56 Comments
Mar 21Liked by Thom Hartmann

Straight out of the Game Book for Libertarian Fascism. Take a look at Chile in the aftermath of RNC intervention with Pinochet. Nancy MacLean sums it up well in “Democracy in Chains.”

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The term is new to me, but has resonance, so I’ll have to buy the book. TY

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Yes—MacLean explains how Koch et al patterned their application of policies after Lenin’s advice on how to get the masses to accept policies that are detrimental to them. You develop rules and laws that essentially twist and obstruct the functioning of government and get it written into a “constitution.” That’s why, after all these years following Pinochet, the Chileans aren’t able to regain lost ground: There Constitution was bound up in chains. Everything favors funneling away money from the people into Fascist Corporate pockets.

The RNC push to send money to private schools, to privatize the prison system, the declaration of “Corporations are People” by Citizen’s United, the push to privatize SS and eliminate Medicare and Medicaid; the latest requirements in Georgia to make Medicaid recipients work—-all of this is Koch Libertarian Fascism, aimed at destroying this democracy and crippling infrastructure.

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And Citizens United Healt rolls on. And the Inferior Court of America with its six Catholic Stooges for the rich, the Catholic Bishops of america, and the non-Christian vangelicals rules on. We might need to do something about all this nonsense? Don't you think.

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Good comment S Howard, except that the Evangelicals are indeed Christians.

Christianity and Beauty are in the eye of the beholder. That you don't consider Evangelicals Christian is because they don't reflect your values and attitude, so good on you.

But they are as Christian as you. The thing with believers of all stripes is that they are selective in their reading and selective in their beliefs.

The Evangelicals believe in the Jesus of Luke 19:27 Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me. and Luke 22:36 Sell your cloak and buy a sword, whereas your Jesus is the sermon on the mount.

There is something in the bible, old and new, for everyone,, it depends on your cut and paste skills and what you wish to use as a sock puppet.

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Today's Christian Fundamentalists are direct ideological descendants of the Puritans. What we were taught about them was a myth that bore no relationship to who and what they really were. Their persecution of Quakers, for example - the most peaceful Christians one could find - was bloody, brutal and ruthless. As per usual, the women were stripped, whipped and sexually shamed. The men were also whipped and many Quakers were hung, while many more were put in prisons and starved to death. But really, anyone with differing ideas was persecuted.

If fear that iIf theocrats regain control, this is the sort of thing we can expect from them.

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Mar 22·edited Mar 22

Yes! Somehow, European-descended colonizing not-Americans have never been able to shed the "fundamental" pattern of simultaneously claiming victimhood ("We fled persecution in Europe.") and aggressively pursuing oppression of whatever poor not-them dared to quibble. (I did not know specifically about the Quakers, so I learned something today!) I have repeatedly beaten the drum that I think there is an actual chromosomal link to what has been termed "authoritarianism."( Is that more farfetched than the "Cohen gene?") The DNA predisposition would be concentrated, no matter how faintly, amongst the self-selected fanatics who emigrated to what they assumed (since they were god's chosen!) was a blank slate territory awaiting transformation into a latter-day Promised Land. So I would second your prognostication. Fortunately, genes are flighty, and I seem to have escaped heavy programming on one side. Why the subject has been of interest to me for a long time. On the "nurture" side, maybe big, big education came into play. Very understandable why the Puritans really hate education.

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Yes strict enforcement of separation of Church and state. Prosecute any member of Congress who violated their oath to our Constitution for starters.

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Greedy, evil people have been using the name, "Catholic" for hundreds of years to mask their intentions.

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They aren't just using the name Catholic. They are Catholics, and led by the Pope. The inquisition for instance and the massacre of the Cathars

Arnaud Amalric (Latin: Arnoldus Amalricus; died 1225) was a Cistercian abbot who played a prominent role in the Albigensian Crusade. It is reported that prior to the massacre of Béziers, Amalric, when asked how to distinguish Cathars from Catholics, responded, "Kill them [all], for God knows which are His own."

The last victim of the Inquisition Cayetano Ripol was burned on (July 26) in 1826

In 1307 Pope Clement V conspired with Francis II of France to kill the Knights Templar.

Popee Leo "The Great" threw Manicheans to the lions with all of the glee once reserved for Christians. A Manichean priest that the church subsequently named the Great one or St Augustine, saw the deed and saw the light and became a Christian, then with the help of a monk by the name of Jerome, helped write the (Latin Vulgte) Bible, ensuring that Manichean concepts like good god, bad god, heaven and hell were enshrined as doctrine.

Henry VIIII and his daughter Elizabeth I, burned and beheaded Catholics, then Henry's Catholic daughter Marry when she ascended the throne did the same to Anglicans.

Then the 100 years war

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So you agree with me.

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Thanks! Things old are indeed new again. But I had it that it was Simon de Montfort at Montsegur with the infamous papal guidance. Must have a book around here somewhere. You know, those things made out of piled-up paper? Huh. Just joking. Same point, regarding evil of exclusive marketing rights for god....

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Thank you Dawna, very clear provenance. It always astounds me the foul nature and behavior of those who have political and economic power and their affinity to reduce the quality of life/survival of less secure citizens. Astounding.

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This is the second time today I've had to remark that MAGATs are so snookered, if not suicidal, that many on SSI vote for a party that wants to end it.

90% vote against their own economic and physical health.

Here's my thought for the day. If we can't convince the victims, we have the means to save the world. https://danielsolomon.substack.com/p/register-democrats-save-the-world?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=742145&post_id=142824253&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=zc69i&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

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Daniel, I know you are familar with tikum olam, the Hebrew saying for Repair the World, your site is that, only more local, as it should be. We have to start at home, before we can repair the world. It is a tall order.

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US first in the world's service.

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Exactly, the world certainly does not repairing.

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The hat says: MABR: Make America a Banana Republic.

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Mar 21Liked by Thom Hartmann

The hollowing out of the middle class driven by the corporate class, aided by the Red Party. I bought the ‘trickle down economics’ line of BS for far too long. Thom, you and Robert Reich opened my eyes.

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Only a small percentage of the population knows trickle down and supply side economics was a failure. We need folks like you to explain.

At UM. they have an advanced tax course that lays it out. The course is designed for post doc law graduates. https://news.miami.edu/law/stories/2023/10/legal-course-on-taylor-swifts-ip-empire.html Same stuff Thom discusses. I've been asking him to go viral, publish on Taylor Swift's Instagram page.

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Robert Reich’s 14-part ‘Wealth & Poverty’ class, that he talk at Berkley, on YouTube. I took it during the Spring semester of ‘21, I believe it was.

It’s excellent.

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As a Centrist - who sounds like a Progressive to Red Party Wingnuts - I'm the first to admit that there should be a balance between capital and labor. Trouble comes from the decades-long rout of labor by the corporatists who own the Red Party.

It's long-past time for a change. Vote Blue.

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I was raised, and conditioned, until at least post-law school, by stringently authoritarian/Republican parents. At the same time, my mother's family had taken from them 2 1/2 acres (acres) at the crest of the hill next to Twin Peaks in San Francisco. Joe Alioto and insider developers saw the beautiful set-up of the "redevelopment" law, which was supposed to be for slum clearance, but, oh well.... I don't remember when the "revelation" came to me, that the rich and powerful actually were not better people than my grandfather: not harder-working, not more virtuous, and certainly not more honest. Sharing an anecdote of the reality of "trickle-up!" Book: "History of the Great American Fortunes," Gustavus Myers.

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This is the stark information that needs to get out and be heard in this election year.

Democrats seem to be searching for what’s most important to convey to voters in order to get their message across, that Democrats are the party looking out for our citizens.

Trump is constantly jabbering on about how the left is ruining ‘our lives’ and constantly blaming those that have made life so difficult.

The fact is the Trump way is the reason the poor get poorer and the very wealthiest get richer.

The facts outlined in this report, explain exactly how the Republicans have insisted their “states” are at the bottom as far as ease of life goes.

The healthcare has purposely been stripped down along with wages and education and hunger relief.

It’s a set up by the Republicans and their agenda, the Supreme Court fashioned by Mitch McConnell has been absolutely anti American in its treatment of non millionaires and billionaires.

Just look how they’ve played politics with an indicted ex president , assisting him in delaying justice and even injecting distractions into the fourteenth amendment part 3 .

That corrupts the actual straightforward meaning of the text.

They will stop at nothing to destroy Democracy.

We need to start speaking out loud about the truth .

Trump cannot tell the truth.

We can wait for history to reveal the truth or we can tell it loudly now to change the path of history .

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You always do an excellent job with your well-researched and considered essays, Thom. Thank you.

What we see is Bread and Circus. I am not quite ready to give American citizens a pass and blame everything on those cruel Republicans (and they ARE cruel, but the an inevitable symptom of our world views.) This descent has been, in large part, a choice. Americans are entertaining themselves with Circus, while not paying attention to what is happening to the Bread because paying attention to the Bread is difficult and often painful work. Social and network media has accelerated the Circus in every way possible. This will continue until the "Bread" runs out and we, collectively, get really “Hungry.” AI, by decimating available jobs, will send this process into overdrive and climate change will make it brutal.

Many, as Thom points out, are already Hungry. So, they look for a savior and they think they've found it in Trump and xenophobia. It is no accident this is most severe in the purportedly most religious areas of the country. Our descent into delusion would not have been possible without early conditioning to look for a savior. Chickens always come home to roost and the sexism, racism, bigotry and downright idiocy in our core religious beliefs are squawking loudly. This flaw is fundamental and has been with us since our founding. It isn’t a belief in God that dooms us, but the way that belief is manifested in our society. Deep in our origins is a strain of religious extremism that is maintained, sadly, by child abuse – don’t spare the rod and all that. The Puritans were brutal to their children, especially the girls and we live with this heritage. Life is painful because our religions teach that suffering is noble – a lesson learned in early childhood. Who wouldn’t want Circus to relieve, even temporarily, the ever-present pain in such a belief system – one that says God is going to destroy everyone but an elect few who have managed to say the right incantations and follow the “true path” du jour.

Americans have chosen this path we are on – not all of us, of course – but enough of us to make life ever more miserable. We are in the Bread disappearing stage. One might even say the Four Horseman are upon us – a self-fulfilling, religious set of predictions.

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Spot on. People who throw their votes away want someone to save them. They do not want the painful job of thinking things through and being responsible. And to be fair, many are not among the brightest bulbs for a variety of reasons. We need to be aware and try and compensate with numbers and political smarts. Democrats need to get down in the dirt and actually talk to ordinary people about kitchen table issues. In my very multicultural working class neighborhood they mainly show up for op Ed’s., don’t stick around to talk one on one and give a superficial ear to their constituents. Hardly ever have a comprehensive solution or bother to step that through for voters. Most of us peasants feel disrespected and that we have no one to vote for because for all intents and purposes only rich monied donors have their ears. We still have NO campaign reforms and I have fought that losing battle for seventy years

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Well said. This is going into my folder.

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Thank you. Mine are just opinions. Thom has done the hard work of researching and informing us.

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In synch, overall, but did your bully spell-checker sabotage "Bread disappearing?" Anyhow, is one of the "horsemen" pestilence? I saw a Google news headline today about a resurgence of leprosy, for heavens' sake! Armadillos. Then hello measles, polio, and even diphtheria!

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I find it appalling that anyone would be encouraging more babies on a planet that is not sustainable. Giving a family of four tax credits is feeding the corporate greed machine. While this is going on the Pope is asking Ukraine to surrender to Russia with the courage of the "white flag"!

Obviously democracy has some inherent flaws in it when the voters vote for lying psychopaths. Religion is what makes them irrational and vote against their best interests and neither party wants to address that!

Les Parnas just said that the GOP are pushing Russian propaganda and he has been trying to gain the attention of the department of Justice since 2019 and has been ignored. The GOP does not have much respect for the intellect of the American voters and democracies, Anyone who votes for the worst of two evils is hard for me to respect also.

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Well, if anyone should know of the GOP pushing Russian Propaganda, it would be Les Parnas!

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I do believe it's "Lev" Parnas. I watched some of his testimony, and if I were a juror, I'd tend to give him pretty good credibility.

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Hey. I’m an old lady with arthritic hands, bad eyes and terrible typing skills, reading off a screen with floaters in my eyes!🫥What kind of emoji is this, anyway?

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Do you know how to text back "Yes" or "no?" I just spent a whole anxious day finally googling volume adjustment on YouTube. I had turned it down accidentally. The whole 21st Century is hell!

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What a great litany of the GOP's lethal incompetence and corruption in service to their oligarch masters. If their purpose as elected officials is to promote our general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for us and our posterity, they have been failing at a criminally stupid level for decades.

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Repubs want everybody to become like them simply want to have more than almost everybody else. They want to get their money from the poor. Business try to take as much from the poor as they can as a model. Walmart serves the poor in an effort to take down local businesses making communities that care for the greater population. American's pay the most for medical care in the world and go into bankruptcy which does not occur almost anywhere else in the world. This is model to allow almost all the hive to die for not having sufficient food. Any reasonable person knows this leads to hive collapse and extinction. This is what comes when the goal is to get as much as you can without consideration of the whole society. A lack of social equality of rights and life leads to unnecessary death in society and the greater the unequality the greater the social harm.

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Correct. But the situation is Trumpublican malice and treason, with greed merely means to a bad end.

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Actively opposing and organizing the independent and other voters caught up in a cycle of “my vote counts for nothing” resignation is the way to win the day with what we are offered to vote for. What’s left of our democracy is hanging by a thread and the GOP and fascist court want an Orban type system here. Let’s not let them.

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We've all seen the MAGA caps. How about this one? RMADbtt.

(Republicans Make Americans Die before their time)

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that would keep'm guessing! Seriously, I have been in range of local TV broadcast from Chico, California, home town of Aaron Rodgers. Not to mention infamous Shasta County. Chico loves home-town hero Rodgers. There is no doubt in my mind that there are neighbors he grew up with who are dead because of him.

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I so agree of the embarrassment they are causing America at this time with dictatorships nations. We want freedom and democracy!

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Can you write even ONE piece without the term 'Morbidly Rich' in it?

It's getting OLD.

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Thank you.

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Being mortal---it's a real problem.

All snark aside, it seems as the Red State policies keep getting worse. As the difference with Blue States deepens, the more people will study and publish it. That is the only good thing about this outcome.

Some humans only learn the hard way: their kids and firearms, their house lost to medical bankruptcy, they're abused or fired at work with no union representation, their child has special needs and there is no help. When it lands on THEIR doorstep....

It is good for Dems to know these stats and what we did worked, so thanks Thom. It keeps us pointed in the right direction.

In the meantime, being happy on our way to the end of our mortal days is another important statistic. The social democratic Nordic nations dominate with Finland at the top, and our Homeland has dropped some. We're no longer in the top 20, we are ranked 23. We are not just "missing", we are MISSING OUT.

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The quandary is, personal experience seems to be totally deniable.

"They lied when they said grandma died of Covid!" Trump never said that! Biden never said that! If it comes to their doorstep, they will simply blame Biden.

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Need a different emoji for this article

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Like a frown face?

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RemovedMar 21·edited Mar 21
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Great analysis and recommendation Carolyn. You see we don't disagree all of the time.

However 40% of the 99% that feel injustice in their heart, are captive of Murdoch and right wing hate radio and TV.. and as a consquence blame the other 60% instead of the 1%.

And that is why there is scant evidence of intelligent life on earth.

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Well that is the last word on life, the universe, and everything! Many smiles and goodnight.

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