Every change this admin implements needs this examination first. Everyone is in here having earnest discussions about policy pros and cons, but it ain't that country anymore.
The companies the admin favors are being given backdoors for every policy that's presented, and the way to become favored is to present bribes, whether they come in the form of gold plaques, lawsuit settlements, crypto investments, or stock market collusion.
Quite a while back the exponent podcast did an episode that has stuck with me for a long time about what they called “principal stacks” as an analogue to protocol stacks.
The idea that I left with was to look at the hierarchy of principles not just the set of or claimed principles.
At this point it seems as if the top of the principal stack for those in power isn’t even more power anymore, it’s just grift.
That's the ultimate expression of capitalism isn't it? The richest are obviously the most competent to solve government (see Elon Musk) and whoever is in power must become richer by exercising their power. For money is the reason for everything, and the ultimate mark of prosperity. I mean, if the President is 3 billions richer since he retook office, that means everyone is more prosperous right?
I’ve had this conversation with friends for a while…the idea that capitalism has crossed over from a theory of economics to an epistemological perspective.
To me the end game if this is incredibly dark because it is substituting something that can be fought for and won and acquired through malevolent means as a basis for making truth.
The companies the admin favors are being given backdoors for every policy that's presented, and the way to become favored is to present bribes, whether they come in the form of gold plaques, lawsuit settlements, crypto investments, or stock market collusion.