It's worthwhile to ask why so much of humanity is falling for this con right now. I suspect climate and a deep, even subconscious fear of there not being enough, of scrambling for survival against our neighbors.

Whatever is it, looking at America or Britain or even Russia and chalking up all the problems to the low character of the people isn't going to get you ready for this era of turmoil.

Look for solidarity, never give up on human rights, even for Americans.

@quinn True, just over a third of people voting for the far right is high, but not that much higher than in other democracies. Ineffective opposition (mostly fighting each other) is also common. What is unique about the US is another one third of adults: the people not voting at all, so not voting against it. That quiet consent is much smaller in other countries.

@mkoek it's not even consent, America makes it uniquely had to vote. Election day is a normal work day, anyone can purge voter rolls, even marking ballots is hard and confusing, and you often have a small books worth of decisions to make. Or a large one, in California.

@quinn On the other hand, I read that most states have early voting or voting by mail, so plenty of time. It’s a strange phenomenon that so many people don’t do it.

@mkoek it's progress but that's pretty new and it can still be complicated and overwhelming. Also anyone can purge voter rolls by challenging them. Personally, I've been deregistered 5 times. No idea who or why.

@quinn Yeah the “register to vote” thing is admittedly weird. Other countries simply send everyone over 17 an invitation to come vote.

@quinn
The billionaire-bootlicking-class have hallucinated an alternative history. One without solidarity. Now they want us to go "back" there.

> Our civilization would break down, leading to a return to dark ages, in which the elderly and infirm were often killed, because people could not support them, and often did not care about supporting them

https://www.codastory.com/authoritarian-tech/blue-eyes-epstein-artificial-intelligence-eugenics-silicon-valley/

@quinn yes, agreed. it's been about eight years since we first asked ourselves "why is this happening in the US faster and more intensely than in other places"

we came up with "the US is (at the time) economically and militarily influential, so it's the highest-priority target for disinformation and all that"

we did not like that answer AT ALL

@quinn Not unique, but your version is more destructive than any other.

And yes, the rest of the globe can hold each and every US (non)voter accountable for that - you let it happen in your place.

Sweden has its share of issues, today and historically, but it's been centuries since that mattered outside Sweden. You guys, and the citizens of other hyper-/superpowers, are accountable today.

Own it. Fix it. We will help as we can.

@quinn almost every influential position in America is voted for- so even with staggered elections the number of seats on the ballot is overwhelming. This makes voting difficult or easy- difficult if you want to be knowledgeable and easy if you’re not. The only other option is to opt out. Too few have the time or inclination to be knowledgeable and willingly support what they emotionally/irrationally believe.

@quinn The number of people in this thread going "nuh-uh" or trying to rationalize it as something specific to America makes me think you have a point and some folks aren't ready to hear their country is also next on the list.

There's a frequent yet always generic "[why doesn't] someone do something" post or comment to the same effect: if you have to ask or you don't know or you aren't doing it yourself, then you're why. What you expect Americans to do is what should be happening everywhere.

The voting system amplifies the problem. In the American system it takes far less than 50% of the voters to take control of a party. And a voter dissatisfied with the options offered by the two largest parties have to either vote for the lesser of two evils or have no influence at all.

With better voting systems there is an opportunity for more political parties. The latest election in Denmark is an example of that with 12 different political parties represented in the parliament. Moreover the Danish system also has a tendency to make members in the center of the political spectrum have more influence than an equivalent number of votes on the outer wings. A center party with only 7.8% of the seats played a major role in the government negotiations much to the annoyance of a far right party with 8.9% of the seats.

There are many other countries with better voting systems than america. For example there are countries with two round presidential elections where the top two candidates from the first round go to a second round. This means voters are free to vote for their preferred candidate in the first round without risk of having no influence. In such a system there is a very real possibility that enough voters dissatisfied with the two mainstream options can vote for a third candidate and displace one of the mainstream candidates in the second round.