• RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Government corruption existed exactly as it did today. How do you think things got so fucked up today? Yesterday’s corruption made it all happen. However, they did take it a little more seriously then for sure, and what did happen was kept as quiet as possible instead of as brazenly open as it is today because they legalized it.

    • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Government corruption existed exactly as it did today.

      No, it didn’t. The mindset of politicians and how they handle themselves in public has changed.

      Today’s politicians do stuff out in the open that only a few politicians in the past would try to do behind closed doors (Nixon has got to be doing cartwheels in his coffin right now). You can notice the big difference and how things are today, versus in the past. The quiet parts are now done in the open.

      There was always a push and pull between corruption and ethics in politics. However yesterday’s politicians tried a lot harder to make sure the middle class was doing okay overall, before they started doing corrupt things for themselves. Today’s politicians just want to use everything around them for their own benefit, without regards to anything else.

      We’re truly living in weird times right now, politically. The unspoken rules of politics are being ignored.

      • ThisIsNotHim@sopuli.xyz
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        10 months ago

        I’m not sure I’d say it’s exact, but some of the political norms you’re describing appear to have been extremely short-lived. That’s not to say we shouldn’t try to get them back or rue their loss.

        Machine politics with power structures like in Tammany hall seem to have been popular for quite a while.

        • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          but some of the political norms you’re describing appear to have been extremely short-lived.

          I disagree. They have been around for many decades, if not centuries.

          Never heard of things like people heckling during the State of the Union Address until recent modern times, etc.

          Politicians are no longer following a lot of the unwritten rules that they used to.

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        The mindset of politicians and how they handle themselves in public has changed.

        I already said:

        However, they did take it a little more seriously then for sure, and what did happen was kept as quiet as possible instead of as brazenly open as it is today because they legalized it.

        So I’m not sure what you gained by reiterating it.

        • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          So I’m not sure what you gained by reiterating it.

          Well, you did use the word exactly…

          Government corruption existed exactly as it did today.

          I was pushing back against that terminology. Some of the argument overlaps. I don’t believe I’m being too nuanced for the conversation being had.