What is something you hate the most about your country?

...yes but the propaganda was initially made possible by overly permissive political policies from GOP politicians, themselves elected by.....uneducated white people who weren't voting in their own economic interest. this isn't the chicken and the egg here - people growing up in the 60s weren't getting hit with crazy right wing propaganda and trickle down economics. that was a later development in the GOP itself, but it never would have gone anywhere if people hadn't voted for guys like Reagan over guys like Bush and Nixon (at the time Reagan was pretty far right and both Bush and Nixon were a little bit more classically conservative).

Reaganism moved the GOP to the right, and deregulated, and got rid of the fairness doctrine (though it only ever applied to radio), and spread its own propaganda, which the people who voted for Reagan willingly ate up even though it didn't square with reality. the rest is a downward spiral that we're all familiar with where corruption breeds propaganda breeds ignorance breeds more corruption.

but my point is that the people are always at least partly and more often than not fully to blame for corruption in a democracy. it's literally rule by the people, even with all of the money and all of the special interests, nothing could happen without the willing consent of the people. blaming those in power is facile - all power corrupts, it's been a truism for literally thousands of years. it's what the people decide they will accept that determines what is acceptable.

/r/AskReddit Thread Parent