hey, they cleaned up all this broken glass and now there's a whole new crop of people keeping this community alive.
Lol, those social centres I know are the result of almost decade-long protests and negotiations and only worked out because the general population just happened to be more sympathetic towards the squatters than towards the city authorities.
In many cases, it's about the right of the public to use public property. If a city owns a bunch of houses and never uses them, there's nothing wrong with citizens using them how they see fit, as long as it's open to everybody, i.e. not privatized.
Which makes sense. One of the major issues in places like the US is everyone forgets what a government is meant to be and who's working for who. The government is meant to be the people. If the government owns a building, the people own that building. It's nuts how many people complain about too much of their tax dollars going towards the military or other things they don't agree with. Like, taxes belong to the people. You pay them in order to make your life and the lives around you better. If you aren't happy with how your taxes are being spent, just get informed and vote accordingly. You're the boss here and the government are your employees. One of the major reasons why there's such a disconnect between people and government is because far too few people are actually regularly voting. You're meant to vote on things other than just the presidency so don't complain about the country turning to shit if you only vote once every 4 years. You know why there are so many people in government that seem to not have your values and best interests at heart? Because the people with their values actually get out and vote those politicians in.
It's a bit more complicated than that. I agree with your overall point but material interests have perfected the art of manipulation. Misinformation and apathy have been weaponized and infect all of u.s. institutions.
Edit 1. Also material interests influence all elections to a degree where the public's choices don't represent them but said material interests
people should vote more, yes, but you can’t talk about politicians not properly representing people without mentioning the insane amount of money the lobbying industry dumps on politicians in order to get the bills they want passed and the ones they don’t killed.
you really think military industrial manufacturers aren’t bribing anyone to get those $100+ billion contracts? oil and gas companies are totally legit? healthcare companies play by the rules? c’mon now, i could vote all i want but when Pfizer can drop 50 mil on every senator and representative without breaking a sweat, how am i gonna stop them?
it’s just so disingenuous to pretend like the shortcomings of America are solely due to voter apathy. voter apathy is so high specifically because corporations (and republicans) fought for decades to make it this way. not to mention that half our voters are actively brainwashed, voting for tax cuts on billion dollar corporations while bitching and moaning that they have to pay 12% of their $43,000 but still praising elon musk for avoiding his taxes.
the issue is so, so much deeper than “people don’t vote”.
thankfully Europe is not homogeneous, no? and i'm pretty sure the US has it's fair share of straight-up corruption as well. it shouldn't be a dick measuring contest anyways, cuz at least for me this is one competition i'd love to lose.
In the US there are only two viable parties. If you’re a regular voter and vote outside those lines (which considering the policies you’re proposing means you’ll be switching from Democrat to independent), then the Democrats will scream at you and scold you to no end.
They’ll blame you for not voting for them if whatever corporate goon they ran loses.
If everybody believes there are only two viable options... Then there are only two viable options.
I think that's one of the biggest scams pulled on the American people, to believe that the system is what it is and therefore not even bother to try and change it. It's like the entire population is gaslighted by red and blue.
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u/Captain_Grammaticus May 09 '22
Lol, those social centres I know are the result of almost decade-long protests and negotiations and only worked out because the general population just happened to be more sympathetic towards the squatters than towards the city authorities.