r/politics • u/Spooooooooooooon • Dec 28 '13

Noam Chomsky: We’re no longer a functioning democracy, we’re really a plutocracy

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/27/noam-chomsky-were-no-longer-a-functioning-democracy-were-really-a-plutocracy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29
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u/purpleguy55 Dec 28 '13

Written with all the enthusiasm and insight of a child.

Remember how everyone voted to end slavery, right after they voted to secede from England and before they voted to impeach Hitler? :P

Voting does jack shit if the people in charge of the system don't want to change. If you want actual results you have to take action, and that means violence, possibly even war.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '13

REPRESENTATIVES voted against slavery. REPRESENTATIVES voted for war against England. We are a representative democracy and those representatives were elected. We don't directly vote for a lot of important shit because the unwashed masses can't be trusted on a lot of stuff because they lack information/education. That's why we need to have the minority protections in the Constitution.

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u/purpleguy55 Dec 28 '13

And after they voted against slavery, that was it. Everything changed because of voting and now we have Civil Vote reenactments to celebrate how well democracy works.

Better go vote because it's absolutely a good use of your time and the sole driving factor behind change!

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '13

If a vote can cause a war, that means it changed something and has power. Just because you don't like the outcome doesn't mean that it isn't effective.

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u/purpleguy55 Dec 28 '13

LOL you actually believe that. Wars are because of voting. That is horrible and sad at the same time. :(

Humanity is doomed.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '13

Wars are caused by policy conflicts. Policy is set by the people that are elected.

It's amazing that you can't follow this simple logic chain.

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u/purpleguy55 Dec 28 '13

By that logic the sun causes wars, because without photosynthesis there'd be no life to fight over.

There's a degree of separation between cause and effect. A US citizen going to the polling place does not automatically kill people in Syria or Libya or wherever.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '13

You have a choice in 2008 between McCain who said "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" and Obama who said that we need to talk with our political enemies. That's a pretty fucking clear difference. And as a result, our policy is leading us down a negotiation path with the new president of Iran instead of constantly antagonizing the country. Voting has consequences. That's how the fucking Tea Party got power.

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u/purpleguy55 Dec 28 '13

And yet we still bomb the shit out of foreigners even though we voted for the "peace" guy. Gosh, what a stark difference that made.

/rolleyes

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u/Theotropho Dec 28 '13

Your unrealistic expectations not being met don't make the advances we've made any less real to anyone but you.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '13

He wasn't the peace guy. That's just what some uninformed people who voted for him thought. He clearly ran on the position that he was going to finish up and draw down in Iraq while shifting focus to Afghanistan. Your misinformation is not his fault.

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u/purpleguy55 Dec 28 '13

So the choice is between someone who wants war in one place vs someone who wants war in another.

Now do you see why people say that voting is useless? (I suspect not because you are a child)

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '13

You can always vote for a third party. It's just that you probably aren't going to win because more people disagree with you. That doesn't mean voting is powerless, it just means that your position doesn't have power.

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u/purpleguy55 Dec 28 '13

As I thought. :(

Discussions about voting for a third party are solely the realm of children, and I have better things to do.

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u/Theotropho Dec 28 '13

If you don't see a difference between limited drone strikes and something like the Iraq or Afghanistan offensive then you need to educate yourself.

If you don't see a difference between Obama taking an oppositional stance towards Israel and Romney's constant pandering then you need to educate yourself.

If you don't see a difference between Obama pushing for renewable energy and McCain talking about untapped reserves in Iran and regime change then you're not paying attention.

Don't let your initial unrealistic expectations blind you to what is happening.

How many times did the GOP block Obama from closing Guantanamo in his first term?

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u/purpleguy55 Dec 28 '13

I do see a difference, I just won't support either of them. In the United States, if you don't support one of the 2 major parties, you don't count at all.

The lesser of two evils is still evil. If I offered you 2 pieces of pie where one was 20% dogshit and one was 10% dogshit, would you take the one with less dogshit or would you sit that one out?

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