• Krono@lemmy.today
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    1 year ago

    We used to be world leader in education, then we defunded our schools.

    We used to lead the world in scientific research, but the funding was cut.

    We used to have the world's best infrastructure, then we stopped investing, now its crumbling.

    We used to support social mobility and home ownership, now most can't afford rent.

    Spending money to fight climate change is looked down upon as an unrealistic hippy fantasy.

    But somehow we always have a blank check for war.

    • DigitalJacobin@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      We used to support social mobility

      When? Under slavery? Under Jim Crow? Under neoliberalism/Reagan?

      and home ownership

      Maybe to get settlers to move west for manifest destiny.

      • Krono@lemmy.today
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        1 year ago

        We supported social mobility during the New Deal era. Many of the New Deal programs continued to pay dividends until they were dismantled by Reagan and the neoliberals.

        As for home ownership, the vast majority of new homeowners in the past 3 generations were significantly subsidized by the federal government.

        I'm not suggesting these programs were perfect. Take the most glaring example: most of them explicitly excluded black people. Without opportunity for homeownership, our precious black neighbors were ghettoized and locked into poverty. The echoes of this racist policy reverberate loudly to this day.

        So I guess what I'm saying is that we need to Make America Great Again. Obviously the charlatan Trump presents no solutions. The neolib and neocon policies are proven failures. The solutions offered by Republican and Democrat parties are cynical and shallow. We need to go back to the policies that make America flourish - New Deal policies - just with a few modern upgrades and significantly less bigotry.

    • ink@r.nf
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      1 year ago

      Seems like ethnic cleansing allows you to have a clean slate and hiring literal nazis to do science for you gives you claim for all technological advancements for yourself.

      Israel is following your footsteps.

      "Brother in war crimes."

      • Krono@lemmy.today
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        1 year ago

        Yes yes, we colonized America and genocided the natives. No one is arguing otherwise.

        And most of our advances in rocketry came from Operation Paperclip. From ICBMs to the moon landing, we have Nazi scientists to thank.

        But what about computers? The postwar generations used their wealth to fund pure science (something we deeply neglect today). It was very costly and took decades, but we invented microtransistors, the internet, wifi, GPS, etc. Every major technology that powers the computer you are using now was funded by hardworking Americans tax dollars.

        And I'm not sure what Israel has to do with this, but yes they are following the "war on terror" model that America pioneered. Bomb civilians, label all the victims as terrorists, turn a blind eye to the consequences, and act surprised when your victims desire revenge.

      • Asafum@feddit.nl
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        1 year ago

        I really love the comparison of the "space race" firsts. As someone indoctrinated in the US school system I was brainwashed into believing we did everything first, but to find out all we did first was land a person on the moon and then claim total victory is very American of us to do… It's laughable. Russia did basically everything space related first.