We only have 2 major political parties, and one of them has decided science and learning are evil…and like half the country votes for them. We’re completely fucked.
Correction: half of the voters vote for them. If all the apathetic people started to vote, Republicans would be forced to adapt or would never win any election anymore.
Correction: less than half of the voters vote for them, but because of the way the government is structured they still control half or more of the government and can take the presidency despite losing the popular vote and now control the Supreme Court forever.
That’s exactly why Republicans fight against early voting, Mail voting, absentee voting, etc. If you make it too easy to vote, the single mom working 2 jobs might actually be able to ~~work~~ vote, and they absolutely DO NOT want that.
half of the voters vote for them
Oh ya? Is that before or after gerrymandering?
Yup, in total numbers, the apathy party is a clear lead ahead of the Democrats and unaligned voters keeping a spirited competition for second, and Republicans place in a solid 4th.
The problem is that FPTP doesn't consider non-participation and the unaligned voters aren't an organized party and oh yeah the Republicans are hell bent on codifying that being more spread out entitles them to be more equal than others at the ballot box.
That is clearly not true.
We also give massive tax breaks to corporations that then don’t do the things for which the breaks were given — e.g. Foxconn in WI. Build a chip plant? Nah we’re good.
Reminder that the US Congress gave AT&T and Verizon BILLIONS of dollars to build out a national broadband network decades ago. They pocketed that money and didn't lay a single ~~meter~~ foot of fiber with zero consequences.
Billions of taxpayer money gone to AT&T and Verizon? Sounds like their infrastructure should be seized and nationalized.
Wait till you hear about how much money the US (and Canada) spent to bail out private railroads. The same railroads that are openly hostile to running nationalized passenger rail. Even being allowed to have passenger train wheels touch their tracks is like pulling teeth so we can forget about actual, functional intercity rail like they have in the developed world.
They did, though. I have fiber in my middle of nowhere camp because of the NBP. And I don't even have a fiber option in the city where I live.
Let's be aware, were not even giving our troops proper armor and helmets vs IEDs, nor are we taking care of vets who lost their minds (and body parts) fighting for freedom. Instead, were cutting fat checks to Lockheed Martin for experimental tanks with active camouflage, or planes that are way too expensive and don't work very well.
So we're not just spending tax dollars on the military, we're spending it badly on the military, and then cheating our soldiers of their benefits (who we funnel from the poor who have no other opportunities).
Joining the armed forces will ruin your life, unless you personally know a governor or senator who will vouch for your character. And then still you have to get past senior officers who want to ruin you.
Also every year in the service, roll a D20. On a 1 you're either dead or too shot up / blown up to have a quality of life. You get to live the rest of your life a shell of who you once were.
Counter-recruitment writes itself.
Don't forget the "fast attack" ships that cost twice what they were bid at, and have hulls that crack when you exceed a slow crawl.
It feels like one of the few positive outcomes of the Cold War was the Sputnik shock.
The public and politicians suddenly got very worried about actual scientific competitiveness and winning a competitive race on something other than bombs.
I wish we'd have a similar moment when it came to China and infrastructure.
This is a country that was built by railroads. Even today, you can see the strings of towns spaced to the size of a steam locomotive's water capacity. But what do we see from that legacy now? The Acela, an effort that would barely be competitive in the 1970s, on a minimal set of routes. Meanwhile, the Chinese are laughing from the windows of their 300kph trains.
(Yes, I'm aware that American freight rail is efficient and impressive, but somehow almost every other industrialized country has figured this one out)
I wish we'd have a similar moment when it came to China and infrastructure
It's a shame that the culture in mainland China is so isolated because otherwise some Americans might have bit of an existential crisis about this right now if they knew.
In the top tier Chinese cities, people board the train by scanning a qr code on their phone, which is linked to a wallet in their chat app. The subway system is extensive, well though out, clean and fast. Most of the private cars are electric, and when a car isn't the right choice, the sidewalks are often smooth and suitable for an electric scooter or bicycle. Food and transportation is cheap, even when ordering food to your apartment or house. 5G mobile internet is smoking fast and cheap. The local equivalent to Amazon.com delivers just about anything in a day or two. Over the course of a year I watched the city building an entirely new subway line - they just decided it was needed and bam! They built it and it didn't take 10 years. Most importantly, the younger generations have a real chance to do better than mom and dad, which is what every generation needs, and the last couple American generations seem to have been robbed of.
I'm an American and was surprised and impressed on my first few trips. Why don't American's have anything like this yet? Why is the US so bogged down in the little things that it can't dream anymore? It can hardly solve it's most basic problems at the moment. I wish more Americans could see how far it's slipped.
(Just because this is Lemmy, no, I'm no Chinese shill. There are other issues there and I wouldn't wish their system of control or surveillance on anybody.)
But what do we see from that legacy now?
It bothers me so much. I wanted to pay for a friend's ticket to visit us. By train, it was $200, a 16hr trip, of which 2/3rds was by bus thanks to Amtrack's garbage infrastructure/system.
By plane for the same trip, it was a $180, 2hr direct flight.
It's so god damn ass backwards. Trains produce a fraction of the emissions of planes, so why are we ok with trains being uncompetitive?
politicians suddenly got very worried about actual scientific competitiveness and winning a competitive race on something other than bombs.
They just feared possible military applications and didn't want to fall behind.
Is this an old tweet? This year alone $1.2 trillion was passed in spending on infrastructure at the federal level.
We have backlogged projects, let alone maintenance on existing infrastructure, not even getting to the costs of upgrading ancient infrastructure - a lot of municipalities still use clay pipes.
Right now deferred maintenance is roughly a trillion dollars.
Except the US hasn't been spending on infrastructure for a long time. Obama wanted a similar sum and that was almost a decade ago. We're not improving, we're barely maintaining.
That's because infrastructure improvements have to be completed using taxes from the rich and corporations.
You're right, investment in infrastructure has rebounded, but its easy to ignore the hard fought battles and just be cynical. But also things aren't perfect and our priorities can be better. For me that's investments in health care for all and making higher ed cheaper.
Two years ago, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (“BIL”) into law. The BIL directs $1.2 trillion of federal funds towards transportation, energy, and climate infrastructure projects, most of which is distributed via state and local governments
Probably because everyone is in it for short term gains and to gain something for themselves. If politicians actually cared about the advancement of the human race, (in any way), they'd join each other towards building common goals until no common goals are left.
I wanna stress, im not in any way supporting authoritarian regimes. But that is one of the very very few advantages of a 1 party system, that the people in charge actually look at the long term impacts, because they will still be in power in 10-20 years. So they cant just bleed the country dry and then hand their mess over to the other party at the next election and have them deal with all the problems you created.
" they cant just bleed the country dry ..."
Challenge Accepted - Russia, probably
US Republican* politcians
Not sure why you're getting down-voted:
https://www.npr.org/2021/11/15/1055841358/biden-signs-1t-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill-into-law
And
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/10/1026486578/senate-republican-votes-infrastructure-bill
In the Senate, 100% of Party A voted for it. Party B saw 38% of their members vote for it and 62% voted against it.
https://www.axios.com/2021/11/06/house-republicans-votes-infrastructure-biden
In the House, Party A saw nearly all their members vote to pass the bill with the opposers wanting a bigger investment in infrastructure than what was offered.
Party B saw 100s of their members vote against it while 19 voted for. Most of those opposed said it was not worth the cost. The bill could add 256 Billion to the deficit over 10 years (25.6 Billion per year). Note 25.6 Billion in a year would represent less than 3% of our annual deficit:
https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/national-deficit/
But yeah, Party A = Party B /s
FTA:
The bill includes:
$351 billion for highways and bridges
$107 billion for transit
$73 billion for electric grid infrastructure
$66 billion for passenger rail
$55 billion for drinking water infrastructure
$42 billion for broadband deployment
$25 billion for airports
$17 billion for ports
$7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations
$7.5 billion for electric buses and ferries
Tbf, the US has to spend 10$ for every one China spends to be able to project to our allies that China threatens geopolitically, and that cost gap is what most people talk about when they worry about China pulling ahead.
The other kind of person are racists who are still upset that China might have a big influential economy, like it has had since the dawn of human civilization.
In 1982, a Chinese delegation reached Turin for a joint venture. FIAT, the major Italian car maker (with a long and nefarious history), answered that in China there were no roads, and bicycles crowded the few there were.
The delegation went to Munich, signed a deal with Volkswagen and that's the story of how German car makers gained a foothold in the Chinese market.
Here in the US, the rail system is privately owned and barely maintained. Employees responsible for identifying problems with sections of rail are regularly intimidated and fired for pointing out maintenance issues that could (and do) cause derailments.
In perfect world, we would have high speed rail across the US and even regionally, but that is not the world we live in.
There was that Big News Derailment a while back - but what they didn't bother telling us at the time was that there are derailments on like a daily basis. It's incredibly common. They're not always hugely toxic, but is that required for us to care?
There was a derailment less than a 1/4 mile from my parents house about 30 years ago. Very low speed derailment. Still came off the rails. Was crazy to see up close, and it was there for at least 6 months to a year.
If you can't beat them with words, beat them with guns
'What do you mean you joined a gun club?'
Somebody should probably mention the fact that there are storm clouds a-brewing on China's economic horizon as well. And that's not to mention their little demography problem.
I'm not bashing China, I just want to provide a little perspective.
That's not true, they also defund the IRS and give their rich buddies tax cuts.
You know that guy he was a famous war general and then president who like decades ago warned everyone about the military industrial complex...yup we had no warnings to stop it... nope
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