2026-01-18 13:20 UTC
Replies (2)
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@cwicseolfor@zeroes.ca 2026-01-18 14:38
@theblackpage@mstdn.social @em_swsurrey@mastodonapp.uk I really wonder about this nowadays - they don’t know the statistics, usually, but impressions of what’s better? Certainly it was true of many boomers to think America was the best nation etc. - raised when the US had late joined the Second World War and prospered while Europe was still recovering - and anyone who falls for the Republican Party, but from the millennials who came of age in the recession and afterwards, I think the sentiment tends to be that the US is exceptional(…ly terrible.) But there’s also a sentiment, at least where I grew up, that relocation to anywhere in Europe is a pipe dream, only possible for the unattainably wealthy (possibly because there’s a projection of the terribly punishing US immigration system, and not a little also because what IS shown to US folks about immigration in Europe is the welcome given to capsizing refugee boats, which is both truly ugly and also selectively depicted.) But I do think there’s a preponderance of at least young people (and many older ones) that if they were given free choice they’d rather have been in Europe, by which what’s really being said is European governance and values. Even considering the circumstances of having been born here and needing to leave families, etc., it was shown a significant number would leave the US permanently if they could (though doing so does nothing to stop the problem, which is also hellbent on exporting itself, it would be much better for everyone to fix things here.)
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@wesdym@mastodon.social 2026-01-18 18:53
@theblackpage@mstdn.social The so-called two-party system in the US technically isn't: There are actually a dozen or so parties with multi-state ballot access, though only 3 have majority ballot access, and only 2 have UNIVERSAL access. But it's also an accident. There were no parties in our first national election, and there were several competing ones up until only about a century ago. The 2 majors are 'umbrella' parties, having both absorbed other, smaller parties, which is why they have factions. /cont2