[brookst]

We’ve really hit that point, where our institutions are transparently corrupt, and everyone knows it, and both the guilty and the public just say “yep, we’re doing the corrupt thing”.

It’s depressing as hell, and it’s going to go out with the proverbial whimper, but at least we’ve got to be close to rock bottom, right?

[intended]

From someone who lives in a country that is still more corrupt than America.

You need to vote for the next several years, no matter what, because you still have a chance.

Once corruption becomes the default, then you are REALLY screwed. Because it kills hope and the faith in the future in the most corrosive way possible.

The death of morale is a far worse and insidious fate that will make today look like a high point.

[brookst]

I appreciate the perspective. From where I sit in America, morale is as dead as it gets. The president wrote himself a $2B check, and both his supporters and opponents are resigned to this massive theft. Restrictions on voting are nonsensical, the Supreme Court is transparently ruling based on who will benefit rather than what the laws say, and masked “police” are terrorizing communities.

Of course I’ll vote, and be more active in protests and campaigns, but TBH the general vibe is that it’s already too late. It’s that bad.

[intended]

I know and understand. I follow American politics closely since it’s a massive incubator for techniques that get applied globally.

I promise you, it can be worse. This is kind of where being a first world person works against you; you have not experienced the feeling of hopelessness and lethargy that infects you when you live under a corrupt regime for an extended length of time.

America used to work, especially in comparison to other states.

Consider that your advantage, you have lived in a world where you know things were held under checks and balances. That it takes immense effort to undermine the systems which were set up.