This is quite independent of the US. The state functions purely to protect the interests of the dominant class. In the US, the dominant class happens to be capital owners, but that's true in most of the world these days.

>> the 2 major US political parties and their mission of promising things they have no intention of ever doing

> This is quite independent of the US.

Happens less in electoral systems where the 2nd party can become 3rd overnight. Politics become less rigid.

Multiparty systems can become completely deadlocked as well. Belgium has had complete deadlocks because nobody can form a coalition, Israel had five elections in three years for similar reasons, Britain was effectively deadlocked under Theresa May, and Canada has had outright minority governments.

I also wouldn’t describe US politics as “rigid” just because we have the same two parties, because each party has different factions and some of the most powerful factions were either marginal or completely nonexistent a couple decades ago.

The biggest problem with the U.S. system isn’t that there are only two parties (that’s a problem, just not the biggest one). It’s that both parties need to agree in order to pass anything (due to the senate filibuster), which as far as I know is unique among democracies.

I'm not saying that to say that the us is any better, but simply for context for what happens when you don't need all the parties to approve:

France effectively has that by way of the infamous 49.3. the majority party coalition can effectively force all others to accept a law, without ever presenting it for a vote.

The caveat is that the other parties can start a vote of no confidence and dissolve the government with a simple majority, but in reality this never happens because dissolving the government over [pension reform, the budget, insert issue here] is disproportionate.

The current government's lack of caring about their voter base because of the Overton windows shifting to the right has obviously aggravated this.

The filibuster is just a product of the Senate rules and could be changed at any time. There's no incentive to do so now because the Democrats currently control the Senate but they couldn't pass anything even without the filibuster because the Republicans control the House. I suspect it's going to happen with the next trifecta.

I tend to agree, but then I look at Europe and I say, who is the ruling class here? In the US it's obvious that corporations run everything, but that doesn't seem to be the case in western Europe.

I won't say this is a good representation of every european country, but in France, basically two bilionary own all mainstream private press media, the rich class basically built Macron to push their agenda, and most important laws anyway come from Europe transpositions where only those that can build a perpetual lobby service can push a topic into a directive.

So yes obviously Europe is a paradise of direct democracy where every citizen bloom thanks to a social structure made to help each of them thrive and reach the best version of themselves acting everyday for an harmonious society free of any anxiety about future that promise only bright shiny days for the masses and their children.

Just because they occasionally legislate USB-C chargers doesn't make them bastions of socialism, lol.

I know they're not socialist, but they're also not clearly dominated by giant corporations the way the US is. Who is the ruling class then?

Means & motive are still largely governed by whether you own things for a living or work for a living. The pay to exist vs get paid to exist dynamic is alive and well over there and the debates are all quite familiar. After all they invented the rules and we just copy-pasted them with a few small modifications. The ownership class just isn't as dominant as it is in the US at the moment, for better and for worse.

Is it possible that they pass USB-C charging and data privacy laws in Europe because the companies affected are primarily American companies not European companies?

Likewise, I imagine they pass anti-fossil fuel laws because there aren't really any major fossil fuel producing countries in Europe besides Russia which is both a pariah and the continent's gas station.

Not countries producing but there's huge oil companies based in Europe (BP, Shell, Total)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_oil_and_gas_...

That's because western europe is the ruling class.

All of the people of western Europe are the ruling class? LOL I doubt any of them feel that way. What are they ruling exactly?

> The state functions purely ...

any sentence that starts this way is just walking straight into its own falsity.

No human system as complex as "the state" ever functions "purely" to do anything. Instead, it's a venue in which different interests and power levels sometimes compete and sometimes cooperate, sometimes achieving goals and often not.

Yes yes and the other is the saviour of the democracy and humanity, while preserving equity.

Either you're new on this planet or just lying to yourself - all parties are marching against same goal, they just keep the distraction going so people are interally conflicted instead of paying attention.

> if you squint, maybe they're kinda the same.

> all parties are marching against same goal

Clearly you’re both in agreement.

Not really a helpful comment in either content or tone. Biden and Trump are marketedly different in both major policies and governing competence, and it doesn't help the discourse to say that they're just "marching against the same goal."

Neither is your comment. If you polled Americans I think more would say both parties are full of shit than would take one parties line like you are.

Biden passed the most comprehensive climate law in US history. The most unbelievable part is that the law was nearly unchanged from what was written by climate experts. Usually bills start out looking good, then get frankensteined by the hundreds of stakeholders that want to cram their shit into it. For once, we got a pretty clean bill that will actually do good (based on the climate experts I've read).

Form your own opinions, but I had to mention real action that happened.