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Mateoto ,

Just explain to me as a European: how can a wife of a supreme court justice actively undermine the democracy in the US, her husband rule in favor of their donors and corrupt money elite, and no one, really no one in your country cares or protests against it?

Please take some lessons in being citoyens by the French people.

Callie ,
@Callie@pawb.social avatar

I really really wish we took lessons from France. Politicians should fear backlash, but they’re extremely comfortable

spaceghoti OP ,

I agree. But Thomas, Alito, and the other corrupt jurists on the Supreme Court were appointed by Republicans, so a large portion of the population will shrug and say “eh, no big deal.” If it were Sotomayor or one of the less conservative jurists, those same people would be marching in the streets demanding blood.

American politics resembles nothing so much as a sports match.

Mateoto ,

What exactly does the appointment have to do with the corruption taking place?

A nomination and appointment of judges done by a democratic legitimized party and process is one thing. Still, if those judges are stepping outside the democratic discourse, you can’t shrug it away as “no big deal.”

There are more people voting center and progressive than conservatives in the US. Otherwise, conservatives wouldn’t need gerrymandering and all those other tricks to win elections. So, most US citizens ignore three corrupt justices and their spouses and let them destroy the very foundation of their proud nation?

Protest or organize a nationwide strike and show some real patriotism instead of sticking star-bangled banner stickers on your cars.

spaceghoti OP ,

What exactly does the appointment have to do with the corruption taking place?

That’s how politics has devolved in the US. As long as you’re on the correct side, you can be as corrupt as you want and the people on that side will shrug and go “not a big deal.”

Note, please, that this problem is not the same with all political parties. For example, our House Speaker just announced an inquiry into impeachment proceedings for Joe Biden, apparently for governing while Democrat. The response from the left-wing is generally to roll our eyes and point out this is just political theater. If they actually find something actionable, then we’ll agree that he should be removed from office and thrown in jail. But in 2021 Republican leadership outright admitted that Trump was culpable for the Jan 6 insurrection riot at the capitol, but still refused to impeach because he’s a Republican.

This is how broken American politics have become. We’re trying to maintain our faith in the system and trust our leaders to do the right thing, but an entire faction of our leadership wants to break the government and replace it with private, profit-based solutions. So here we are. We ought to be marching, but the protests against racism and discrimination didn’t get us anywhere either. So we don’t know what else to do and we’re not eager for a second civil war.

LillyPip , (edited )
@LillyPip@lemmy.ca avatar

US citizens are literally wage slaves, who can be fired for no reason and whose healthcare is tied to employment.

The country is immense with vast distances between major cities, so in order to protest in a meaningful way (ie, not being a scattered handful of picketers in towns hundreds of miles apart that would get no press traction), people need to take weeks off work which would get them fired and take away all their healthcare and retirement options, and drive the equivalent of several EU countries, then hope they have a home and job to return to after. And over a century of unchecked capitalism has locked people into a cycle of perpetual debt such that many are only a paycheque or two away from losing everything.

It’s not an excuse, but a compelling reason that is exploited by bad actors in the government. They know with no safety net and literally everything working against common people, it’s very difficult for protests to gain purchase.

s20 , (edited )

Oh the explanation is… complex. There are a long list of factors involved. I’m going to give you one, as I see it.

Through charisma, lies, corruption, and misdirection, our education system has been destroyed. Anything resembling logic or even basic rational thought is something you have to teach yourself in America. So, we have a massive population of ignorant folks vulnerable to nonsense, including evangelical Christianity.

Evangelical Christianity isn’t actually about saving souls or whatever. It’s about keeping the populace ignorant and looking at bullshit so the “conservative” leadership can rob everyone, lining their pockets and stoking as much fear and division as they can.

That’s one part of why people aren’t in the streets. There are many, many moving parts to what’s fucked in modern America. And personally, I’d rather just say fuck it and leave at this point.

Signed, a U.S. Army combat veteran.

circuitfarmer ,
@circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

We do need to learn how to protest.

One major difference in the US is: many cannot afford to not be at work to instead be protesting. And we don’t have universal healthcare, so if you lose your job, regardless of the wage theft you may also be enduring there, you’re extra fucked if you’re relying on its “benefits”.

A similar argument could be made about voting. You don’t get the day off to go vote, and in some states, voting takes hours.

Blackfeathr , (edited )
@Blackfeathr@lemmy.world avatar

The system is working as intended.

Feature, not a bug, etc…

IronCorgi ,

People did protest, but there's no one to protest to. Supreme court justices are appointed for life, so there is no one to appeal to except the corrupt judge himself. I think people saw protesting the Supreme Court wasn't going to go anywhere and decided to focus on lobbying Congress for a supreme Court ethics statue.

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