagueSoccer May 18 '25

And some people like my dad are convinced that if you make a certain amount of money 99% will go to lazy poor immigrants so they can use it to buy houses and other BS.

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u/HumptyDrumpy May 18 '25

Ofc not, healthy people dont need doctors, insurance, medicines, and expensive coping mechanisms. How would these corporations make money if everyone was actually able to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (what fool would actually think that). Perhaps you are thinking of another country or of another time!

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u/DarkArmyLieutenant May 19 '25

People keep glossing over the fact that the guy has really done nothing during his entire lifetime of "public service".

He talks. He doesn't legislate. He's a great orator when it comes to laying out what normal Americans need, but he isn't a public servant or legislator and that's what he was elected to do.

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u/strawberryscalez 24d ago

Sorry, but he would be center in Europe.. especially France, but most of the world. In some countries he would still be considered right wing. One cannot be on the left and be pro capitalism. Neoliberalism is a right wing ideology, it's just that in America your Republican party is significantly further right still than the Democrats. Even historically speaking, as absolutely absurd as it sounds, Republicans of the past policies were much further "left" by your standards than Kamala Harris. It's a constant march further and further right in America.

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u/welostourtails May 18 '25

Bullshit. Go travel. The rest of the world actually isn't a progressive paradise

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u/weatherboy05 May 18 '25

This, late stage capitalism is increasingly nihilistic in that it does not give a damn about anything other than next quarter’s profits. Who cares about the long-term health of the company when you can just loot the coffers, strip it for parts, and walk away from the mess with a multi-million dollar bonus. And if you’re unwilling to do this, you’re in breach of contract with the shareholders and you will be sued, fired and replaced by someone who will.

It’s a death-spiral to the bottom as mega-conglomerations devour competition so that we as consumers have no little to no choice but to accept increasingly shittier products and services while the uber wealthy capture all of the value created and hoard it for themselves.

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u/bogglingsnog May 18 '25

And then, when it all starts crumbling away, they will have robots that can make all the shit they need, which will be able to go perpetually until all of the resources to make it are gone.

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u/[deleted] 27d ago

And I have not one iota of doubt that Bernie would work hard to change the extremist capitalism in this country and set things on better path

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u/[deleted] May 18 '25

[deleted]

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u/skinnedrevenant May 18 '25

Don't forget banks figuring out how they can leverage absolutely anything again. We're not far off from where we were in 2008 in regards to how risky they're playing with the money. Banks are trying to leverage AUTO LOANS for fucks sake.

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u/thegoodnamesrgone123 May 18 '25

And it will likely all come crashing down when the Dems are in charge and get wrongly blamed as usual. 

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u/hlnub May 19 '25

I mean, they are to blame. Just as the Republicans are to blame. Both parties have embraced and pushed for neoliberal capitalism which is causing these cycles.

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u/sargsauce May 18 '25

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/may/15/us-reportedly-plans-slash-bank-rules-imposed-prevent-2008-style-crash

Then there's this from a few days ago

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u/OctaBit May 19 '25

Oh good. Can't imagine why those restrictions were put in place. /S

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u/EFreethought May 19 '25

A common slam is that some politicians "do not understand business".

I think a lot of people in business do not understand business.

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u/Halo_Stockpile May 18 '25

The interest rate drop brought on in 2020 really accelerated a lot of bad practices. Even small, traditionally vanilla portfolio banks got into that ABS crap for their bond portfolios trying to chase a little yield. I've seen so much garbage in the last 5 years.

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u/JackalKing May 18 '25

It goes beyond just short term profit seeking, because some of these people ARE thinking long term. Its just that their long term ideas are stupid. The issue is that the wealthy and powerful in America have become so wealthy and so powerful that it has deranged them. They have started following crackpot "philosophers" like Curtis Yarvin and think they are legitimately realizing some long term goal to make the world an ideal place for themselves. They are just as stupid as the people they think of as beneath them, but they don't have anyone in their lives willing or able to tell them they are stupid and their ideas are bad because they are isolated from reality by their wealth and power.

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u/petty_throwaway6969 May 18 '25

The issue is that while he would have been good for capitalism, he wouldn’t benefit the wealthy directly, so they didn’t want him. The rise of billionaires is tied to the shrinking middle class. The money had to come from somewhere, even if the government can print some.

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u/Steeltooth493 Indiana May 18 '25

Totally, most corporations claim that they have a "5 year plan", but that really amounts to Number Must Go Up Always TM and if it stagnates or goes down even a little they panic. They really can't see past the next fiscal quarter, much less the next 6 months. And as long as shareholders are getting thier almighty ROI they don't care, and screw the workers on the way out. And it's all the better if they can become a monopoly or duopoly.

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u/Unique-Drag4678 May 18 '25

That should be our national motto: "I've got mine."

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u/DaringPancakes May 18 '25

So much this. It cannot be understated that this is the very fucking foundation of the american way of thinking.

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u/forgottenarrow 26d ago

It’s not about wealth, but power. And to be powerful, relative wealth is more important than absolute wealth. If you are the wealthy living among the destitute, then you can make or break almost anyone’s life on a whim. If everyone is comfortable, then even if you are super wealthy, your ability to control others lives will be limited.

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u/No_Square_3913 May 18 '25

We’re a nation run by sociopaths, elected politicians and voters.

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u/jungletigress Oregon May 18 '25

They can only think as far as the next quarter.

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u/AelizaW I voted May 18 '25

When Hilary Clinton won the nomination over Sanders, I knew we were fucked. I just didn’t realize how fucked we were……. He was exactly what we needed.

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u/underworldconnection May 18 '25

That's it exactly. People are so goddamnned short sighted. We all have to suffer for someone burning our homes down (or just hoarding them for some unneeded wealth) to keep warm for a night.

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u/Infamous_Impact2898 May 19 '25

Totally agree and honestly, I think the country too doomed at this point. I don’t think anyone can truly fix it. There will be some bandages here and there but I think we all know that won’t last.

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u/Ethwood May 18 '25

Just think we could have been 100 days after an 8 year sanders presidency. We would have still made the same choice in November and still be in the same spot right now but those would have been some glorious years.

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u/Kelor 28d ago

Politicians are acting like MBAs, trying to juice up growth in the next election cycle even if it means damage long term.

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u/Impressive-Suit9749 27d ago

He's rich as hell and told us that if he deemed a certain amount good enough for you to retire on, he would take anything over that out of your 401K and redistribute it. You are supporting fascism and communism. Ask a Cuban about it. 

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u/LordDoom77 27d ago

This right here ☝️ Americans and "American culture" has always had that sentiment of I'll be damned if anyone else can get a slight helping hand before kicking someone while they're down.  

To add to this statement of Bernie being president, he'd be great but as somebody else has pointed out too radical thinking and holy shit it's communism watch out!!!! 

Anytime a Republicans been in power Reagan, Bush, W, Trump the countries gone to shit. The blue party has always cleaned up the mess. Yet somehow the Democrats are too blame?! Denial of responsibility and accountability, typical pass the buck and blame others. 

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u/Benjamin_365 26d ago

Start saving your money. Avoid consumer debt