Yeah let’s hope the chaos will be a catalyst for things to change but I worry people with bad intentions are more prepared to use the situation.

Do you really believe the chaos is more likely to lead to something good, rather than break down the three-pillar checks and balances the founding fathers lined out? Trump obviously wants more power to the executive branch and has the blessing to ignore the judicial branch of government. And it might be hard to claw back once in the power balance has bern shifted.

The two party system is obviously flawed, when people choose to vote for some one-size-fits-all compromise instead of one mirroring their political views. Because that’s what is incentivized.

Lenny is pretty aggressive in its left leaning ideologies and I tend to lean the same way, but I also like to understand the other viewpoint.

You say you voted socialist, but you post a lot of conservative news. Why is that? Because you want to broaden the Lemmy political spectrum or what?

I agree trump was voted in democratically, in a fair election. I’ve only heard trump and his allies imply the election isn’t fair. It’s what trump does to break down the checks and balances which keeps his powers in check. That should be considered a problem by anyone, regardless of political affiliation.

We do democracy a little different from the US, and have many different parties with slightly different ideals. Contrary to the us system that inadvertently creates a two-party political landscape where only two party ideals can compete.

I’m very well aware Lenny is generally more left leaning, even for my country’s average citizen.

I haven’t heard anyone say we shouldn’t know where the money goes. I don’t think the spending isn’t true, just that cutting spending without assessing the potential damage is irresponsible. Let’s hope there is too much collateral damage from all that cutting. Like short term saving that turn out to cost more in the long run.

I do remember hearing that there is a significant amount (trillions?) of dollars unaccounted for the the military budget, for many years. That’s a well documented issue of unaccounted for spending which seems to be ignored by many politicians on all sides of the isle. Accountability is important like you say.

As you know I only have indirect skin in the game, not being from the US, but I and the rest of the world will be affected.

I guess they are busy defending the constitution, and keeping checks and balances in place.

It’s less about the exact numbers or contracts and more about the crude way of just cutting things, while also skirting due process, most likely against the constitution. But it doesn’t really matter, his judges gave Trump a free card to do crime so why should he care?

Thanks for the thorough explanation of the us tax forms! 😅

Well, I care primarily because what US does affects the whole world. Theo world is much more unstable and unsafe since trump took office.

I also believe in the principle of freedom and democracy and I think it’s sad to see it deteriorate, because I see how it will hurt people. I followed the riots in Hong Kong too as young people tried to fight for their right of self governance, if only for a few more years.

I guess I’m just interested too! :)

No, before you irresponsibly destruct the government you should be able to explain why. Prove waste and fraud where it can be found, and be celebrated for it. Do the due diligence yourself. Just cutting spending without assessing the effect is irresponsible.

And if they want the numbers from the agencies they can surely get them in a timely manner, had they not started mass fire agency employees.

Yes, I’m not from the US, so please excuse my ignorance, it just sounded so old school patriarchal that I assumed that it was a thing of the past. So a household with a mother and a father, are both of them heads of the household then? And if not, do they have to decide who is?

That would be pretty cool if true, and if they didn’t also gut the welfare state and democracy.

But I still kind of doubt they’ll actually follow through.

“Head of household” and “king”. What century do you live in?

Edit: UBI would be cool though, but conservatives tend to hate the idea of giving away money “for free”. This money is just to allow them to tear down the state and democracy in peace, saving them some time.

That was a very non-nuanced article just parroting what doge said without fact checking or verification. Pretty lazy journalism not adding anything to the conversation.

And it wasn’t even 8 million, as that was the ceiling, and some 2 million was already paid out for services from the contract. So potential “savings” was much less.

It feels wrong calling it savings, as if all spending is just a pure waste. Doge is now shaping the way we talk about the government spending.