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Comment by Causality1 | Hacker News Reader

Beyond simple consumer protection, the US really needs some massive conflict of interest law, maybe even on the level of a constitutional amendment.

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Yes, it does. How likely do you think that is, with everyone whipped into a furious culture war all the time, and regulators captured? I hate being a pessimist all the time, but in my memory, I see little precedent to suggest an optimistic long view is the right one.

I think violent revolution/civil war is more likely. Corporations have as strong a death grip on the US government as any dictator.

The US proletariat is anything but class conscious. It will self-sabotage any revolutionary movement long before it concerns itself with it's true oppressors. The propaganda machine that keeps 1/3 of the country simping for capital will deflate any organized opposition as it has largely been programmed to do.

First step is changing the perception of the disaffected, about 90% of the population. There is no culture war for the 90%. Only class war. 'Culture' is a dog whistle for the camps we've been trained to align with.

Ewww Marxism! D^:

Politicians trade campaign cash for law & services, every moment of every day. Voters don't think much about it because news orgs aren't very interested in covering bribery.

Regarding conflict of interest: There's nearly zero discussion about where campaign finds finally end up. Those billions are firehosed to the parent corps of news orgs, in the form of campaign ad buys.

To restate the above, politicians are funding the news orgs that cover their campaigns.

I can't agree more.

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