Tag: democracy

  • Do Unto Others Part 5: What This Means for Democracy

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    When Shared Reality Dissolves, Only Power Remains Introduction: The Foundation Is Cracking Democracy rests on three pillars that most Americans take for granted: Over the course of this series, we’ve documented how all three pillars are systematically eroding. Part 1 showed empathy has become transactional – Melissa Hortman gets “I don’t know who she was,”…

  • Do Unto Others Part 4: Flooding the Zone

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    When Lies Work Better Than Truth After documenting transactional empathy (Part 1), Stage 2 moral reasoning (Part 2), and asymmetric hypocrisy (Part 3), one question remains: How does this actually work in practice? The answer is documented. It’s called the “firehose of falsehood,” and it’s a propaganda technique pioneered by authoritarian regimes. Specifically, Vladimir Putin’s…

  • Term Limits: Why This Popular Idea Could Make Things Worse (And Who’s Really Pushing It)

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    I Used to Think This Was a Great Idea I’ll be honest: I was sympathetic to term limits. Like most Americans, I’m exhausted by career politicians who seem completely out of touch. The frustration is real: So term limits sound great, right? Fresh blood, new ideas, less corruption! But then I thought: With how things…

  • Divided We Fall Part 8: Voter Fraud: Solving a Problem?

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    What the Data Actually Shows About Fraud and Election Integrity After the 2020 election, allegations of widespread voter fraud dominated conservative media and Republican politics. Dozens of lawsuits were filed. Investigations were launched. Audits were conducted. Millions of dollars were spent searching for evidence of fraud that would explain Donald Trump’s loss. What did they…

  • Let’s Stop Screaming at Each Other: How the Division Machine Keeps Us Fighting While Our Pockets Get Picked

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    The Name-Calling Trap Libtard. Right-wing nut. Snowflake. MAGA moron. Commie. Fascist. We’ve all heard it. Many of us have said it. And every time we do, someone wins – but it’s not you, and it’s not the person you’re yelling at. Americans have become increasingly polarized by design. When you’re pissed off, it’s hard to see…

  • Broken By Design Part 13: U.S. Politics: Not Functioning As Founders Intended—And How We Can Fix It

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    Part 13 of the series: How Systems Are Rigged Against the Bottom 90% We’ve established that the political system maintains wealth extraction through bipartisan consensus. Both parties take corporate money. Both parties vote to protect extraction. The system works exactly as designed—just not for us. But here’s the good news: this isn’t how the system…

  • Broken By Design Part 12: The US Political System: The Republican and Democrat Consensus You’re Not Supposed to Notice

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    Part 12 of the series: How Systems Are Rigged Against the Bottom 90% We’ve covered healthcare, housing, education, prisons, and military spending. Billions—trillions—extracted from the bottom 90% and funneled to the top 10%. Different industries. Different mechanisms. Same result: wealth flows up. And here’s what should be obvious by now: both parties perpetuate every single…