“But over time, the executive branch grew exceedingly powerful. Two world wars emphasized the president’s commander in chief role and removed constraints on its power. By the second half of the 20th century, the republic was routinely fighting wars without its legislative branch, Congress, declaring war, as the Constitution required. With Congress often paralyzed by political conflict, presidents increasingly governed by edicts.”

  • KeenFlame@feddit.nu
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    2 个月前

    It’s like saying “let’s all get rid of smartphones together” the cat is out of the box with having social structures (and therefore empires unfortunately)

    • Libra00@lemmy.world
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      2 个月前

      Nah, more like ‘Let’s get rid of the ozone hole’, which we said, and then did.

      • KeenFlame@feddit.nu
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        2 个月前

        I don’t get it. No. We didn’t. We changed our behaviour and saved it. It is a success story.

        • Libra00@lemmy.world
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          2 个月前

          You were effectively saying ‘we can’t change big stuff’, and then I provided an example of a big thing we changed because we decided to. My point, then, is: sure we can, we do all the time. We won’t because we’re all addicted to cheap goods and outsourced labor and shit, but won’t is a fair distance from can’t.

          • KeenFlame@feddit.nu
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            2 个月前

            We didn’t decide to abolish social structures though. Ever. And it is something the same as fire. We don’t abolish fire. We won’t ever stop having social structures.

            • Libra00@lemmy.world
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              2 个月前

              I’m not saying abolish social structures altogether, I’m saying change them, and we change them all the time too.

              • KeenFlame@feddit.nu
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                2 个月前

                Specifically, you are saying we should try not having empires. It’s an impossibility. Stop using freon and banning planet killer chemicals was not in the same dimension as fucking stop having civilization after we had it for 2 millenia

                • Libra00@lemmy.world
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                  2 个月前

                  You are conflating civilization with empire, the two words have different definitions for a reason. Imperialism is, according to Miriam-Webster, ‘the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas’. New Zealand qualifies as civilization in most peoples’ books, it’s not an empire, and there are lots of other similar examples out there.