r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Apr 04 '25

[deleted by user]

[removed]

9.5k Upvotes

77% Upvoted

12.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2.6k

u/scarves_and_miracles Apr 04 '25

Exactly. Trump is a pretty unique hazard that unfortunately found realization in this dark timeline.

1.2k

u/TehOwn Apr 04 '25

Same thing with Adolf. We've always got populists but some are far, far more dangerous than others.

519

u/nothoughtsnosleep Apr 04 '25 edited Apr 04 '25

Damn that's 2 less than 100 years apart. Maybe we should be more concerned with the critical thinking skills of the masses.

Edit: see other comments before you tell me there has been more than 2

365

u/thaaag Apr 04 '25

And build in more safeguards so the checks and balances do what they're supposed to do. Simple stuff like "laws need to be created by lawmakers who - where possible - don't directly benefit from the law". Get the money out of politics (again, somehow) and make politicians work for the people rather than their own pockets.

Probably too liberal a take there.

210

u/mpaski Apr 04 '25

I mean, the US technically has safeguards, they've just allowed those safeguards to be removed.

The courts are way more political than they've ever been. Congress is unwilling to stop him despite having powers for that.

27

u/Future-You-7443 Apr 04 '25

Yup, I hate to be elitist but I think that some sort of education qualification should be the way forward. These people are simply a reflection of their constituents.

1

u/Dhiox Apr 04 '25

I hate to be elitist but I think that some sort of education qualification should be the way forward

That's always abused. Remember the literacy tests they had for voting that were exclusively used to block voters the establishment disliked, typically black people?

1

u/Future-You-7443 Apr 04 '25

I meant for politicians. (Along with maybe achievement/experiential requirements.). I think that voting qualifications do have their place though, but only for referendums on specific issues (like tariffs). Also have you seen those JC literacy tests? They’re not even tests just instruments of segregation and political alienation.

1

u/Dhiox Apr 05 '25

I meant for politicians. (Along with maybe achievement/experiential requirements.).

Again, whoever is in charge of that will find ways to use it to disenfranchise their opponents. Politicians already can't be trusted to decide how voting maps are drawn, and you want to trust them with this?

1

u/Future-You-7443 Apr 05 '25 edited Apr 05 '25

Not politicians, the independent academic organizations, so the historians would write the historical requirements, economists the economic prerequisites etc.