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Ajax: Word, I don't think they're completely to blame. The fear mongering and media has a huge play on this, not to mention the backwards way of going about it. The hate "Obamacare", more suitably known as MedicAid, got from people actually needing it didn't hit home until it was gone, and we're talking otherwise smart and reflected people too. Shit like that don't change over night. We like to think we're not easily manipulated by biased news stations and anchors, google results, youtube vids and so forth but the US is among the top countries in the world when it comes to dealing with the population. The top 1% and the top 1% of that again got a strong hold on the US from the inside, which any country deals with but enough pressure forces them to agree on some things regardless that'd benefit everyone but themselves in the end. The money they'd lose is not of significant value either.
The documentary the Social Dilemma touches on this a little bit, and when I visited the US discussing politics was on a completely different vibe than what I've experienced any other place while traveling. I've been to Spain 3 times, Egypt, Italy, Russia, Switzerland. Was together with a girl from Sweden that has their own issues and a friend lived in Denmark for a while. I got online friends I've discussed for hours with from Chile, Egypt, Poland, Bulgaria and probably some other places I don't remember right away, but I feel it's quite a bit to go from in terms of political awareness and general views from all kinds of perspectives. A friend/acquaintance of mine is in the top 1% in Norway, and I know dealers and addicts personally. Had plenty of conversations with people from China, Netherlands and so on. However, a dude when I visited the US even asked me: "Now that you've been here a couple weeks, wouldn't you love to move here?" I've never gotten a question like that from ANYONE and my reply was simply: "Nah, I prefer to keep my free healthcare" and the car went dead silent, lol. When I asked if I was too upfront the others did back me up on this though. What scared me the most is how shielded from the rest of the country most people are (lots haven't even vacated outside of the US, let alone their own state!), how public transportation gets hate despite the fact it'd make traffic flow better and for people to get around cities more fluently.
There's so many things that benefit the people a portion of the population don't like for no good reason (even upper middle class and smaller business owners), and going against it only benefit the top 1%. Call me a conspiracy nut but I don't think that's a coincidence.
When Patriotism and "The American Way" become more important than actually improving the country as a whole regardless of which party is in charge something is seriously skewed from an outside perspective. A friend of mine is a politician for the right wing here in Norway and supported Trump on the basis that a Republican party is better than a Democratic one (fair). We discussed further in terms of healthcare etc. and he simply said there's no system that is without failures and things to improve without talking too much more about it cus he agreed that part is a bit fucked and could be dealt with differently.
Despite being part of our constitution that everyone has a right to shelter, healthcare and food it's such a fundamental need everyone is for it. The right wing, and not only because it'd hurt their program, believes this is a good thing that uplifts the country. Lowering homelessness and being able to aid people properly is the first step to deal with crime. Crime itself is usually a direct result from socio economic issues, addiction or not being able to support oneself from one or two jobs alone is enough to tip anyone over.
Why the average joe and intelligent people don't see this in the US is interesting to discuss the nature of. Specially in terms of taxes, if you pay too much you get it back anyways. The difference is miniscule even if it should affect most people as well, fight harder to raise the minimum wage so that it won't be that bad. In terms of the latter it's just not possible to achieve cus of how the country is set up, and how fucked you'd be without a job, so power to fight the power is already an isolated issue that should have put you in a fit of rage already. When things back to normal I can only hope the majority of the US sees this as well and take necessary action for positive change although it'd suck for a little while first. I'm legit saddened by the state of the US and how the country is ran, love a majority of everything else the US got to offer though (interesting history, music, entertainment, culture and trends etc.). Not to mention the openness and friendly nature (albeit at times fake) y'all got. Beautiful scenery too a lot of people don't get to see cus a lot of you get 2 weeks vacation a year, fuck... The US got so much potential to honestly be the #1 country in the world but alas, it is not in way too many areas. My heart and thoughts go out to you all in terms of this.