Late Stage Capitalism

Been an American in America for 4 decades. From my perspective American decline is undeniable. It is simple fact.

Largely because we can't connect the dots and accept that we should be focusing on the class war, not the culture war, because that's the root of the problem. A lot of the hate and ignorance in America comes from desperation. We're desperate because we aren't losing, we've lost, a class war.

In my opinion the election that just happened was the nail in the coffin. We came together and the majority of us decided to let our oligarchs assume total control. It was a signal to them that they're good to be open about it now, too.

RIP to the middle class.

A fall from greatness is inevitable and I'm afraid that the fall of America, with all of her hubris, is going to be spectacularly bloody and unpleasant for everyone. :(

They say Rome wasn’t built in a day. But also overlook that the Roman empire didn’t fall in a day either. It was a very gradual process.

So the real question is, if the US were to fall, would it be a quick or gradual process?

This is silly because we’ve always thought America was doing those things

It took centuries for the Roman Republic to fall. At some point in time, they were past the point of no return without themselves even realizing it.

I think we are in that position now. We have been on the decline for more than a decade now, and have had several opportunities to correct or reverse course, but the wrong decision is made at every opportunity because it's far easier for powerful influential people to increase their power, wealth and status at the expense of everyone else and suffer no consequences for doing so than it is for them to sacrifice their own power, wealth, and status for the benefit of the collective. Are we past the point of no return? I'd say an argument could be made for either yes or no, but we are undeniably closer to the precipice than we have ever been as a nation since the Civil War (which never truly ended).

Plus, they still have slavery! In the constitution it says slavery is not allowed, "except when incarcerated". There are states where incarcerated people, convicted by a corrupt justiciary system, are forced to work without pay.

Plus, they just elected an autocratic hate and fear spreading idiot who is a puppet of Putin and does everything in his power to make the US an even worse oligarchy.

The world isn't just watching, the world is watching in extreme horror and disgust.

Don't worry, it's obvious from the inside too.

The American people voted a traitor into power that actively works for a hostile foreign power to destroy their country. And yet they can themselves patriots. Pathetic.

To be fair a casual understanding of history shows they're practicing Christianity as it always has been

Application for asylum status when?

From where I sit on Canada’s western end, I honestly expect America to never have a legitimate/meaningful election again.

As in, over the next 4 years the GOP will erode the election system such that it becomes equally as meaningful as elections in Russia or North Korea - theatre and a thin veneer of legitimacy, but nothing more. That the GOP will work things such that they will never “lose” another election, making America a permanent one-party state, no matter how many people would want them out of power.

The scary thing is, Canada risks much the same if “PeePee” (Pierre Poilievre, of the Canadian Conservative Party) gets elected. The man is a snake-oil salesman who is always eager to tell you what the problem is and who is to blame, but who almost never had any solution for the problem. Even his “axe the tax” shtick is a “solution” in desperate need of a problem to solve, will hurt working-class Canadians far more than it will help them, and is only meant to reduce taxation on the wealthy.

It's not just the US, but they are the fastest on this path

I love that Gladiator, the 2000 film, showed us Commodus a rich emperor who was insanely obsessed with getting everyone's attention and the US has Elon Musk showing everyone that he wants to be at least knows as the best digital gladiator of video games while we have Nero/Trump watching the city burn.

It is like we are working on The Decline of an Empire: Greatest Hits! double gate fold album for 2025.