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0 pointskossTKR2y ago0 comments

Take a look at the highly conspiratorial website https://www.opensecrets.org for an example of how i enquire by looking at sources and money flow helping me realise most politicians are bought by lobby groups working for the owning classes and vote thereafter, not "sincere belief in ideology".

This "you're just a conspiracy nut" perspective for looking at actual networks of power and sources, became common after journalism pretty much died with local media as they shifted to ownership from a few parent conglomerates all working for elite interest.

Now news is about "ideas" and "events" not key players, money and networks of power ultimately benefiting the richest that kan in turn easily sway public opinion without resistance through PR, think tanks and media ownership.

I don't know when you think this rather beautiful "sincere belief in ideology" became the primary driver of history and politics, to me that's a highly naive after a bachelors in History and a love for the pretty standard historiographical realpolitical and resource oriented lenses adjacent to works like Guns, Germs and Steel.

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astrange2y ago

> Take a look at the highly conspiratorial website https://www.opensecrets.org for an example of how i enquire by looking at sources and money flow helping me realise most politicians are bought by lobby groups working for the owning classes and vote thereafter, not "sincere belief in ideology".

Generally when I see people use this they're misreading it. For instance, they'll see donations from people working at Google to a campaign and think they're donations "by Google" to a campaign, but companies can't donate to campaigns. It's also unlikely politicians sincerely care that much about a campaign donation capped at $3000.

In general if you think things are about the money you should be happy with politics, because the highest-raising politicians are Bernie Sanders and crew with $25 Actblue donations. But what actually happens is that they raise more money than Republican politicians and then still lose elections in red states. Republican voters and politicians both actually believe what they're saying.

kossTKROP2y ago

The two parties both represent the same class interests with slight differences in a thin veneer of identity politics.

There's never been an alternative to vote for, and every attempt gets smeared in the media owned by the two-party system representing the oligarchs.

Candidates like Bernie who's still in line with most of above policies are showcased as alternatives but the distribution of power is never challenged outside of the arena of identity political circus boosted by conglomerate media.

Obama was also good example of this, PR outsider on the surface but in reality funded by the same bankers and continued global US adventurism.

Politics is downstream from elite interests when they own the media, the parties, the candidates and intermingle with the security state to take care of the rest.

This becomes especially apparent when looking back at the media landscape pre mergers, where a plurality of opinion and research existed from well respected classical journalists challenging local and state power, in what would today be smeared as conspiracy theorising or anti-patriotism while the overton window has become microscopic unless towing the line for the unfathomably rich.

astrange2y ago

You just typed a bunch of vague stuff because you can't actually respond to me.

> There's never been an alternative to vote for, and every attempt gets smeared in the media owned by the two-party system representing the oligarchs.

The two parties aren't controlled by anyone except primary voters. There is hardly any mechanism in the US to stop anyone who wants from joining either party, as long as you can get votes.

This is an unusual case of other countries' politics infecting ours; in other countries the parties actually can fire people and control their candidate list. Here they can't do anything.

Also the US doesn't have oligarchs. That's a specific word with a specific meaning. Closest you can get would be defense contractor CEOs but those just aren't that important here; you probably only know one.

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astrange2y ago

kossTKROP2y ago

The two parties both represent the same class interests with slight differences in a thin veneer of identity politics.

There's never been an alternative to vote for, and every attempt gets smeared in the media owned by the two-party system representing the oligarchs.

Obama was also good example of this, PR outsider on the surface but in reality funded by the same bankers and continued global US adventurism.

Politics is downstream from elite interests when they own the media, the parties, the candidates and intermingle with the security state to take care of the rest.

astrange2y ago

You just typed a bunch of vague stuff because you can't actually respond to me.

> There's never been an alternative to vote for, and every attempt gets smeared in the media owned by the two-party system representing the oligarchs.

The two parties aren't controlled by anyone except primary voters. There is hardly any mechanism in the US to stop anyone who wants from joining either party, as long as you can get votes.

This is an unusual case of other countries' politics infecting ours; in other countries the parties actually can fire people and control their candidate list. Here they can't do anything.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse