Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
There is no convincing people that there wasn't something dirty going on with Biden, because the alternative is to accept that he was actually doing good things and protecting US interests like a good civil servant.
People might be able to accept that there's no proof Biden is corrupt, but they just can not accept that he might NOT BE corrupt. Both the extreme left and right justify almost everything with the idea that the establishment is fundamentally corrupt to the core, that everyone is bad and there can be no good people within the system, that nothing good can be done through the system as is. That's why people on the left don't vote, and why people on the right think it's okay to cheat in elections. Everyone is bad, we don't have to play, or everyone is bad so it's okay that we do bad things too.
They can't deal with the idea that Biden might have legitimately done something right. They can't deal with the idea that not everyone is as bad as they believe.
Biden was fighting corruption in Ukraine, to make sure US aid is used properly.
It's not like threatening to withhold US aid was an unrelated issue or something Biden could have used as leverage just because he felt like it. He was threatening to withhold it because it was his job to oversee it, and he saw that Ukraine wasn't serious about dealing with corruption, and did something about it.
That doesn't make sense to people who can't accept that not every politician is corrupt. They would rather believe any dumb conspiracy theory.
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That's an interesting point. It feels like the bipartisan cynicism has reached the highest point that I can recall in my lifetime, and yet it looks like we're seeing huge increases in participation this go around as well. Where do we go from here? Is the turnout this year a blip and an aberration, or do we see an increased engagement with democratic institutions going forward?
It does feel as though there are fundamental issues with the governance system that are causing wide dissatisfaction and cynicism. Information asymmetries between those in power and the common people are less than they ever have been, and the disparity in wealth and influence is also huge right now. I'm hopeful about younger generations finding better ways, but I struggle at this time to see how the reconciliation is actually going to take place.