Oh yeah that’s an even better one.

Yeah just like the US was defending itself from Iraq. The attacks were imminent, I swear!

Using a highly scientific method I estimate you’d retain about half of your knowledge and skills.

Not as true as it used to be I don’t think. But yes it has that reputation.

Feel free to link something.

Total nonsense.

Gotcha. New York is the exception though. Most of the US is honestly even worse than California.

But yeah you would not be 10’ from a neighbor in a rural area. This is about the same density as my neighborhood which is a moderate density mixed use area many suburbanites would call “downtown”. You’re right that density could be higher but if every neighborhood looked like this it would be way way more dense than what we have today.

Agreed on the flying car. However this looks pretty dense by US standards. Close buildings, 2+ stories. Could be more since the bottom is obscured by trees. More density might make sense but it’s not bad.

Argon

Not really there’s a reason lithium is still used. Other battery chemistries have other drawbacks beyond longevity.

Respect for autonomy and worker’s rights is important. Cuba does well in some metrics and very poorly on others. For example, few people know that they have one of the highest rates of incarceration of any country on earth. That’s not a sign of some socialist paradise, whatever other achievements they might have.

But I would generally look at an array of metrics but political freedoms are an important component, especially when we’re discussing government since unlike other metrics it’s totally within their power to control.

Yes, the issue is with single party states because in such states, the party and the state are basically synonymous. Insofar as a party is a voluntary organization, it’s fine to set standards for ideological unity. But once those standards become a requirement to access political power, your state is functionally no longer democratic.

And sure, there are other one party states, and they’re also bad. But I’m criticizing the Cuban government specifically because it has more defenders on Lemmy than those states do. Just look at how many angry comments I got.

It’s very clearly modeled after the government of the USSR, which was created by the Bolsheviks. I’ve seriously never heard anyone claim otherwise so maybe you can elaborate on whatever the hell you are talking about.

I get it and that sucks. But minor concessions are a lot better than being executed. In the west at least we can openly organize and agitate for better conditions. There is some repression but it could be a lot worse.

I don’t think Trump has completely succeeded in rolling back lgbtq rights nor will he any time soon. A few decades ago being trans meant being a virtual social outcast. Today lots of trans and other queer people are well integrated into society, even if prejudice still exists. It’s a bad time right now because things are backsliding but this will pass and people are still organizing and pushing things forward, and I believe that momentum will eventually overcome the current repression. Keep fighting the good fight. I think voting against fascism is wise but the anarchists are right that we need to do a lot more than that too.

Not really though. There are many political organizations who openly seek to overthrow the ruling class in the US. They do face some repression but they still exist and can organize openly and enact political actions, even illegal ones in some cases, though with Trump this is becoming more difficult. Organizing itself is not outright illegal the way they are in totalitarian states. However due the systematic forces that keep such alternatives from succeeding are what makes it authoritarian, among other things.

I’ll have to look more into what you’re saying about the party. I do not believe this is correct and I believe the party enforces far more ideological constraints on its members than the US government does but I will confirm this. If they all have the same ideology then they’re only different on paper.

I understand and sympathize with anarchist positions and hope a stateless society can be achieved someday. But I don’t think acknowledging that states are harmful means we need to accept that they are equally harmful. And the Cuban form of government is a particularly bad one.

It’s a party but not a party? Now you’re not making sense.

Totalitarian means virtually all political power flows through a single entity, typically the national government. Other sources of independent organizing are harshly repressed to the extent that they must be organized in secret or maintain an appearance of being apolitical.

I would consider the US authoritarian but not totalitarian. Too many countries in Europe to speak to them.

I see, I didn’t notice you weren’t OP.

Requiring the party’s approval is only a small step from them selecting the candidates though. Since they can simply refuse to approve any competing candidates.

Or since Cuba has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, simply arrest them.

https://lens.civicus.org/cuba-elections-without-choices/

I admit I’m not familiar with the process for selecting local candidates but in a totalitarian system it hardly matters since the national government has absolute control over almost everything anyway.

Interesting. But requiring being in good standing with the party is already enough to make these elections illegitimate. And given the lack of dissent allowed and the subservient position local officials typically have to national leaders this seems like a very small difference to me.