USA Politics

To be frank, this isn't a US problem per se. It's just that the US is the prominent democracy where it went to shit the fastest. I think many of the fundamental issues are the same in large parts of the western world with populism and disinformation washing over us particularly through the power on the internet. I think it's just downhill from here and western democracy peaked roughly around 2000 ish with the expansion of the EU, increased civilian rights in countries like Turkey (back then. That took a wrong turn quickly) and the downfall of the USSR a decade earlier.
 
Yax said:
To be frank, this isn't a US problem per se. It's just that the US is the prominent democracy where it went to shit the fastest. I think many of the fundamental issues are the same in large parts of the western world with populism and disinformation washing over us particularly through the power on the internet. I think it's just downhill from here and western democracy peaked roughly around 2000 ish with the expansion of the EU, increased civilian rights in countries like Turkey (back then. That took a wrong turn quickly) and the downfall of the USSR a decade earlier.
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Please correct if I'm wrong, and I hope I am, but doesn't Sweden have a political party so far right it's practically neo-nazi? In looking into Therion I read Christopher Johnson is or was part of that party.
 
The Sweden Democrats nazi roots are fresh. As recent as 30 years ago they were openly nazi. As of now, they have toned down the rhetorics, expelled the actual nazis and settle for being semi closet racists with obvious fascist intents instead on its quest for power. And it's working. Honestly, it's the same story by various degree in all of scandinavia. Populist fascism is on the rise in Europe and they are pulling the same strings as Trump.

The traditional conservative right wing parties believe they can ride the wild horse. It's not going to work. For a term, maybe. Two tops. After that, who knows? They sure as hell won't settle for less than 90% of everything.
 
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When I was in Stockholm about 3 years ago (?), I walked into the inner city and it just so happened that there was a demo. It turned out they were demonstrating against the Sweden Democrats, so I decided to join the protesters and march with them. I left when the situation started to get tense with counterprotests, police and helicopters. The demo ended up even getting into the news in my country.
 
I've seen a few in the news with people burning Korans and just anti-immigration in general. Depending who I talk to, the issue is Sweden's once open immigration policy from about 20 years ago backfiring badly, because they are not really encouraging assimilation and now the rise in crime is blamed on the "outsiders." The goverment has tightened its immigration policies as of late, but no matter how you look at it, it's a huge issue and not just in Sweden, but the nordic countries in general. Add to that the Neo-Nazi waves in Germany, Hungary and other central European countries and as Yax said above, this is something that has been boiling over for decades.
 
The supposed rise in crime is partly true, I think and partly just their spin of reality. The nature of crime has changed, whereas i.e. the murder rate instead has gone down. People are more prone to report crimes these days as well. On the other hand, gang related crime and outright criminal networks have become a problem moreso than the traditional white biker gang type of mafia and rapes get a lot of media coverage.

What I think though, is that the unchecked privatizations (note here. I like privatizations, but not purely ideologically motivated privatizations) and dismantling of the welfare systems has caused a lot of insecurity and bitterness (while at the same time tax reliefs for all income brackets. . Everybody likes to keep more money, of course).The welfare system is nowadays fairly underfunded Hell, Sweden has one of, if not the most extreme market economy school system there is, where speculative investment corporations own, make profit from and and operate publicly funded schools. Some hospitals and many healh centers are privatized - At a large monetary loss due to purely ideological reasons.

This is where the Sweden Democrats come into play though, because they point the figure on the scape goats - The immigants. Now, the reluctance to admit any problems with integration and immigration has resulted in a) the severity of the issues (which in turn partly constist of regular socio-economic problems) to increase due to lack of action and b) the racist populists to be the face of solving the issues, when they in reality they aren't the answer.
 
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Yax said:
The Sweden Democrats nazi roots are fresh. As recent as 30 years ago they were openly nazi. As of now, they have toned down the rhetorics, expelled the actual nazis and settle for being semi closet racists with obvious fascist intents instead on its quest for power. And it's working. Honestly, it's the same story by various degree in all of scandinavia. Populist fascism is on the rise in Europe and they are pulling the same strings as Trump.
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Sweden Democrats have expelled some of the Nazis. A lot of their people can still be traced back to organization in Nazi-allied groups. I don't talk about this a lot, but the gf's family has some members who are very, very firm supporters of SD, and they know exactly what it stands for, and they're looking forward to that day when SD gets control and they get to "pick up rifles".

It's pretty scary.
 
Is it too cynical to wonder if this send-off Trump is hosting for himself is essentially a last-ditch attempt to undermine Biden's inauguration? Attending both events seems to be considered logistically impractical, so anyone he's invited is basically being asked to pick a side.

I hear he's had a lot of refusals.
 
Biden’s speech was great and I’m so glad we can at least have some eloquence in the White House again.
 
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Joe Biden is the 45th President of the United States, not the 46nd.

Grover Cleveland had two terms but was one and the same President.

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:facepalm:
 
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