Political Subtext

Yeah, but your line of thinking relies on politicians caring more about the country overall than themselves...

They care about defense spending, because they also get "donations" from weapons manufactures.

By no means did I mean they're only taking money from Israel, just that Israel's money comes with a single string:

Support Israel no matter what

Obviously they get money from more people

Like, did you see the name at number 2 between the Dem candidate for 2016 and the Dem candidate for 2020/2024?

It's the guy (also a dem) that had gold bars lining the suits in his closest.

They're taking the money, because they'll take money for almost anything.

That's not a conspiracy, corrupt politicians tend to care about money over everything else

In my experience as an American, "fuck you pay me" is our only practiced and sacred value, and all our other supposed values are just empty feel good platitudes that allow us to play pretend our culture doesn't revolve around greed and greed worship.

Most Congresspeople got into politics explicitly to be bought, and working your way up in local/state elections is a process both major parties use to measure your ability to both be amenable to and effective at funneling that sweet, sweet bribe money into the party.

That's why the few that don't take Superpac money are usually spoiler candidates with economic policy positions both parties loathe, as yes, the economics of political bribery, especially since Reagan converted his former opposition that used to get bribed by unions to rake the bigger corporate bribe checks as Republicans always did creating today's neoliberals, greatly exceed any other force in American politics.

There's nothing ideological about petrochemical subsidies, for example, that industry can and does just write "donation" checks to our elected leaders, and their bribes trump our ballots every time.

I've no hope of this changing, and have accepted this greed rot is going to be our end sooner rather than later, and that greed is creating a swath of vectors, Climate change induced famines/droughts, AI, fascism rising to defend the mass ignorance required to support such thoughtless corporate greed in the face of all evidence, etc to do just that.

I thought it was a British thing.

I swear people give the south shit for the wrong reasons. Yes it’s racist, and sexist, and homophobic, and transphobic, and corrupt as hell, and WAY too serious about their imaginary friends, and I will happily admit all of those terrible flaws about my homeland and bear the shame of my ancestors for creating that world, but yinzers are the ones that talk weird and make up dumb words. At least y’all makes linguistic sense

No, don’t worry, I’ve been assured that Hamas really are left-wing freedom fighters who just want to live in peace.

Interestingly, from both sides that;s the ONE idea I've never heard suggested by anyone.

"If we don't do it to them they'll do it to us"

Okay. Good luck making them both secular. We can't even make the US secular.

I’m just spitballing but secular democracies seem to work a bit better

Cool. What's the over-under on Hamas accepting a secular democracy?