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Politics - US Politics |OT| - View Post

Ryuu96 on 27 July 2025
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LurkerJ said:
thehunter said:

@Lurker, I don't blame you for feeling tempted to giving up but I would caution that if the elites don't feel at least some kind of pressure or accountability for their actions, the days when direct accountability through representation are numbered.

Many analogies have been made between our time and the Roman Republic's but this pattern has played out over and over during history, such as Russia in the 1910s.  

There's a saying on the right: "you only elect communism once", but I think we could apply that to any form of aristocratic government coming to power.  If we forsake even the compromised representative republic (US) or democracy (elsewhere) now, the real-world consequences will hit when our kids aren't eligible for life-saving medicine under NHS policy, get designated for MAID, or are simply sold to an Amazon or Walmart smart city. 

I saw a situation I had written off in Canada turn around in such a profound way in 2022 that it led to the collapse of a crisis/reaction/solution situation around the globe, even though the panic and vitriol of those days from officials and neighbors seem insane now. 

The only hopeless situation is when we give up on the hope that things can change.  Clinton, Bush, Prince Andrew and the others can be brought to justice if we are willing to see it through. 

In the US, this means that every Republican who facilitated this cover-up needs to be primaried/dark-horsed, along with the Democrats who helped cover it up before this year.  Make it personal at the ballot box.

I don't think you understood what I was trying to say, but then again, I don't think I explained it well.

I'll go farther than anyone has gone here; "Well done on the MAGA base for forcing the conversation on the Epstein Files". But if we're being consistent, there would and should be an almost daily blowback against politicians everywhere in the Western world. And certainly for Trump, more than any other politician, there are a thousand other instances in which he deserved similar, if not bigger, blowback.

Yes, we should aim for a future in which we hold politicians accountable for every minuscule mistake they make knowingly. But it's going to be hard if we keep fooling ourselves and electing criminals and terrible people, whether if it's a Republican or a Democrat, prevention is better than cure.

How about we elect someone like Bernie Sanders for once? I don't know about Massie, but he sounds like a good guy, even if I disagree with him on everything, why don't you elect someone like him for a change? As long as we keep electing the most famous guy, or the most experienced guy, or the guy who took the most money from IPAC and similar organizations, we'll never get anywhere meaningful besides choosing the lesser evil, and politicians will continue to get away with murder and worse.

Electing someone like Trump and then try to hold him accountable, seems such a backward way of doing things that will never work.

Thomas Massie's voting record on Ukraine is horrifically bad.

  • Massie was the only member of Congress to vote against a measure refusing to recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Basically he wants to officially recognise Crimea as Russian.
  • He was one of three members to oppose a March 2022 resolution supporting Ukraine's sovereignty after it was invaded by Russia. The resolution also called for an immediate ceasefire.
  • He parroted the baseless conspiracy theory (from Putin) that Ukraine was developing biological weapons.
  • He opposed Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
  • He was one of nine to vote against a House Resolution which condemned the illegal kidnapping of children from Ukraine by Russia.
  • He voted against the Ukrainian Lend-Lease Act of 2022.
  • Voted against Ukraine Supplemental Appropriation.
  • Voted in favour of striking $300m of assistance to Ukraine.
  • Voted in favour of prohibiting all security assistance to Ukraine.
  • Publicly in favour of USA leaving NATO.

Statistically he is the worst US Congressman for Ukraine, likely the most pro-Russian. It would be one thing if he was just one of those heartless "We shouldn't be funding Ukraine, they should pay us" but his objections go beyond even that, it's clear he not only doesn't want to help Ukraine at all, but he also wants to dismantle NATO and hopes Russia wins in Ukraine, willing to officially recognise territory Russia stole from Ukraine as Russian.

With Trump I am conflicted whether he was/is just a complete idiot when it came to Ukraine, whether he was just a coward when it comes to Russia, whether he was a Russian asset or whether Russia had blackmail material on him. But Massie is far worse, I've no doubt that dude is a straight up Russian asset. I see he is also critical of Israel and voted in favour of lifting sanctions on Iran plus voted against military action on Iran.

it's not a bad thing to be critical of Israel, or want to lift sanctions on Iran for better relations, or being against stupid military action on Iran. But I don't think he's in favour of those things because Israel is being a genocidal maniac, I don't think he wants to lift sanctions on Iran to help make it a better place, I don't think he is against military action on Iran because it is wrong, I think he is in favour of all of those things simply because Iran is Russia's strategic ally. He has also voted against sanctions on North Korea.