[signatoremo]

Democracy cannot be taken for granted. There are always tendencies to drift toward authoritarian. China is authoritarian, full stop. They are capitalism, not communism, but authoritarian. Keep that in mind when discussing what come out of China.

[Henchman21]

We actively take it for granted in the US AND we’re actively watching it slip away. No one seems to give a shit.

[cyberax]

There's an alternative viewpoint: democracy is experiencing a revival.

The old "cathedral-style" democracy is dying. People are seeing that the "regular" politicians are just ineffective and kinda boring. The old party-based structures are stifling and prevent changes. People want more direct participation in the governance.

So people are voting for a "new wave" of candidates that promise to work around the old institutions. Right-wingers were the first to harness this, initially with the Tea Party takeover and then Trump came in and crushed the entire Republican Party into his personal fiefdom.

Mamdani is doing the same with the Democratic Party now. After the recent primary victories, he's well-poised to become the left-wing Trump.

If you want historical analogies, the situation is similar to the start of the 20-th century when the wide masses first became politically active. Literacy spread, then radio broadcasts and daily nation-wide newspapers gave people the impression that they're a part of the same entity.

It ended well, with democracy winning over authoritarianism. But the middle part contained a couple of world wars and mass genocides.

[watwut]

Right wingers dont repreaemt democracy. They are openly and actively trying to change it to authoritariam dictatorship.

Mamdani is NOT doing the same nor like Trump. For all the scaremongering, he is pragmatic politic with policies full of compromises.

There ia no symmetry between what those parties do.

[cyberax]

So do left-wingers. Just go on to one of the anarchist bro groups and listen all about "capitalism is failing us" and "we need to enforce the will of the people".

Remember, democracy doesn't mean that "good" people win.

> Mamdani is NOT doing the same nor like Trump. For all the scaremongering, he is pragmatic politic with policies full of compromises.

Just wait. He's well poised to fail upwards with his policies. They can't and won't work long term, but they'll create a lot of buzz by the time he aims for a higher office. But anyway, that's beside the point.

> There ia no symmetry between what those parties do.

The horseshoe theory works: the extremes are very much alike. And that's why Republicans were taken over by Tea Party radicals, and Democrats are now getting taken over by Mamdani radicals.

Both are the result of the same sentiment: "the current elites are not representing us, and we need to destroy the political system".

[nozzlegear]

A populist wave electing a shitbird in response to a global economic downturn does not mean democracy is being taken for granted or that no one gives a shit. It's only been a year and a half, we haven't even had the chance to rebuke him in the midterms yet.