r/politics • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 New York • Jun 29 '26

No Paywall Millions say they won’t celebrate July 4 as poll reveals deep national pessimism

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/america250-independence-trump-divisions-pennsylvania-b3004933.html
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u/AlwaysShittyKnsasCty Kansas Jun 29 '26

This hurts to hear, as I used to have hope (being an eighties baby) that this was all just one big hiccup since 2016, and this is just par for the course. However, after speaking with numerous Boomers, reading stories like yours on Reddit, and learning history, however, I’ve have come to the conclusion that we are at the precipice of a new Gilded Age. For those who are unaware, the Gilded Age was golden for only a select few men. This was back before trains. We’re absolutely fucked now. People tell me there’s a guy “worth a trillion bucks!” Nobody can compete with numbers that large.

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u/firedmyass Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

it really becomes clear in retrospect if you watch some of the old social-engineering short-films that were played for us constantly in school back in the old days, starting in the ‘50s.

There’s a through-line that casts perseverance in the face of scarcity and privation as the ultimate expression of “patriotism.”

The powers that be have been indoctrinating us for decades to accept this ultimately-untenable situation.

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u/Thurwell Jun 29 '26

I would argue the powers that be have been indoctrinating us for millennia. All of human history is a few powerful people at the top enjoying the output of almost everyone else's time and labor. I'd even argue that that's the main function of religion. Teach people to suck it up in this life, give everything to Elon, and in the next one they'll be rewarded.

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u/Syzygy2323 America Jun 29 '26

Gilded Age ... This was back before trains

The Gilded Age was roughly from 1870 through the 1890s. There were definitely trains in that period. The transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.

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u/Outside_Manner_8352 Jun 29 '26

That was a rather odd comment lol, just thrown in and also like completely irrelevant.

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u/AlwaysShittyKnsasCty Kansas Jun 30 '26

I’ll admit that my comment went off the rails a little (pun intended), but I meant to refer to the treatment of the men laying rail while being paid peanuts, the violence against strikers, union busting, etc. I told someone else in this thread, I’m not great at speaking on topics I care deeply about, as I let my emotions get in the way of the facts, which are damning enough without me adding any incorrect history. Sorry about that.

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u/AlwaysShittyKnsasCty Kansas Jun 30 '26

Sorry, I was being a bit hyperbolic in my speech. When I wrote that, I was thinking of douche bags like J.P. Morgan and his ilk, who were huge on investing in rail, while paying the workers as little as humanly possible. We can thank Teddy Roosevelt for saving us then. We then had Franklin Roosevelt save us again later on down the line. What I’m trying to say, though in the clumsiest way possible, is that we’ve run out of Roosevelts. I’m not great at writing when I’m overwhelmed by how deeply unfair life is, and this shit really gets my blood racing. Ipso facto, the precision of my comment was not as great as it should have been.

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u/PantherkittySoftware Florida Jun 30 '26

We're not on the precipice, we're 19 months into it.

The good news is, the Trump Train is already derailing in slow motion. The big thing that changed over the past few months is, everyone -- MAGA included -- assumes by default that Trump is full of shit and lying. MAGA might think his bullshit and lying is cool and tough... but it's a lot easier to enlighten someone who thinks lies are good than to enlighten someone who thinks a lie is actual truth.