• John Richard
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    16 months ago

    No, but stop paying your taxes in America and see where you end up.

    • @FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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      06 months ago

      Yeah, but a better example would be if Texas seceded and see where they end up.

      The deeper nuance here is that the relationship between state and federal, and between colony and homeland, is one of give and take. The British colonies started thinking “taxation without representation is theft” because they were giving and not getting much back. Nowadays, we pay taxes and in return we get representation, subsidized goods and services, a social security net, mandatory civil rights, and military protection. If we don’t like how this budget is established, our votes elect people who decide that budget directly and annually.

      • John Richard
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        -16 months ago

        We get an illusion of representation by a bunch of wealthy individuals continually passing more laws to make running for office practically necessitate having a team of lawyers & advisors, a social security system that is constantly stripped away in favor of bailing out big businesses, subsidized goods & services by big corporations covered in layers of arbitration agreements, civil rights that are frequently violated with majority of attorneys only interested in representing those able to immediately pay their checks, and military protection that are some of the biggest abusers of human rights violations in history.

        • @FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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          06 months ago

          You say all that, but the GOP haven’t exactly been pushing rockstar career politician candidates. The barriers for entry seem pretty low, imo.

          We could easily get campaign finance reform passed if we voted in like a dozen more people from the party who supports campaign finance reform as a partisan issue, but people don’t vote for that. It’s not that votes don’t matter, it’s that people are wasting them.

          • John Richard
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            -26 months ago

            Why do you immediately go to the GOP? Why is the world always so black & white, red v blue, etc?

            • @FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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              6 months ago

              The prime examples of inexperienced or underqualified candidates like Joe O’Dea, MTG, Tiffaney Smiley, and Madison Cawthorn just happened to be GOP. Hell, the Trump appointed Secretary of Education literally bought her way into the position, and several Trump appointed judges had little to no experience in court rooms. I’m sure there are a few examples of DNC underqualified politicians, but the divide for Graduate Degrees in the 118th congress is D 73% and R 55%. This is a post about US Politics. It is a 2 party system. Even if you vote independent for congress, that Independent will choose which side to caucus with.