[simgt]

How many people voted for that "one individual causing chaos" again? 70 million? He's also backed by billionaires and an administration that seems to be just as unhinged. It's not one person causing chaos, it's a whole country with its violent culture. The scale changed slightly, but it's also nothing new.

[villedespommes]

This. There are really two explanations here. Either the US hasn't been a democracy in the first place. Or the majority of the US voters prefer autocratic amoral psychopaths running their country.

[MarsIronPI]

> Either the US hasn't been a democracy in the first place.

Well, it really wasn't, and still isn't. It's a republic: the people decide who make the laws and who executes them. In between these choices there's never really been anything for the people to do but ask their representatives to do things.

[pas]

Brits also voted to leave the EU where they had the absurdly privileged position of picking (almost freely) which rules applies to them, while benefiting from others applying them fully.

...

Democracy is only as good as the people doing the voting, who are about as good (as the rules they don't protest againsts) and the content they consume, which is about as good as certain groups make it to be.

[WickyNilliams]

B-b-but the bananas, and the bureaucrats!!

What's particularly amazing about Brexit is that many of its chief architects have not been shamed or exiled from society for spinning a yarn that fell apart when confronted with the smallest slither of reality. No, instead, the primary advocate may very well be our next prime minister.

[rkomorn]

A slither of reality sounds snaky... and I ended up googling it and Google AI convincingly says both that it exists and also that it is confused with "sliver of reality", and its examples of "slither of reality" point to pages that use "sliver" instead.

What a time to be alive.

[WickyNilliams]

Oh lol. Good catch. Wrote that with my morning coffee in hand where it appears my brain was still asleep

[pas]

brought to you by the post-truth society!

which in turn is brought to us by the good old days of our shared delusions, like divine right of kings (thx magic sky daddy and all his faithful unbiased selfless worldly interpreters!)

[Gud]

The US is only nominally democratic. You get politicians bought and paid for. Perhaps there are counter examples, but not many.

Only democracy in the western world where there is so much money involved in the elections, is the USA.

[robocat]

The influence of money is a weakness of any democracy. Maybe look at other democratic countries. Definitely seen it here in New Zealand.

[Gud]

It is absolutely not necessary to spend billions to become president of Germany, in fact it is probably illegal...

[robocat]

I believe the influence is hidden in countries where smaller amounts have a bigger impact.

A few million can have an outsized influence in New Zealand. Which can mean other countries interfere (not just wealthy broligarches). There was a significant controversy in the 2005 New Zealand elections regarding budgets. It is alleged US fundamentalists funded the Exclusive Brethren Church to produce pamphlets in support of the National Party, by smearing both the Labour Party and the Green Party. https://wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_New_Zealand_election_funding...

Peter Thiel was given a New Zealand passport by our National Party (maybe by being chummy, although obviously his wealth helped him). The only reason he might not influence NZ politics would be if he doesn't give a shit about our politics.

The wealthiest person born in New Zealand is Graeme Hart worth ~USD10G ranked by Forbes at about #340.

For the New Zealand 2023 General Election, political parties officially spent a total of about USD8M.

There's a lot of scope for malign influence here.

[freewilly23]

exactly. and i think a lot of things have always been this way in the mighty usa. the only difference is, that the donald behaves like a brazen clown, not trying to hide anything, so it is easier for everyone to see what's going on.