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Why not both?
It’s definitely a low point.
This is like asking do I have the flu or is my car on fire? Maybe and yes.
The various opportunists engaging in MAGA's takeover of the US government are out to loot the palace and steal all the silverware, and being the geniuses they are they've decided to replace the guards with street thugs and turn off all the smoke detectors while they roast weenies in the drawing room. So yeah, there's a chance they might burn the place down.
But our illusions are definitely falling away. Today's expectations are based on the belief that the post-WWII boom of the 1950s was just a healthy economy in a healthy state, instead of the giant anomaly it really was. The boom came about because during the war millions of ordinary people were fully employed and well paid in defense jobs, and they accumulated savings. They had been raised during the Great Depression to be hyper-thrifty, and because of rationing and war production there wasn't a lot to buy anyway. So when industry transitioned back to consumer goods, people had money to spend, and lots of exciting shiny new things to spend it on - televisions, dishwashers, "automatic" everything. Spending created more jobs and higher salaries, and prosperity spiraled up.
By 1960 the spiral was over, and should have ended, but the business world put it on life support by handing out consumer credit like candy. This went on for the next few decades, until being in debt up to your eyeballs became the new normal.
In the actual American Dream people had actual money, not a "credit score". The illusion is that they're the same. But really one is prosperity and the other is getting conned.
We'll only know for sure in hindsight tbh
Of course it's 20/20.
No, it’s 2025.
Both.
Definitely both. The whole idea of law is basically just a collective myth. If that myth breaks down, law breaks down, societies break down.
It's not a myth, its a social contract.
True, but there are many people who don't have that understanding, and treat it as immutable and sacred..
Today we will begin our lesson with a discussion on The Dangers of Dogmatism. Class is now in session and will be for eternity. There will be a test at the end.
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Both. Fascism has always been at the root of American society (just ask a black person), but now it's surfacing and that will bring the empire down.
It's the fall of the Republic and the start of the Empire.
It's not inevitable, but it is possible for the first time in living memory, and no one seems to be willing or capable of stopping it in a way that's worth doing
You know in Russia they still have elections and representatives. What makes you think they'll get rid of the pantomime?
What makes you think it was a Republic before Trump? When was the last time anyone in the west felt represented by a representative democracy?
They're all kind of bullshit at what they're supposed to do.
So is it just important to have a plausible pantomime? Is that what it comes down to, having a believable illusion of democracy?
America was always an empire, they just didn't call it that.
You could be right but I hope your are wrong.
Neither. The US dollar can't readily be replaced as reserve currency.
The US Military sector will be fine.
You've done shitty things before, and had various states of psuedo fascism before.
US debt has always been meaningless (little more than a political buggaboo).
...and you've lost the world's respect before by voting in idiots, stripping away rights, and destroying minorities.
Nothing particularly new is happening.
Country's don't disappear so easily.
Nothing particularly new is happening.
The US going full-on German Reich is new.
Country's don't disappear so easily.
Tell that to the USSR
Never heard of it
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Yes, the dollar remains entrenched. Yes, military dominance buys time. But the accumulation of social fragmentation, institutional decay, global distrust and unchecked corporate influence isn't new or far from inconsequential.
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The US Military sector will be fine.
As a retired veteran, I'd like to point out that this topic is a bit too complicated to summarize as "fine."
The military industry itself with be fine. Heck, it may thrive! But the individuals who make up that military will definitely experience hardship along the way.
During Trump's first term as president, he tried to ban trans people from serving with an executive order. Which he can do as Commander in Chief over the military. That order was very quickly shut down though, because we had a mostly Democrat government that pushed back against anything extreme he attempted that didn't benefit both parties' goals. He had his hands tied more than once, which is why his first term was relatively quiet. Back then, I was still serving and I remember our military leaders standing up to Trump on that order and making him back down.
During this second term though, Republicans have a majority in the federal government and have basically given Trump a blank check to do whatever he wants with little pushback. So trans people ARE banned now, and he's replaced a bunch of high ranking generals with his own civilian yes men, giving them rank and authority without a career of military service or going through proper legal approval processes. The military leaders told him no once, so he's replaced them with his own loyalists who won't challenge his executive orders now.
Not to mention, with the push for ICE to round up anyone who's (essentially) not white, we're seeing military members and their families affected by that as well. There was a time when serving in our military was a sort of fast-track to citizenship. I worked with a guy once who was Brazilian, but by serving a term in the US military, he would earn his citizenship and get to stay in America. That's going away under Trump's new regime.
And Trump is talking about gaining access to voting records, which would just give him more incentive to target anyone who doesn't vote Republican. Everyone, military or not, will be affected if it comes to that. Being an active service member as our country falls to fascism isn't a free pass; if you don't believe in the new order, you're going to be targeted and, at best, kicked out. At worst, you could be labeled a terrorist threat to our nation and "disappeared" to Guantanamo Bay.
Also, as a 100% disabled veteran, I'm only retired now because my VA pay and benefits can cover my meager and quiet lifestyle without taking on another job. But if Trump has his way, my benefits will be a fraction of what they are (if not removed completely), and I'd be forced to find work to survive.
Military members (and especially veterans) will suffer. But the military industrial complex will be fine.
The US dollar can't readily be replaced
You'd be surprised... no, you'd be shocked :)
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I personally think that the US will eventually be fine. It'll be messy, but as long as there's no nukes, we'll be around. Every government falls, but the people tend to remain. I believe that even this government is technically salvageable, it'd just require a very well planned takeover. More important, is the planet's decline theoretically fixable?
That planet will be fine, humans maybe not so much.
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Two party system needs to end.
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US will be fine as USSR thought it would be fine.
I don't know if you know this. But most of the people in the former USSR are pretty okay. Not the best, but improving, and alive. If the US split into 10 or more countries, then most of them would be decently well off. There's nowhere near a guarantee of that happening. Empires rise and fall al the time.
Two largest republics are war with each other, another two were invaded by Russia.
There are other examples of possibilities than the USSR.
Western Europe gave up most of their colonial possessions after WW2. They ended up fine. Arguably better off, even.
Ancient Rome went through many periods of crisis and getting their shit back in order. The Eastern half of the Empire went on for about another 1000 years after the split--it lasted almost long enough to see Columbus get completely lost and stumble on some land. At one point, it held almost the whole territory of the original Roman empire, albeit briefly.
There are a million ways this can go. Liberal America could reassert itself more or less as it was. It could break into coalitions of loosely affiliated states kinda like Prussia. It could undergo great reforms and fix a lot of problems with its structure of government. I couldn't even guess which is more likely right now.
Social media across all major platforms is being manipulated to make everyone more stressed, everything seem more chaotic and hopeless. It's probably a certain foreign power that's working on taking over the dominant position of the globe but it's also allowed and even assisted by domestic social media companies because it drives more views.
It's probably a certain foreign power
yes, russia and israel forced our elites to rape children, cover for catholic church to rape children, elect pedophiles into highest offices...
our "leadership" did this to the country and now they are so compromised that a foreign threat actor just needs to tell the truth to demoralize these peasants lol
Russia (and probably Israel) has definitely had a hand in getting the Republican party to the state it's in today.
And Democrats dindu nufin while jerking off in the corner when elites were raping kids
The American empire isn’t falling, it’s changing to become more corrupt and authoritarian.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Repatriation
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_removal
Modern event seem like business as usual. Subjugation is in our cultural DNA.
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this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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