The American Revolutionary Threshold @functionalmelancholic

Details: Category: Topics; US Internal Corruption; 01 February 2026; Hits: 18

The American Revolutionary Threshold @functionalmelancholic

The United States is at a revolutionary threshold, where the social contract has been liquidated for elite gain, turning the American Dream into psychological gaslighting. The system divides, exploits, extorts, controls, manipulates, and grinds citizens down, run by oligarchs treating the Constitution like unread terms of service. Authoritarianism arrives subtly through unhinged bureaucrats building personal enforcement wings, eroding checks and balances absent shame. The house is on fire—smoke from internal plunder, not external threats—and chaos reigns in violated rights, collapsing systems, and tax-funded genocides, coups, and private armies.

Oligarchs own government, ensuring unequal rules. The 2010 Supreme Court ruling in *Citizens United v. FEC* equated corporations to people and money to speech, allowing unlimited corporate and union political spending. This surged outside expenditures from $144M in 2008 to $4.21B in 2024, enabling super PACs and dark money. It amplified wealthy donor influence, drowning citizen voices, fostering corruption risks, and boosting Republican gains by 3-12% in states. No major state tax shifts occurred. Inequality mirrors Gilded Age peaks (1870s–1900s), with top 1% wealth share at historic highs.

Super PACs, post-Citizens United and SpeechNow, raise/spend unlimited funds from individuals, corporations, unions for ads, but cannot coordinate with candidates or donate directly. FEC-regulated, they disclose donors/expenditures; $2.7B spent in 2024, amplifying elite sway via coordination loopholes.

Dark money groups, mainly 501(c)(4) nonprofits, spend unlimited on elections without donor disclosure, enabled by Citizens United. They fund ads, mailers, super PACs, hiding sources and risking corruption/foreign influence; $2B in 2024, aiding elite procurement gains.

Foreign influence via dark money and shells post-Citizens United propagates globalist agendas, prioritizing international over national interests. Russia/China use propaganda, anonymous spending to sow discord, target anti-adversary politicians; loopholes in 501(c)(4)s and foreign-owned US firms allow billions in hidden interference. Reforms like disclosure can counter this.

Healthcare is profit-driven, tied to employment from WWII 1942 Stabilization Act wage controls, growing coverage from 21M (1940) to 142M (1950). Medical debt links to 58-66% bankruptcies; ~41% adults (~100M+) carry $220B+ debt. Only advanced nation where illness equals financial ruin.

Housing treats shelter as investment; post-2008 crisis, private equity (e.g., Blackstone) bought distressed homes, raising rents; ~15-16M vacant homes vs. ~650K homeless. Institutional ownership ~3-4% nationally, higher in markets.

Taxes fund misaligned priorities: Eisenhower's 1961 warning on military-industrial complex; defense ~$800-900B outpaces infrastructure. Subsidies for polluters amid ~60M tons food waste vs. ~14M food-insecure children.

Hustle culture moralizes burnout; gig work commodifies life into debt bondage. Culture wars distract via algorithms, provoking division for control, edging toward civil war. Two-tier justice: racial/economic biases; poor crushed, powerful evade.

Environmental toxicity: PFAS, microplastics in rain/soil; chemical soup from CFCs, lead, pesticides, phthalates. Elites prioritize growth over life support.

Lobbying as bribery traces to 1792, exploded in Gilded Age. Hyperbolic claims (e.g., "psychopaths" in charge, imminent revolution) are opinions; two-tier justice has deeper racial/economic roots beyond politics.

Yet, optimism prevails: History shows renewal—American Revolution against extraction; Progressive Era reforms; New Deal safety nets; civil rights dismantlings. Revolution as refusal: Decommodify attention, opt out of algorithms, build mutual aid (clinics, food networks, unions), restore honest language (bribery, not lobbying). No saviors needed—solidarity rebuilds. The threshold births progress; choose action, replace the flickering bulb with enduring light.

Comments on The American Revolutionary Threshold @functionalmelancholic

TheCoalitionGuy I completely agree with the profound observations in your outlook and intuition. The United States stands at a critical revolutionary threshold, where the social contract has been eroded by systemic exploitation, oligarchic influence, and institutional decay. The symptoms you describe—the flickering light bulb, the thickening smoke, the plundering of the house by those entrusted to maintain it—are not anomalies but the predictable outcomes of a system designed to concentrate power and extract value. Yet, this moment of recognition carries profound optimism: history shows that when people awaken to such realities, collective refusal, mutual aid, and parallel structures can catalyze meaningful, equitable renewal. Your analysis illuminates the path forward, and by grounding it in key historical facts, we strengthen our resolve to act.

Consider *money in politics* and the distortion of representation. The 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC (a 5-4 ruling) held that independent political expenditures by corporations and unions cannot be limited under the First Amendment, effectively equating money with speech and overturning prior restrictions. This amplified the voices of wealthy entities exponentially, enabling super PACs and unlimited outside spending—precisely the "thundering megaphone" you describe, where a billionaire's resources drown out ordinary citizens. This built on earlier precedents but accelerated the shift toward oligarchic control, echoing Gilded Age dynamics where robber barons wielded disproportionate influence.

Your point on *healthcare* as a profit-driven trap tied to employment is historically accurate and uniquely American. During World War II, wage and price controls under the 1942 Stabilization Act froze salaries amid labor shortages and inflation risks; employers responded by offering health insurance as a non-taxable benefit to attract workers, leading to rapid growth from about 21 million covered in 1940 to 142 million by 1950. This created the vicious circle you note: jobs become lifelines, even toxic ones, because losing coverage risks ruin. The U.S. remains the only advanced nation where a serious illness frequently...I completely agree with the profound observations in your outlook and intuition. The United States stands at a critical revolutionary threshold, where the social contract has been eroded by systemic exploitation, oligarchic influence, and institutional decay. The symptoms you describe—the flickering light bulb, the thickening smoke, the plundering of the house by those entrusted to maintain it—are not anomalies but the predictable outcomes of a system designed to concentrate power and extract value. Yet, this moment of recognition carries profound optimism: history shows that when people awaken to such realities, collective refusal, mutual aid, and parallel structures can catalyze meaningful, equitable renewal. Your analysis illuminates the path forward, and by grounding it in key historical facts, we strengthen our resolve to act.

Consider *money in politics* and the distortion of representation. The 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC (a 5-4 ruling) held that independent political expenditures by corporations and unions cannot be limited under the First Amendment, effectively equating money with speech and overturning prior restrictions. This amplified the voices of wealthy entities exponentially, enabling super PACs and unlimited outside spending—precisely the "thundering megaphone" you describe, where a billionaire's resources drown out ordinary citizens. This built on earlier precedents but accelerated the shift toward oligarchic control, echoing Gilded Age dynamics where robber barons wielded disproportionate influence.

Your point on *healthcare* as a profit-driven trap tied to employment is historically accurate and uniquely American. During World War II, wage and price controls under the 1942 Stabilization Act froze salaries amid labor shortages and inflation risks; employers responded by offering health insurance as a non-taxable benefit to attract workers, leading to rapid growth from about 21 million covered in 1940 to 142 million by 1950. This created the vicious circle you note: jobs become lifelines, even toxic ones, because losing coverage risks ruin. The U.S. remains the only advanced nation where a serious illness frequently leads to bankruptcy; studies have long linked a majority of filings to medical bills or illness-related job loss (e.g., 58-66% in various analyses), with recent estimates showing about 41% of adults (~100+ million people) carrying some form of medical debt totaling at least $220 billion. This inverts the promises of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness into a system of debt bondage.

On **housing**, the post-2008 financial crisis provided a stark illustration: widespread foreclosures created opportunities for institutional investors, including private equity firms and real estate investment trusts (e.g., Blackstone-backed entities), to acquire hundreds of thousands of distressed single-family homes. While institutional ownership represents a modest national share (~3-4% of single-family rentals), it is far higher in key markets and has contributed to rental price pressures and reduced affordability in starter-home segments. Empty homes coexisting with homelessness, while shelter is treated as an asset class, exemplifies the market logic prioritizing extraction over human needs.

Taxes funding priorities misaligned with public welfare have deep roots. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1961 farewell address presciently warned of the "military-industrial complex"—an immense permanent armaments industry and military establishment whose "unwarranted influence" could threaten democratic processes. Decades later, defense spending and contractor profits often outpace infrastructure or social investments, turning taxpayer dollars into subsidies for perpetual conflict rather than roads or health.

Broader inequality has returned to levels not seen since the *Gilded Age* (roughly 1870s–early 1900s), when rapid industrialization created vast wealth gaps between robber barons and workers, spurring Progressive Era reforms. Today's top 1% wealth share mirrors those peaks, with concentrated corporate and billionaire influence via lobbying—a practice with origins in the early Republic (e.g., the first recorded lobbyist in 1792 advocating for veterans' pay) but exploding in the Gilded Age through lavish influence-peddling, later regulated yet persisting as legalized advocacy that often functions as strategic partnership (or, as you aptly reframe it, bribery).

Environmental degradation, gig-economy precarity, algorithmic outrage farming, and two-tiered justice further compound the rot, but these are not inevitable. History offers encouragement: the original American Revolution arose from grievances over unaccountable power and economic extraction, much like today. The Progressive Era tamed Gilded Age excesses through antitrust, labor rights, and regulatory reforms; the New Deal addressed Depression-era failures with social safety nets; and civil rights movements dismantled legal injustices through persistent, organized refusal. These precedents show that when the mask slips—as it is now—collective awakening leads to renewal.

The optimistic path lies exactly where you point: "decommodifying attention* by stepping back from outrage machines, building mutual aid networks (community clinics, food co-ops, tenant unions, local economies), restoring honest language, and creating parallel systems that prioritize human dignity over quarterly growth. No one is coming to save us, but we do not need saviors—we need each other. By refusing participation in the liquidation and choosing solidarity instead, we can repair the foundation, extinguish the fire, and build a house worthy of the ideals we still hold. This threshold is daunting, yet it is also the birthplace of profound, lasting progress. The light may flicker, but together, we can replace the bulb with something brighter and more enduring. Thank you for this powerful call to clarity and action. Show more 2 weeks ago

I completely agree with the profound observations in your outlook and intuition. The United States stands at a critical revolutionary threshold, where the social contract has been eroded by systemic exploitation, oligarchic influence, and institutional decay. The symptoms you describe—the flickering light bulb, the thickening smoke, the plundering of the house by those entrusted to maintain it—are not anomalies but the predictable outcomes of a system designed to concentrate power and extract value. Yet, this moment of recognition carries profound optimism: history shows that when people awaken to such realities, collective refusal, mutual aid, and parallel structures can catalyze meaningful, equitable renewal. Your analysis illuminates the path forward, and by grounding it in key historical facts, we strengthen our resolve to act. Consider *money in politics* and the distortion of representation. The 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC (a 5-4 ruling) held that independent political expenditures by corporations and unions cannot be limited under the First Amendment, effectively equating money with speech and overturning prior restrictions. This amplified the voices of wealthy entities exponentially, enabling super PACs and unlimited outside spending—precisely the "thundering megaphone" you describe, where a billionaire's resources drown out ordinary citizens. This built on earlier precedents but accelerated the shift toward oligarchic control, echoing Gilded Age dynamics where robber barons wielded disproportionate influence. Your point on *healthcare* as a profit-driven trap tied to employment is historically accurate and uniquely American. During World War II, wage and price controls under the 1942 Stabilization Act froze salaries amid labor shortages and inflation risks; employers responded by offering health insurance as a non-taxable benefit to attract workers, leading to rapid growth from about 21 million covered in 1940 to 142 million by 1950. This created the vicious circle you note: jobs become lifelines, even toxic ones, because losing coverage risks ruin. The U.S. remains the only advanced nation where a serious illness frequently leads to bankruptcy; studies have long linked a majority of filings to medical bills or illness-related job loss (e.g., 58-66% in various analyses), with recent estimates showing about 41% of adults (~100+ million people) carrying some form of medical debt totaling at least $220 billion. This inverts the promises of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness into a system of debt bondage. On **housing**, the post-2008 financial crisis provided a stark illustration: widespread foreclosures created opportunities for institutional investors, including private equity firms and real estate investment trusts (e.g., Blackstone-backed entities), to acquire hundreds of thousands of distressed single-family homes. While institutional ownership represents a modest national share (~3-4% of single-family rentals), it is far higher in key markets and has contributed to rental price pressures and reduced affordability in starter-home segments. Empty homes coexisting with homelessness, while shelter is treated as an asset class, exemplifies the market logic prioritizing extraction over human needs. Taxes funding priorities misaligned with public welfare have deep roots. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1961 farewell address presciently warned of the "military-industrial complex"—an immense permanent armaments industry and military establishment whose "unwarranted influence" could threaten democratic processes. Decades later, defense spending and contractor profits often outpace infrastructure or social investments, turning taxpayer dollars into subsidies for perpetual conflict rather than roads or health. Broader inequality has returned to levels not seen since the *Gilded Age* (roughly 1870s–early 1900s), when rapid industrialization created vast wealth gaps between robber barons and workers, spurring Progressive Era reforms. Today's top 1% wealth share mirrors those peaks, with concentrated corporate and billionaire influence via lobbying—a practice with origins in the early Republic (e.g., the first recorded lobbyist in 1792 advocating for veterans' pay) but exploding in the Gilded Age through lavish influence-peddling, later regulated yet persisting as legalized advocacy that often functions as strategic partnership (or, as you aptly reframe it, bribery). Environmental degradation, gig-economy precarity, algorithmic outrage farming, and two-tiered justice further compound the rot, but these are not inevitable. History offers encouragement: the original American Revolution arose from grievances over unaccountable power and economic extraction, much like today. The Progressive Era tamed Gilded Age excesses through antitrust, labor rights, and regulatory reforms; the New Deal addressed Depression-era failures with social safety nets; and civil rights movements dismantled legal injustices through persistent, organized refusal. These precedents show that when the mask slips—as it is now—collective awakening leads to renewal. The optimistic path lies exactly where you point: "decommodifying attention* by stepping back from outrage machines, building mutual aid networks (community clinics, food co-ops, tenant unions, local economies), restoring honest language, and creating parallel systems that prioritize human dignity over quarterly growth. No one is coming to save us, but we do not need saviors—we need each other. By refusing participation in the liquidation and choosing solidarity instead, we can repair the foundation, extinguish the fire, and build a house worthy of the ideals we still hold. This threshold is daunting, yet it is also the birthplace of profound, lasting progress. The light may flicker, but together, we can replace the bulb with something brighter and more enduring. Thank you for this powerful call to clarity and action.

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The American Revolutionary Threshold @functionalmelancholic

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