this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
203 points (96.8% liked)

solarpunk memes

2594 readers
470 users here now

For when you need a laugh!

The definition of a "meme" here is intentionally pretty loose. Images, screenshots, and the like are welcome!

But, keep it lighthearted and/or within our server's ideals.

Posts and comments that are hateful, trolling, inciting, and/or overly negative will be removed at the moderators' discretion.

Please follow all slrpnk.net rules and community guidelines

Have fun!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Politicians take inadequate measures because they do what the population wants to be reelected on the next term.

That's the only thing you're getting wrong here, but it's a very crucial point. Even in the best democracies on earth, political power does not come from the people as a whole, it is not distributed equally. It's kind of difficult to prove or quantify but this study succeeded for the US: https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf

They showed that it's organized groups who actually influence politics. It's obvious that lobbyists of corporations and industry associations will be among them, but it also includes unions, climate lobby groups, etc. But corporate lobby groups often have similar interests whereas most non-corporate groups only talk about very few issues, making them less visible (the paper suggests that they'll be impactful if they all speak out in favor of the same things). Furthermore, who is actually part of such groups? It'll be the well-off people who don't have to work two or three jobs to survive. Now it's common knowledge that the US is far from being the best democracy on earth, but I have a feeling that the EU where some of the better democracies are located works very similarly.

Therefore it's neither correct nor fair or helpful to blame everyone. The elites need to be held accountable, or even better, be abolished.