Radiorum

The global democracy index: how did countries perform in 2024? Since 2006 EIU has scored 167 countries and territories on a scale of zero to ten based on five criteria: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. The countries are then grouped into four categories: full democracies (>8), flawed democracies (6-8), hybrid regimes (4-6) and authoritarian regimes (<4). This year, nine of the top ten countries are in Europe, including at the top Norway (9.81) and in 3rd place, Sweden (9.4) In second place is New Zealand (9.6). Canada (8.7), Australia (8.8) and the UK (8.3) are also categorized as full democracies. The US (7.8) is a flawed democracy. Authoritarian countries include Russia (2.0) and the country with the lowest ranking, Afghanistan (0.25). Be interesting to see how the US does next year, what with Trump challenging the political independence of the civil service and implementing all those executive orders of questionable legal authority. https://www.economist.com/interactive/democracy-index-2024?utm_campaign=r.the-economist-today&utm_medium=email.internal-newsletter.np&utm_source=salesforce-marketing-cloud&utm_term=2/26/2025&utm_id=2064789

Lol, you post all the time without having a point. And my point is that there is a good chunk of the world that sees Musk for what he is.

At a London, England bus stop

Oh, man, this is pitiable. No-one is buying your schtick anymore. It reeks of ignorance and desperation.

Helping others. Who do you think Trump is helping?

Well, up to now, it's been rule by the law. that is changing.

It seems Navarro has walked back his comments As U.S. President Donald Trump threatens tariffs and pushes for Canada to become the 51st state, his trade adviser Peter Navarro is rebuffing a report that says he is proposing Canada be pushed out of the Five Eyes alliance. “That was just crazy stuff. We would never, ever jeopardize our national security ever with allies like Canada. Ever,” Navarro said to reporters in Washington, D.C. But, we know that the US is looking for pressure points on Canada

Information has been provided to you, but yes, I’ve realized that you have an antagonistic relationship with knowledge and information. You remind me of the talking Barbie they put out many years ago who said, “Math is hard!” Trump is counting on opinions like yours, that cannot tell right from wrong. Our hope lies in enough people doing what is right.

Reducing this to a contest between Biden and Trump is a very narrow-minded way to approach what is going on. This has nothing to do with Biden. The US has elected a president that threatens everything the US stands for.

When people raise valid points about the issues, I respond. I can't help it if so much coming from MAGA is irrelevant, stupid and desperate. Anyone approaching the discussion in good faith, and with a brain, knows my arguments are good.

I'll let these posts stand on their own as testament to the inability to make any reasonable or intelligent counterpoints to the points raised about patrimonialism in the OP. It is somewhat amazing that anyone can be so blind, to witness what Trump and Musk are doing, and think it is about these things.

Kennedy has amplified baseless claims suggesting a link between antidepressants like Prozac and school shootings. “Prior to the introduction of Prozac, we had almost none of these events,” he told billionaire Elon Musk last year. But research shows that most school shooters were not previously treated with psychotropic medications — and even when they were, there was no association between those drugs and the shootings. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/rfk-jr-health-stances-vaccines-fluoride-raw-milk-rcna180244

Yes, research and investigation is a good thing. But for the top Health guy in the US to make the claim without evidence is irresponsible.

Trump is installing what scholars call patrimonialism. His mass firings, defiance of laws, disregarding the plain language of statues, court rulings, and the Constitution, antagonizing allies, incursion into the arts (naming himself the chair of the Kennedy Centre) all support this idea. As he installs patrimonialism, Trump sees the state as “little more than (his) extended household” … the state does “not exist as a separate entity.” Rather, he is running it as if it were his personal property or family business. When he declares “He who saves the Country does not violate any Law.” – he is claiming to be the symbolic father of the people - or according to Tucker Carlson “Daddy” (who should give the country a vigorous spanking) – the state’s personification and protector – a hallmark of patrimonialism. Patrimonialism infects government by replacing impersonal, formal lines of authority with personalized, informal ones, like announcing out of nowhere the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, or a U.S. occupation of Gaza, or having your number-two man (an unelected billionaire) send out an email to thousands of federal employees asking them what they did last week and a failure to respond would be taken as a resignation. Patrimonialism may transition to full-blown authoritarianism. “…as patrimonialism snips the government’s procedural tendons, it weakens and eventually cripples the state … Electoral processes and constitutional norms cannot survive long when patrimonial legitimacy begins to dominate the political arena…” Patrimonialism is based on individual loyalty and connections, on rewarding friends and punishing enemies. As one prominent Republican said of Trump, “If you’re his friend, he’s your friend. If you’re not his friend, he’s not your friend.” The main ruling principle of patrimonialism is: “Stay on the ruler’s good side, or else.” Trump is even spearheading a purge of prosecutors who investigated January 6 for no other reason than they did their job. Trump is patrimonialism’s “perfect organism.” He recognizes no distinction between what is public and private, legal and illegal, formal and informal, national and personal. “He can’t tell the difference between his own personal interest and the national interest, if he even understands what the national interest is,” John Bolton, who served as national security adviser in Trump’s first term, told The Bulwark. The question now is: How long will the American people allow Trump to run the country according to his arbitrary whims, for no other reason than to exploit it for his own political, personal and financial gain?

If you have any evidence of a causal link between SSRIs and violence, I invite you to share it. Also - to note - violence directed outward towards other people requires a different psychology than violence directed inward towards oneself.

This analogy to what Trump is doing is not only fiction, it is ridiculous fiction Lol, oh well, if Ted Cruz, who has completely sold his soul to Trump, said it, it must be true! /s

Yes, this is what Trump used to pull the wool over your eyes. Can you not see that American democracy, and its pluralistic nature, is threatened if key government positions are filled with loyalists and power is concentrated in the hands of a small group of ideologically aligned individuals?

Trump is a mob boss and MAGA are his soldiers. Republicans in Congress have consistently folded to Trump, with hardly a whiff of pushback, not only because they fear “the primary” – and want their political survival - but also because the threat of violence against them from MAGA is real. For example: And some who voted not to convict after the 2020 impeachment, and voted to certify the results of the 2020 election, did so because they feared for themselves and their family. The list of politicians who moved against Trump and ended up getting death threats is long. He inflames his base to violence. It's an important aspect of his power. “They’re Scared Shitless”: The threat of Political Violence Informing Trump’s Grip on Congress

But they are not your words. You just parrot what Trump and his ilk tell you. See? Man, you have been so brainwashed.

This seems an explanation for why and how Trump was able to exploit those who felt left behind. It does not excuse him, it damns him. He operates best with enemies, and he bequeathed that to his base. What fraud, waste and abuse necessitated shutting done the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?

This is rich, as I have seen no rationality from you. And to suggest that testosterone confers "rational thought" is to miss that in fact testosterone makes men think with the smaller of their heads.

I know where truth lies. Do you?

If this is what you think is being affected, you are sorely deluded. No, I haven't. What will they do for me?

You really, really need to stop listening to Trump. Let's not forget Navalny. This is what happens to those who oppose Putin. Poisoning, imprisonment, death.

Again, for you, it's not about how ordinary people will be affected, but "getting the other side.' Have you considered professional counselling for your persecution complex? Lol, clearly! OMG, how stupid can a person be?