The US is collapsing
The US is collapsing
180 comments
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Oh it's worse than that. California voted to make more homeless people, expand the three strikes system by turning some misdemeanors into felonies, and voted itself a slave state to take advantage of all that new prison population.
All that's left is to privatize the pipeline.
But it's okay, they removed the defunct ban on same sex marriage so they're still progressive! Yay!
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The baton used to crush your skull will be rainbow colored and have BLM on it.
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I entirely agree with your point, it's hypocritical "progressive" bullshit to maintain slavery.
But if I'm being honest, California is on my short list to move to because my state doesn't support same sex marriage and I expect Obergefell to be overturned. It's horrorific to be in this position but that's me and my partners reality.
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Oh it's definitely better than other other states. But I would suggest checking out the NE and NW as well.
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I know it has that reputation but I really don’t think California is the most progressive state. Maybe Oregon? Vermont? Not sure to be honest.
It’s pretty much just basic liberals here. And lots of fascists but they hide out away from everyone else most of the time.
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I also feel like people forget how fucking enormous California is. It's really just a few big liberal areas separated by a giant wasteland of racist rednecks that spans nearly the entirety of the United States from north to South in between. It's huge. If you start in San Diego and drive north for 12 hours you'll be....almost to the top of California. If you do that on the East coast you can drive through nine states.
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California has the second largest population of Republicans in the US after Texas.
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California also has the largest population of all states. A direct numerical comparison is disingenuous, a statistical comparison would be more valid.
Of registered voters in California, about 25% are Republican. In Texas, 38% are Republican.
https://independentvoterproject.org/voter-registration-by-state
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I think it's probably one of those two. California is a bit too diverse idiology when you look at the individual level because it's a huge state, just like Texas (which might go purple under better circumstance). Drive through central valley to know what I mean. Plus we're the state that gave the country Reagan!
As for the slavery, dem voter turnout was fairly bad like in the other states, so that probably had some impact. Some red house seats got flipped though, although that is pretty specific to those communities (turn out lead by house members, believe it or not).
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Voting for democrats more overwhelmingly doesn't necessarily mean more progressive, just more acceptance for the Democrats in California, who are generally establishment neoliberals.
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And yet in local races, primaries, ballot initiatives, progressive candidates and issues all lost. Almost every issue I voted on went the other way. So that has been my experience with California, that it is not very progressive. Admittedly this was a particularly bad election but similar things have happened before.
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The only thing that pissed me off more than Trump winning, was seeing how many good Props failed, and bad ones passed.
I'm glad we made LGBT marriage part of our constitution, but jesus christ the voting base here is NIMBYs, NeoLibs, and Conservatives.
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My guess is that all those people who didn't show up to vote dem weren't around to vote for the other dem items.
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Exactly right
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Don’t blame me! I voted Yes!
The baffling thing is that the other side didn’t even file an argument against the measure in the voter guide… and it still lost!
Like, if your side can’t even be bothered to come up with an argument for or against particular legislation, I’m voting with the other side, full stop.
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Lol, that's some serious "I'm not a fascist" cope. Really? If you want people to debate you over why slavery is bad, you're part of the problem, or like really young, which I'm hopefully doubtful of. It's like me pointing a gun to your head, asking why I shouldn't shoot you and then pulling the trigger because instead of making a sound argument, you just got mad at me.
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I think you're misunderstanding them.
A "yes" vote means no slavery. This was a prop to make forced prison labor illegal. Our voter guides contain arguments for and against propositions and rebuttals to those arguments, usually. No group even bothered to make an argument against the prop or a rebuttal to the argument for. They're also saying, in general not just this prop, if no one can even be bothered to make an argument for one side, they'll probably go with the only side that did make one. In this case that would be no slavery.
This was weird. There are always arguments both ways unless it's just some editorial change to some law that for whatever reason has to go before the voters. This was totally non-controversial, or at least it seemed that way. I don't understand how it didn't pass.
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Lol, that's some serious "I'm not a fascist" cope.
TIL it's fascist to not want prison slavery
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Ballot measures have an “arguments for” and “arguments against” sections in the voter guide. I’d say over 95% of measures have an argument logged for both sides.
If one side of an issue decides not to log an argument, it’s my personal opinion that that’s a strong indicator I shouldn’t be taking that position.
There was a long argument as to why we should amend the state constitution to eliminate involuntary servitude as punishment, but no one bothered to defend keeping it as is….
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There are artifacts organisations that refuse to argue against fascist organisations in order to not give them attention. Instead they argue in favor of others. So in a convoluted (and contrived) sense you just voted for a fascist.
Edit: This refers to your generalisation in the last paragraph and was meant as a joke and reference to a meme.
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The American prison system is designed to make money. Prisons get paid based on how many people they house. Making sure people don't wind up in prison is literally the last thing the warden wants to do. Anybody thinking America is gonna change it's ways out of the goodness of its heart is fucking delusional.
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I watched a video of a random streamer who ranted a bit about the elections. He had some great points, and he was basically saying what most people are thinking. He talked about voting and the people that refused to vote. He then added: how can you become president as a criminal but you are not able to vote as a criminal. And then continues with, he agrees that criminals shouldn't be able to vote, because they are criminals with bad intentions. Fucker, the system is designed that most people ARE criminals. You can go to jail because a copper doesn't like your face.
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It’s worth noting that California did abolish private prisons a while ago.
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This is a spin on the truth. Slavery has
never not been illegalalways been legal per the US constitution, as long as the slaves are prisoners. We had a prop on it to disallow mandatory labor in prisons in California. We voted against it because Americans have a hard-on for punishment. Personally I think being caged is punishment enough, ESPECIALLY when you consider the sheer volume of for profit prisons in the US. Hurray, private business can keep doing slavery in the state -_-It has been and still is legal in federal law across the US
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How is it a spin on the truth? Forced labor sounds a lot like slavery and they voted in favor of it. Just because some people justify slavery with a reason like "criminals deserve it!" or "but look at their skin color!" doesn't change that they're voting for slavery. Just because the criteria isn't directly skin color (80% of prisoners are not non-hispanic white... so its pretty much is still forced labor based on skin color) doesn't change it at all.
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Wow you really put a lot of cheap assumptions on what my point was instead of just waiting for me to answer (especially when I said exactly why it was a spin the first time...), you kind of suck. Stop assuming the worst as step 1 in how you deal with other people.
The spin is they took the truth "this will continue to be legal in California and the US" and spun it into something that makes it sound like its just California, like were upholding some ancient California law. It is a shifting of the narrative that this is legal across the entire country, which is much more concerning, and making it seem like this is a California only problem.
Also the title saying the US is collapsing, being active tense, implies that this decision is part of the cause or a symptom of, like this hasn't been in the US Constitution since 1864.
But yeah were definitely collapsing, just for other reasons lol
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Slavery has never not been illegal per the US constitution
???????
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Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States
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I think that was pretty clear and correct. Slavery is still very much legal in the USA.
Edit: actually the triple negative makes it say the opposite of that lol, carry on.
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California is the USA in a bottle. You got progressive cities, conservative suburbs, rural areas and industrial hotspots, poor folks as well as the obscenely rich. Ronald Reagan was Governor in California for 8 years before becoming the blueprint of conservative candidates for the presidency.
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This. Larger population than all of Canada = smorgasbord of different ideologies and classes.
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Basically because we're the 4th largest economy in the world, and thus, billionaires also run this state.
We also didn't get rent control adjustments, or a minimum wage hike. So yeah.
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They haven’t called the results of the minimum wage vote yet, god dammit! Don’t take this from me yet!
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At least we already indexed minimum wage to inflation a while ago so it will still go up, just not by as much.
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And all because 1950s McCarthyism incepted America with a seed that may eventually destroy it long after the USSR’s dissolution
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I'd zoom out, Capitalism has a growth phase and decay phase, we are at the tail-end of the decay phase and need to jump to Socialism.
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The US is working exactly as planned
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And will collapse as has been predicted.
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This was a result of election night that is underreported, but hugely telling and frustrating.
All this noise about California being liberal, progressive, and the resistance to Trump. But they kept slavery in prison legal. And I think the people who are predicting prison "labor" will be used to replace migrant labor if mass deportation does happen have it right. And California had a chance to make that impossible and decided not to.
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Criminal labor isn't split down any party line.
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Land of the
free-
Land of the fee,
Home of the slave.
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Land of the free is misspelled. It's land of the three. Trump, Leon, RFK.
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Some people think the language was confusing
Prop 6 Eliminates Constitutional Provision Allowing Involuntary Servitude for Incarcerated Persons. Legislative Constitutional Amendment.
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I thought the bear in their logo had two heads
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Patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter
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I bet the mutated Canada Geese look the same, they couldn't get any fiercer
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Soon
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The bear in the flag was over-hunted and had its habitat destroyed so it’s no longer found in California. It’s a great metaphor.
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Same here, the only bears still in Toronto are all on Church Street
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Bear meat is so gamey, it must have been to protect livestock right?
Maybe I'm not starving enough for it to make sense.
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This is why we need a "New California Republic", with rangers to protect the population, just don't listen those anti-mutties bigots...
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I've voted blue for decades, just so I can say I did the right thing: harm reduction.
This nation's last, last, last chance to improve its course would have been to soundly reject the supply side, trickle down Reaganomics grift, but when they lied that YOU could be one of the rich ones one day, Americans giggled like schoolgirls and the former party of labor went full neoliberal to take the larger corporate bribes unions just couldn't match. That is when any hope for the US to become the benevolent nation it never was but claimed to want to be died.
Citizens United was just a victory lap for the capitalists to piss on its decomposing corpse.
Anyone who wants to claim this country was over a couple of Tuesdays ago, hasn't been paying attention.
And it wasn't the Neonazi scum that killed it either, they just see opportunity in the cultural vacuum and chaos. Twas unchecked capitalist greed that killed the beast.
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California is not the most progressive state. It's just so big that it being progressive makes the news more.
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Which one do you think it is? HI? VT?
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I'm not sure, but I live in Washington, and we are at least as progressive as California is.
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They also still have the death penalty.
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I've seen this. Isn't it because of prisoner firefighters?
Fucking wild
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You can absolutely still have volunteer programs like that. Volunteering to work time off faster shows a willingness to work on the problems that landed you in prison. Forcing it just creates misery.
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That's what pretty much all prison labor is. They coerce you with "Good Time" and something to do.
It's still slavery, it's not like they have a real choice. Do I rot in my cell or work and maybe get out a year early? Of course I'm gonna work. I'm not getting (really) paid for it, I'm just getting punished less. Sounds a lot like indentured servitude to me, which we all agreed was slavery too.
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All right I'll bite. I crave more information.
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What's wild is that even with slave labor, the budget for fighting fires is still not big enough.
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Wasn't the ballot initiative also deliberately confusing? I remember seeing something about it and reading it myself and going "what the fuck is the answer for no slavery?"
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No, it wasn't. It had no argument against, no supporters against, and the text was extremely simple.
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Yes/No Statement
A YES vote on this measure means: Involuntary servitude would not be allowed as punishment for crime. State prisons would not be allowed to discipline people in prison who refuse to work.
A NO vote on this measure means: Involuntary servitude would continue to be allowed as punishment for crime.
Although I can't seem to find if this text is on the ballot to explain it
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"Scratch a liberal, and a fascist bleeds." Makes you question if Californians really care for the marginalized.
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I mean given what I've seen of their treatment of the homeless it's very obvious many if them don't.
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I don't understand your first sentence. California is way more evenly matched than people would like to believe. There's also a bit of selection bias where the super racists leave after a few years because what is objectively not a particular caring state is still too "woke" for them so they try Texas/Colorado.
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It has not collapsed yet. Democrats are electing a new chair RIGHT NOW (I don't know the date, but in the next few weeks).
They are going to elect a centrist. We can stop them. Now is the time.
If the new DNC is progressive and inspires people, it will prevent reluctant Republicans from going full scorched earth.
A progressive platform will win Democrats the white house for the next 20 years. Ask FDR how I know.
This, right now, is the final chance we have to prevent collapse.
Spread the word, share & cross post.
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The DNC goes where their donors want them to go. We have no real impact on what the DNC does, the wealthy Capitalists that buy them do. Collapse isn't prevented even if the Dems went progressive, it would just be slowed, you can't escape Capitalism's inherent unsustainability.
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I have to do laundry too. 🙁
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Yeah I was surprised about that too. I wonder if some people didn't bother to show up to vote because Kamala didn't say she'd support Gaza.
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Clearly most people don't consider forced labor slavery in a prison environment. At least not in California or any of the other states that allow it.
I voted against it because I think they are plenty of prisoners that want to work, so we don't need to be forcing people, but I also understand how people could just consider it a part of the punishment too. I mean, you take away so many rights of a person when you imprison them. What makes this facet special? Is it because we used the magic word slavery and so people suddenly feel guilty because of America's past?
The prisons themselves litreally didn't care enough to even argue against it, which should tell you how little this actually impacts their workforce. My understanding was that people were just getting upset at having to do wildfire related work when things started getting dangerous after they reaped all the rewards and training for that job.
It's like being a firefighter for the pay, chili, and comradery, then balking when you are told to go fight a fire. Your average person could do that and probably be fired on the spot. Prisoners don't get to make that decision.
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You understand they weren't paid for that training or job, right?
You understand they weren't allowed to do that job when they were out of prison, right? Even as a volunteer they'd be disqualified. They received no benefits for risking their lives, but we're punished if they did not. They were not sentenced to death.
To your main point, slavery is bad in all contexts. Corporations shouldn't get to have slaves because they pay their workers so badly they turned to crime.
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America is falling apart, but not because some people's pet issue is miscasting prison convict work as "slavery". Fasten your seat belts.
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if it's not slavery, then why is it specifically as an exception under the constitutional ban on slavery?
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miscasting prison convict work as "slavery"
Found the asshole voting against human rights, gross
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Yep, we know those workers have a choice of employers and get at least minimum wage, regular increases for merit, regular holidays and personal days, the right to organize, and an assortment of benefits. Their pay is commensurate with anyone doing similar jobs, right? There’s no way that’s space labor
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Inmates shouldn't have rights. They are worse than animals, have no conscience, no reform measures have actually worked in terms of reducing recidivism, and victims matter more than offenders.
Having them do "Slave labor" is justified.
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Do you.. do you really rhink that way?
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The crime: smoked a joint
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180 comments
One person was arguing that they shouldn’t be able to refuse to do “chores” in prison, but the things they do there are things like making license plates, furniture, and fighting wildfires. A bit far from mopping up and taking out the garbage.
Is that person wrong though? Would they be able to refuse "chores"?
They're in prison. Forcing them to do anything is wrong. We've already taken their freedom. Using them as labor is morally wrong. Especially when you look at the punishments like solitary.
Why are you taking jobs away from the working class and giving it to prison slaves?