maybe-later-kiddo maybe-later-honey biden-rember warren-snake-green the-democrat shapiro-gavel liberty-weeping How can you say such a thing! There's a full 16pt difference in our preferred tax rates and we still can't agree on the exact specifications of the worker visa program for illegal residents

[–] PKMKII@hexbear.net 84 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Old joke, the Soviet Union could’ve avoided collapse if instead of having one official state party, they had two, and they agreed on absolutely everything except abortion.

[–] tuga@hexbear.net 29 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There's actually a lot to be said about the concept of "competitive" (not necessarily democratic) elections and how they increase the stability of a political system by shifting people's perceptions of what is wrong, that's part of what Fritz Bartel talks about in "The Triumph of Broken Promises", the neoliberal period imposed extremely harsh conditions on people but everybody went along in the end because they felt that they had a choice in the matter (lol) meanwhile the eastern block states wanted to try doing austerity but they knew the people would never stand for it.

[–] PKMKII@hexbear.net 30 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Also ties into Chomsky’s observation that compliance with a political economy regime is done by having a narrow band of acceptable opinions but fierce debate within the band.

[–] tuga@hexbear.net 4 points 2 years ago

Didn't know he made that point, very astute