Right way to measure governments is oligarchist corruption. All CIA approved democracies fail at this, and so not in the slightest a beneficial model. Trade shouldn't be viewed as bad. Corruption and subjugation are bad, and trade deals should be looked at only under that framework.

[+] Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone -9 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Why not just measure corruption, full stop? Why specify oligarchy corruption?

China still also falls apart under that viewpoint.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I'm guessing because oligarchic corruption is what's most effective at getting the state to work against the majority's interest. Small time corruption where you have to insert coin here or there to get things moving but you don't get power over the state can't do that. It only introduces inefficiency. Oligarchic corruption gets the state to represent the oligarchy's interests and since those are in contradiction with the interests of the majority, the states stops representing it. That includes taking control of any form of democracy that may exist. In the US the oligarchs have obtained control over the state and the democratic system. It's why there are never good options to vote for, but turd sandwich or a giant douche. I don't know enough about China but there are signs that the state is not owned by its oligarchy. E.g. when Jack Ma wanted to make a private bank / payment system that isn't controlled by the state, he took a vacation for a while and returned a changed man.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago

In the US the oligarchs have obtained control over the state and the democratic system.

The US was never democratic, and the oligarchs have always been in the driver’s seat. Previously:

The US government was never not captured by the bourgeoisie, because the US was born of a bourgeois revolution[1]. The wealthy, white, male, land-owning, largely slave-owning Founding Fathers constructed a bourgeois state with “checks and balances” against the “tyranny of the majority”. It was never meant to represent the majority—the working class—and it never has, despite eventually allowing women and non-whites (at least those not disenfranchised by the carceral system) to vote. BBC: [Princeton & Northwestern] Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy

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