Tag: two-party-system

  • How an Angry Old MacDonald Became a Protest Song

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    It started with a question: What is actually wrong with this country, and why do we seem so far apart? The division felt real. The anger felt real. But when you actually looked at the polling data, something didn’t add up. Americans agree on almost everything that matters. Healthcare. Wages. Campaign finance reform. Taxing the…

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    Even that’s Odd

  • 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,”…

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    Even that’s Odd

  • 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…

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    Even that’s Odd

  • Do Unto Others Part 1: When Empathy Becomes Transactional

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    Who Deserves Sympathy? The Politics of Victimhood A Note Before We Begin If this feels like an attack on Trump, I need to address that upfront. I tried to write this like an outside observer would—documenting what happened without partisan spin. I looked for examples across the political spectrum. I stuck to things that actually…

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  • 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…

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  • Broken By Design Part 14: Rooting For The Wrong Team – How Culture Wars Keep Us Fighting While They Rob Us Blind

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    How Media Ecosystems and Broken Norms Divide Us A number of years ago, watching news coverage of conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Middle East, and various African nations, I remember having a thought that now fills me with embarrassment: No wonder there are always conflicts in those parts of the world—they’re still organized around tribal…

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  • 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…

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    Even that’s Odd