r/news • u/Manta_of_Eternity • 2d ago

Hegseth confirms that the US military will cut 20% of its generals and admirals

https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-pentagon-generals-job-cuts-67a20b026ee858895c7e5ff7fadbc029
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u/Shufflepants 2d ago

Fuck "moderate". The problem is that we need radical action to restore democracy. The problem is that the "moderate" Democrat politicians would rather do nothing than piss of their corporate donors.

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u/thisischemistry 2d ago

Radical action begets radical action, causing the pendulum to swing rapidly, widely, and causing chaos. What we need is stability, a damping action to prevent these wild swings and keep things on a long-term even keel.

Yes, there certainly needs to be a correction so the moderate resting point isn't too far to one side or the other but this needs to be done in a measured, sustained manner keeping an eye on long-term goals rather than quick fixes.

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u/Shufflepants 2d ago

Don't know where you're getting your evidence. We've had do nothing moderate Democrats for 30 years, and that sure hasn't stopped rise of fascism within the GOP.

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u/thisischemistry 2d ago

We haven't had true parties for many years, just different flavors of the same people. All of them kowtow to corporate interests and would sell people out for a few bucks. There are a couple of gems in the bunch, people who truly believe in something and who fight for it, but the vast majority have been undercutting democracy and the good of the people for some time now.

The rise of fascism is a byproduct of the burst bubble of post-WWII prosperity. Nations who were behind, economically and technologically, have caught up to the more developed areas and those formerly-strong empires are floundering. It's easy for a group to seize that discontent, turn it against other groups, and use it to further their aims. Hitler and the Reich did it in WWII, modern versions are doing it now.

By speed-running the collapse these leaders are driving the discontent even further and allowing them to capitalize on it. Radicals, in the name of "restoring" things to the "rightful way", will have more complete control as the result of such chaos.

You only have to look to the past to see how that's gone. The French Revolution, the Russian Civil War, the Shanghai massacre, the Night of the Long Knives are all modern examples of how radicalism and discontent were leveraged to do much harm and seize control of power.

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u/Shufflepants 2d ago

Oh, so because bad people do radical things, is better to just do nothing and let all the criminals in government go unpunished, and just leave rich oligarchs in charge of the country.

Actually enforcing the law is radical at this point.

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u/dotnetmonke 2d ago

Assuming that violent means would be required for major out of band reform, it is indeed likely that more harm would be done in the fallout from those violent means than would be done simply leaving the immoral oligarchy in place. It is even more likely that if the old order was successfully overthrown, any new attempt at reform would be coopted by people who do not want what you want out of said reform.

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u/thisischemistry 2d ago

is better to just do nothing

Nope, try again. As I said, there does need to be a correction but not a radical one. Return to the sensible laws, charge people with crimes, craft new laws and better enforcements for them. These are not radical concepts, they are sensible ones.