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2.5 Million Poor Americans Have Lost Food Aid Since Trump Signed GOP’s Big Ugly Bill Into Law
(www.commondreams.org)
this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2026
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politics
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Apparently that's how the majority of Americans want it.
As I've stated dozens of times here on Lemmy already, American society is sociopathic. Valuing freedom over all else, and considering sociopathy the ultimate expression of freedom.
Trump elected for President is a symptom of that mental illness permeating US society.
“Freedom”?
Freedom to get fucked by the wealthy, maybe.
Yes, because Americans don't understand what freedom is anymore, it's just been an almost religious mantra they've chanted for decades, without contemplating what it means.
So yes they give freedom to the rich, because they think regulations are contrary to freedom, and without regulation the rich have the power.
They don't even value freedom that much. If you have sufficient money you can take anyone's freedom.
True, Americans have a very distorted view on freedom. They only consider freedom to, as if you have power and money, but not freedom from. as in not being oppressed, not being shot, not being underpaid.
Not even, you have freedom to, right up until a cop or busybody decides they don't like it
Exactly, the American pursuit of freedom instead of humanitarian values, has actually given them less freedom instead of more.
I think taking the American pursuit of freedom as a given is an incorrect assumption. Freedom is used here not as an idea that must be analyzed and fought for, but as an identity marker that's trotted out to defend oneself both from others disapproval or disallowal of one's actions and as a cudgel against those whose actions one disapproves of.
The easiest place to see this is in the concept of religious freedom. The same people who harp on religious freedom often want to declare America a Christian nation. They'll whine and sue that their religious freedom is being attacked when they're expected to treat a gay couple as married, but they'll stand firm when other religions demanded the right to marry gay people, or when people wanted the religious right to psychedelic use (including indigenous use of peyote).
I've been reading The Dawn of Everything and it brings up indigenous critiques of European settlers, especially those attributed to Kondiaronk, and some of these groups have a much more complete and realistic understanding of freedom than even the better end of the average American today. And yeah the book goes into how their perception of freedom includes duties to enable others to actually engage in it. The freedom to move far away requires the duty to show hospitality.
When many Americans talk about freedom these days it's just a virtue signal, regardless of if the virtue is actually possessed. We still do have those who genuinely believe in freedom, the ACLU remains as such, but they were considered radical from the start.
I don't understand how you can claim that American pursuit of freedom is an incorrect assumption, and then in the very next sentence, you also claim it's an identity marker.
Freedom is an indoctrinated core value for many Americans, but only as a mantra they don't really understand the meaning of.
I agree that Americans in general have no real understanding of what freedom really is, and are confused on the issue to a degree that they actually undermine their own freedom.
Good example, and yes the double standard is maddening, and Americans fail to understand that the right to oppress others is not freedom for the people, but will always end as only freedom for the most powerful to oppress the people.
That sounds very interesting, kind of like the tolerance of intolerance paradox, that teach we shouldn't allow intolerance, we also need to enable the freedom of others, to have real freedom in society.
I think there is much truth in that, but it is more than just virtue signalling, because it seems also like a religious mantra, so it is the strongest possible kind of virtue signalling.
And when something becomes religious, rationality about the issue goes out the Window.
People would rather use him as a scapegoat for everything rather than actually reflect on the causes. Especially if causes require effort to fix
It requires more than effort, it requires a change of mentality in USA, that just doesn't seem to happen like it has in other democracies. Maybe because USA is such a flawed democracy.
Lot's of Americans stand on the right side of the issues, but they are not a majority, and there is basically no talk of reforming the democracy in USA to improve it.
Doesn't help those we have in power are actively working to prevent change, and have been spending decades destroying education. Then add in the lead and decades of being told government doesn't work private is better for everything, ignore every example of how that's actually false
Yes both Republicans and Democrats agree on sharing the power, except maybe Republicans don't want to share anymore.
And It's not like democrats have been doing much to seem like they even want power.
They get to fundraise more easily and don't need to work to pass anything! Win win for them
Freedom for whom?
That's not even being debated, it's just like a religious mantra, all rules are bad because they limit freedom is the general sentiment.
Americans prefer the freedom to carry arms, instead of the freedom from being in danger of being shot at almost any time almost anywhere.
In Europe where laws are more based on making a good life for the general public, there is much more freedom for everybody. Freedom of expression, freedom for a woman to walk alone at night in the city, freedom for a child to walk to school. Freedom to seek treatment for disease without being bankrupted. Freedom to start a union protected by law at your workplace.
It's not about for whom, it's about the kinds of freedoms that exist that are actually valuable. In USA they prefer more freedom from taxes for the 1%, instead of getting healthcare for all.
It's just so completely different mindsets, where in USA freedom is based on selfishness everyone for themselves, where in Europe it is more about freedom for everybody to live a good life even if you get sick or get fired.
He’s more than the symptom, he’s the facilitator. Those sociopaths wouldn’t have a path to power without speaking through their puppet’s mouth. They wouldn’t be able to avoid consequences without the expectation of pardons for free or simple bribe
What you describe is a symptom. Symptoms are the consequences of a disease, and what you describe are consequences of a sociopathic system.