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.”
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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.
Correct. But the situation is Trumpublican malice and treason, with greed merely means to a bad end.
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.
We've all seen the MAGA caps. How about this one? RMADbtt.
(Republicans Make Americans Die before their time)
I so agree of the embarrassment they are causing America at this time with dictatorships nations. We want freedom and democracy!
Can you write even ONE piece without the term 'Morbidly Rich' in it?
It's getting OLD.
Thank you.
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.
Need a different emoji for this article