I started warning people in 2017 that Trump and the GOP were active threats to our freedoms.
Just blank stares and denial...which persists even now.
The media is already accommodating a further erosion of press freedoms...why else would MSNBC elevate an empty vessel like Kristin Welker, while firing Mehdi Hasan? Why would Business Insider allow an investigation into the accurately reported story of Bill Ackman's wife plagiarism?
Jack Smith's home was swatted, as was Judge Chutkan...with radio silence from the perpetually mute Attorney General.
The gaslighting necessary to pretend that this is a fight to maintain a democracy is absurd. At best, it's a fight to prevent further backsliding. If there's a 10-year plan to reestablish our democracy, I've yet to hear it.
I'll vote for Biden because there's no other option to avoid an apocalyptic dystopia. I can only hope that new leadership arises because there's no return to what passed for 'normal' pre-Trump.
Same reason I'll vote for Biden, but the Republicans are shameless power whores, and the Democrats are caught in a fantasy where both side are operating from rational foundations. The truth is everyone political lives in a fantasy that will kill us all.
I wish the voting was the guardrail. Unfortunately, I believe fate lies in the zealots domain. Ask the zealots of the highest court what kind of answer we are waiting for. It won't be a great one. Rule of law is a great idea that hasn't worked just yet. It may never get a chance.
I am fortunate to hold multiple citizenship. I think about those ides of fate often.
I neglected to mention the first thought I had in reading your useful participatory democratic republican (no capitals puh-lease) exercise, before I left a brief comment a few moments ago before reading other reader comments. That thought was the analogy of republican democracy in such a wealth-stratified gaggle of states with the largest armed forces and budget for such in quantified human her\history to the concept of "Autism" and "Autistic." How does one measure or find a standard for such experimental "place-holder" concepts as either non-capitalized "democracy" or "autism"?
There can never be a common measure of such a human condition as it exists on a spectrum that non-diagnosed seemingly social humans can find a place on as we continue to learn and attempt to find a Maker's cause to attribute it to for such an evolutionary condition. My own limitations leave me accepting the likelihood of both Divine Creation and that almighty force's slowly revealed evolutionary scheme of life, which so long as it is life is organic rather than static and so likely also in a permanent state of unfurling process. In that sense, one can reasonably speculate that as Gertrude Stein is quoted as saying of Oakland in No Cal after traversing the town opposite San Francisco in the East Bay, we can say also in dismissing notions of Pre-destination or idealized 'democracy': "there is no there, there...."
I believe that SCOTUS will largely hold the line...not because of their devotion to the Constitution, but solely due to their personal obsession with power. Courts lose leverage in dictatorships...this group of meglomaniacs are not about to relinquish their fiefdoms to a lunatic.
"Voting is the only remaining guardrail, and too few people understand the stakes.", or consider themselves vulnerable - all very scary stuff. Virtually every republican charged with maintaining those guardrails has wimped out.
How do you think it would happen? Yes. I am worried. I live in deep red IN. Once this was a blue pocket, but I’m seeing the telltale signs of hatred. Far more gun fire than ever in my life. Do you think voter rolls are secure? Where will they concentrate their efforts? There’s so much security for all the judges and prosecutors in his cases, do we still have enough investigative staff to figure out where these militant groups are? If we start fighting among ourselves, how long before another country joins the fray? This is why I try not to spend too much time thinking down this path… I don’t know and I don’t know where to find out. It’s a recipe for panic.
The agitators will concentrate their efforts on the so-called purple places. As I said in the essay, I do not prophesy, but if internal war breaks out on a scale that makes the January 6 insurrection seem tiny (and it was), all bets are off. Get across a border if you can. Get close to the northern border if you can, and make a plan to get to an island.
I know that's a television trope, but the trope exists for a reason. I'm not a doomsday prepper but things are awful to terrible at this moment. My personal plan is go north, then east, then south until I'm on the other side of the globe. I do not know if my plan will pay off, but it seems better than no plan.
1. To demand real democracy (good luck - would that include unions :)
2. To help the disenfranchised - the communities destroyed by globalism (and sacrifice profits - ha!)
3. To allow free speech but "stop the algorithms" (not likely - too much money in those things)
We may have become too much of an oligarchy run system - a runaway train. But hey. Maybe, November 5 the will be a turning point and the civil war will just be skirmishes we can squelch. Who knows. But not enough people are scared.
The etymology of "anocracy" sounds closer to anarchy (of either end of any political spectrum) than the republic our plutocratic property-holding forefathers left for U.S. to guard, protect and pass on intact to succeeding generations. I've preferred the vernacular no-longer quite neo-logism of "Cronyocracy." Capital "C" cuz it reflects the true hierarchy propping up whatever government is being sold (and bought).
That has seemed about right (and right wing) since those founding male property-owners died and left their estates the indigenous lands they didn't quite steal since our indigenous First Nations in North America aka Turtle Island didn't understand much less believe in the concept of "Private Property" or "Real Estate."
Health and balance and a better new year for the planet we reside on and live off of, dear courageous Penfist.
It takes courage to even speak before a live corporate-captured microphone of such core concepts of "ownership."
Thank you for the blunt assessment.
I started warning people in 2017 that Trump and the GOP were active threats to our freedoms.
Just blank stares and denial...which persists even now.
The media is already accommodating a further erosion of press freedoms...why else would MSNBC elevate an empty vessel like Kristin Welker, while firing Mehdi Hasan? Why would Business Insider allow an investigation into the accurately reported story of Bill Ackman's wife plagiarism?
Jack Smith's home was swatted, as was Judge Chutkan...with radio silence from the perpetually mute Attorney General.
The gaslighting necessary to pretend that this is a fight to maintain a democracy is absurd. At best, it's a fight to prevent further backsliding. If there's a 10-year plan to reestablish our democracy, I've yet to hear it.
I'll vote for Biden because there's no other option to avoid an apocalyptic dystopia. I can only hope that new leadership arises because there's no return to what passed for 'normal' pre-Trump.
Same reason I'll vote for Biden, but the Republicans are shameless power whores, and the Democrats are caught in a fantasy where both side are operating from rational foundations. The truth is everyone political lives in a fantasy that will kill us all.
Democratic leadership is delusional, at best...
Democratic governors, with the exception of Hochul, have met the moment, but the guardrails have largely been decimated.
With so much at stake, it's beyond belief that 3 Democrats are vying for the CA Senate seat vs lining up behind one candidate.
I don't think most people are in a position to move to another country, nor do I think most countries would welcome an influx of US refugees.
Voting is the only remaining guardrail, and too few people understand the stakes.
I wish the voting was the guardrail. Unfortunately, I believe fate lies in the zealots domain. Ask the zealots of the highest court what kind of answer we are waiting for. It won't be a great one. Rule of law is a great idea that hasn't worked just yet. It may never get a chance.
I am fortunate to hold multiple citizenship. I think about those ides of fate often.
I neglected to mention the first thought I had in reading your useful participatory democratic republican (no capitals puh-lease) exercise, before I left a brief comment a few moments ago before reading other reader comments. That thought was the analogy of republican democracy in such a wealth-stratified gaggle of states with the largest armed forces and budget for such in quantified human her\history to the concept of "Autism" and "Autistic." How does one measure or find a standard for such experimental "place-holder" concepts as either non-capitalized "democracy" or "autism"?
There can never be a common measure of such a human condition as it exists on a spectrum that non-diagnosed seemingly social humans can find a place on as we continue to learn and attempt to find a Maker's cause to attribute it to for such an evolutionary condition. My own limitations leave me accepting the likelihood of both Divine Creation and that almighty force's slowly revealed evolutionary scheme of life, which so long as it is life is organic rather than static and so likely also in a permanent state of unfurling process. In that sense, one can reasonably speculate that as Gertrude Stein is quoted as saying of Oakland in No Cal after traversing the town opposite San Francisco in the East Bay, we can say also in dismissing notions of Pre-destination or idealized 'democracy': "there is no there, there...."
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of Atonement Seekers)
Media Discussion List\LookseeInnerEarsHearHere
You really do have a way with words. I don't believe in pre-destination personally, but I do think reality is deterministic.
You are fortunate to be in a position to move.
I believe that SCOTUS will largely hold the line...not because of their devotion to the Constitution, but solely due to their personal obsession with power. Courts lose leverage in dictatorships...this group of meglomaniacs are not about to relinquish their fiefdoms to a lunatic.
"Voting is the only remaining guardrail, and too few people understand the stakes.", or consider themselves vulnerable - all very scary stuff. Virtually every republican charged with maintaining those guardrails has wimped out.
The blank stares and denials are the scariest part.
How do you think it would happen? Yes. I am worried. I live in deep red IN. Once this was a blue pocket, but I’m seeing the telltale signs of hatred. Far more gun fire than ever in my life. Do you think voter rolls are secure? Where will they concentrate their efforts? There’s so much security for all the judges and prosecutors in his cases, do we still have enough investigative staff to figure out where these militant groups are? If we start fighting among ourselves, how long before another country joins the fray? This is why I try not to spend too much time thinking down this path… I don’t know and I don’t know where to find out. It’s a recipe for panic.
The agitators will concentrate their efforts on the so-called purple places. As I said in the essay, I do not prophesy, but if internal war breaks out on a scale that makes the January 6 insurrection seem tiny (and it was), all bets are off. Get across a border if you can. Get close to the northern border if you can, and make a plan to get to an island.
I know that's a television trope, but the trope exists for a reason. I'm not a doomsday prepper but things are awful to terrible at this moment. My personal plan is go north, then east, then south until I'm on the other side of the globe. I do not know if my plan will pay off, but it seems better than no plan.
Outstanding TED talk. Barbara F. Walter nails it.
So it's up to "business":
1. To demand real democracy (good luck - would that include unions :)
2. To help the disenfranchised - the communities destroyed by globalism (and sacrifice profits - ha!)
3. To allow free speech but "stop the algorithms" (not likely - too much money in those things)
We may have become too much of an oligarchy run system - a runaway train. But hey. Maybe, November 5 the will be a turning point and the civil war will just be skirmishes we can squelch. Who knows. But not enough people are scared.
The lack of fear about what could be around the corner is intentionally driven by bad actors spreading misinformation/disinformation.
Such an important, succinct and poignant post. Thank you Pen
Thanks for considering my thoughts, Mark.
The etymology of "anocracy" sounds closer to anarchy (of either end of any political spectrum) than the republic our plutocratic property-holding forefathers left for U.S. to guard, protect and pass on intact to succeeding generations. I've preferred the vernacular no-longer quite neo-logism of "Cronyocracy." Capital "C" cuz it reflects the true hierarchy propping up whatever government is being sold (and bought).
That has seemed about right (and right wing) since those founding male property-owners died and left their estates the indigenous lands they didn't quite steal since our indigenous First Nations in North America aka Turtle Island didn't understand much less believe in the concept of "Private Property" or "Real Estate."
Health and balance and a better new year for the planet we reside on and live off of, dear courageous Penfist.
It takes courage to even speak before a live corporate-captured microphone of such core concepts of "ownership."
Most appreciatively yours,
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of Atonement Seekers)
Media Discussion List\LookseeInnerEarsHearHere