We must not let right-wing Redcoat/Redhat terrorists — who have openly proclaimed their goal of Americans killing Americans in an ideological and racialized war — prevail at this critical time…
A start would be to get a lot more people on a lot more juries. The LE get so arrogant that they can make up or boiler-plate their way thru, it is not uncommon for juries to be outraged at blatant lying by, you know; their idols in blue. My Mom was an extreme lifelong authoritarian, and she came back after sitting on a garden-variety DUI declaring she could never sit on a trial involving police testimony again, because the whole jury had been so shocked at the lying cops.
"During the [Trump era] the anti-democracy folks were called [MAGAs or Trumplicans], because they were loyal to the [Orange King] and believed that the best form of government was a [kakistocracy], and that letting average people participate in democratic governance would lead to disaster."
Sorry for mangling the quote, but not much has changed except for new actors in the same old play. Maybe they're right: self-governance does lead to disaster -- in the hands of authoritarians like themselves.
Democracy of, by, and for the minority is an obvious and ridiculous oxymoron but one that makes perfect sense to mesmerized aficionados of so-called Fox "News," who, in unison, believe only certain people should have the right to vote. If you call democracy a republic and the Democratic Party the DemocRAT Party because it sounds better to your ear, and if you feel in rare moments of inward honesty that it's totally fine and kinda funny to hate on "others" not in your tribe of wild-eyed crazies howling at the moon, then you might be a red-hat.
This is for Thom and goes out to the universe: no one has more backbone than you do. I hope you, the doc, your caregivers, and Louise are in a happy place and ready to get you better than ever!
It seems to me that we need common sense laws regulating and defining what Free Speech is, and what it is not, within the context of a Free Democracy.
As we desperately need common sense laws regulating fire arms' sales, possession, and usage, we need to define and protect actual free speech, while protecting ourselves from inflamed and inciteful speech which hurts people, and has already caused several folks to be killed
.
The Right insists that both these rights (speech and guns) must be absolute. Absolutism appears unique to societies based on the three Abrahamic religions, and can lead to terrible things like Terrorism, and forced child-birth, Both of which are rooted in Absolutism.
Nothing is more untrue than the idea of an Absolute and never-changing, never-growing, never evolving truth. Absolutism is the original Big Lie.
It's clearly time to consider how to regulate Free Speech... not egregiously, but sensibly, which would help with the "deprogramming" of the cult of tRump.
Some modest proposals might include:
*Clearly identifying whether the "news" program you're watching (or any media with which we interact) is based on actual Facts (which are readily providable), or simply Opinion.
*Bouncing the Murdochs out of the country for being Aliens who are a clear and present danger to our society, who have already involved themselves with trying to overturn our government, and inciting violence.And I'm okay with locking up Steve Bannon for inciting violence, btw.
*Set boundaries (or guardrails if you prefer) on all forms of public discourse. Of course you can still lie and spread conspiracies in all your personal communications... (and of course they'll go underground, but won't be able to incite and gaslight the majority of Americans, all the time!)
* complete transparency of all publications' and broadcast, streaming or digital media ownership, and their corporate donations to political entities.
One argument against even attempting common sense regulations is that the Right would scream. But they're already screaming out lies and violent rhetoric. They want civil war. They are itching to gun down Liberals, POC, LGBTQ, Intellectuals, and Honest Americans. Twice I've had local maga-heads actually tell me that. In person. And it was sickening.
I keep remembering something I'd read (either in the SCMP or in the multi-volume "The Governance of China" - no I did not finish it, sadly he's not a compelling writer) where Xi Jinping said it would be "easy to destroy Democracy from within by turning their own freedoms against them, especially the Freedom of Speech." I've been mulling that over for awhile and I believe we have now seen how true that is. I further believe the marriage between Xi and Putin is largely based on this idea... (and remember, the NRA has been in bed with Putin... for a looooong time.) Xi and Putin hate Americans almost as much as the Red Hats do.
To give one more example of the Right's adhesion to Absolutism: Abortion Rights. to them ALL females MUST give birth not matter what. Think about that. That is Absolute to them.
Obviously protecting free speech is critical, but making it an Absolute Right is stupid and self-defeating. It will be very difficult to accomplish (because the right goes crazy when you suggest common sense regulations on either Guns or Speech...) But difficult doesn't mean impossible. And Absolutism is impervious to facts and growth. So, where do we go from here?
Thom... what do you think? Impossible or do-able? Needed or not? And why is everyone so frightened to even discuss this? (as has been my experience). I truly believe fixing our mass comms problem would begin the healing process... without sensible regulations then we are swimming upstream, and will surely drown in the garbage from fox, FB, OAN, Breitbart, Sinclair, Twitter, etc etc etc.
I agree with you in principle. The application is extremely thorny, though. It's a two-edged sword: who gets to decide or make the rules? Many of those who advocated for democracy in Revolutionary War times were speaking out at the risk of their own liberty, or even their lives. How can we restrict free speech in a way that DOESN'T restrict free speech, if you see what I mean? I believe the best argument you made was for expelling the Murdochs from our political discourse, which should be expanded to breaking up all corporate monopolies of the press and the media. Perhaps we could establish some form of subsidy for free and independent press outlets regardless of viewpoint, so they wouldn't be dependent on advertising revenue...? That's just a thought, but more than any other aspect of our economy and system, we need to eliminate corporate control and ownership of the press.
It is extremely thorny indeed. But we are the country who went to the moon, not because it's easy, but because it's hard.(TY JFK)
Democracy (as we are learning) is FRAUGHT! It's HARD! And it's despised by autocracies who despise humans and sell their own souls for power and money.
We need to find a way to begin "deprogramming" as many as possible from the cult of tRump... It takes interventions (thank you Liz Cheney for intervening on our behalf), it takes courage, patience, and a severing of the victims' (Red Hats) access to the perpetrating abuser (most of the GQP).
So, yes, thorny... and that's why we need to begin the conversation.
I really appreciate that you replied at all... I do feel like a voice crying in the wilderness with this.
Free speech in the age of the internet has devolved into chaos, who can out-shout who, personal responsibility be damned! That would be okay -- such is the human condition -- if the simple, damn truth of things could still be discerned somehow in the maelstrom by the majority of users, at least now and then when it really counts -- like right now!
Somebody is lying; somebody is telling the truth; both can't be right. I don't understand the whole multi-verse thing, so maybe it's possible for two equally opposing forces to occupy the same time and space without obliterating each other like matter and anti-matter. May the biggest, baddest m-efer prevail in that ugly reality. Whatever.
But religious/political fanatics armed to the teeth and lying through their teeth live in an alternative, fact-free universe. They're dedicated soldiers for "god" on an unholy crusade of full-spectrum dominance bent on destroying democracy. The "dark side" of American politics, by design, is not compatible with the fact-based universe of transparent democracy of, by, and for the people, and it never will be.
Here again, we are speaking of absolutes; all corporations aren't bad all of the time, but we have allowed our laws, regulations and enforcement - especially in the Reagan and Bush eras, and Clinton didn't help - to become emasculated and ignored, allowing these oligarchic empires to run the government and putting them above the law....and paying taxes.
FYI folks, Rupert and James Murdoch are American citizens, Lachlan is not. They own a big spread in Montana near Yellowstone. Hmmm, sounds like a good plot for a series.
James is the only good guy in the bunch... married to an American gal, I believe, and they donate big bucks to attempt to counteract tRumpism and the effects of fox.
Rupert should shortly crumple under the weight of his endless Evil Deeds.
Then lets kick the current Overlord of Fox, Lachlan, out of this country. I so hate everything they have done to our society, I'd love to see them pay.
Apparently “Succession” has more Emmy noms than any other series. We just love to watch how dysfunctional the overly-wealthy are!! Hahaha. Cant wait for the next season.
It takes about 30 years for an idea to become common knowledge and 60 years for it to become part of the culture. 80 years seems about right for another war over entrenched ideas engineered by those who hope to profit from a change in regime. War in any form is profitable for those who supply both sides with military material. Sadly human beings seem to go through this over and over again.
Dear Thom, thank you for your lessons in our history. Usually I read Dr. Richardson for that. But the regularity of our wars within our borders was a new fact for me to wrestle with. Every 80 years? Democracy may have its vulnerabilities, but it IS worth fighting for. With the BALLOT! We have a huge battle this November to fight - and win. It will be harder as long as Trump is still around and promoting “his” candidates. And the states that can literally ignore the plurality of voters. I’m STILL hoping for the best! No matter my odds in other personal matters in my life, I was always optimistic and with that optimism found my way to my goals. I’m not changing this late in life!!!
The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long. Let’s bend it. Make and wear a democracy awareness ribbon and learn why the Möbius strip has no Right or Left side and is indivisible.🇺🇸♾ #democracy #VotingRights #Election2022
I have a slightly different conclusion about this, based on three observations.
First, a VERY large percentage of the dozens of law enforcement agencies definitely lean fascist, and the ONLY reason they do is because none of them understand fascism.
Second, most of the dozens of law enforcement agencies are heavily armed and trained to take on urban attackers.
Third, these fascist brownshirt-wannabes are definitely going to attack SOMEBODY.
To me, if they attack our law enforcement, that's perfect. It protects citizens from attack, it gets the nutters out in the open where we can identify them, and it will show our dozens of law enforcement agencies what fascism really stands for.
Educating all Americans to avoid this sort of stupidity would be best, but if low knowledge armed thugs are going to attack, I definitely want them attacking our low knowledge armed thugs, the dozens of law enforcement agencies.
Stabilizer - you are NOT urging stabilizing at all. You just want to head up the rank and file American to commit sedition aimed with your arrow of Hatred. We’ve had QUITE enough of that. Stand down, buddy. Go help one of your neighbors instead. We aren’t going to beat TFG with more chaos, hatred, and YOUR form of fascism. I’m SO tired of your type of rhetoric. I’m 75 and I need help - daily. There are plenty of others like me around. Looking for a return to democracy - and kindness
My goal is not to cause violence, but to manage it with minimum damage. We are not violent and we cannot prevent these people being violent, but we can direct the violence to those whose job it is to handle the insanely violent.
After all, why else do they exist? I have quite a few members of the many law enforcement agencies in my family and the majority of them enjoy when they get to be violent or brutal, you can see it in their faces, they didn't get trained to kill to keep old ladies from wandering into parades.
Ubiquitous senseless violence is an unfortunate fact of modern life, as it was in the past. So your point makes sense insofar as the primary duty of the police and military is to run interference and protect the public from the bad guys. By definition, their job is to "absorb" violence in the line of duty, for lack of a better way to put it. It's an understatement to say it takes a strong character and steady nerves to put oneself at extreme risk, balancing life and death on the cutting edge, in a professional manner while still maintaining human dignity. Too often, many fail the test; but more often than not, many more do pass the ultimate test and deserve our support as they bravely protect us.
Although, until society goes through a fundamental sea change, there are no easy answers.
Your larger point of managing violence pragmatically in the best way possible, given that we already have nutballs with ARs roaming around in our midst actively planning for a shootin' war against their innocent neighbors, also makes sense in these crazy times. But it brings to mind the even larger point of the human race and its most consequential mismanagement of all time: failing to honestly and thoroughly confront our innate violent nature and change accordingly, naturally, instantly, like yanking your hand away from the open flames.
Oil tycoons, zealous neo-cons, and blood-money "defense" contractors tried to "manage" the violence during the longest war in American history, resulting in spectacular failures on all sides. Now, filling the vacuum, Putin starts a whole new cycle of endless, senseless destruction and death. We absolutely have the right to defend ourselves. And around and around we go...
The evolutionary fork in the road ahead for the human psyche is pretty stark: Continue on the path of destruction and die out, taking down the rest of the planet with us; or, reach deep inside, face the truth of ourselves, and discover a better, more honest and natural way to live and thrive (whatever that means) -- for everyone and all of life as a whole. Living may be hard, but life is tenacious, full of surprises, and well worth it ...considering the alternative.
That's how Mother Nature makes it all come together. Grossly ignorant, self-occupied, immature little Homo sapiens should just shut up and sit down. For once in their miserable existence, LISTEN to the greatest of all teachers. We're like unruly first graders throwing spitballs at each other while the harried schoolmarm is about ready to pull the goddamn fire alarm!
Lots of words, let's boil it down. In terms of evolution, we are primates that did most of our evolution while wandering the savannah, scavenging. Pretty much every predator was larger and faster than us, so evolution drove us to depend on tools for survival and DEEPLY learn to always run from trouble but fight all out if we cannot escape.
Many creatures use tools, but our tool use uniquely became dependency, because of overpopulation. We cannot support all of our tribes with available resources, we DEPEND on weapons and climate control to expand our grasp.
When humans face "flight or flight", there isn't an option to "be nice and make friends". Our basic drives are violent, run like crazy or kill. It skews our entire society.
All of my relatives who went into the dozens of law enforcement agencies did so because it was the only access they had to a good paycheck and personal power. None did it to protect anyone. They do whatever the job requires, but they took the job because in competitive jobs they always have to start at the bottom, because they choose to live in red states and vote against education, so they struggle to read written instructions.
All of my relatives who are well educated have professional jobs. Some in one of the dozens of law enforcement agencies, but again, they do it for the money, in this case often filling out a resume to move from government welfare jobs into the free market economy, which pays more because it's competitive.
Agreed. All that so-called evolution has brought humankind to the brink of destruction. It might be time to question assumptions rethink priorities. Our selfish, greedy, fearful, violent, petty nature is literally killing us and everything around us.
It seems there's always been a cognitive dissonance on the right about revering "law and order" while simultaneously being paranoid about "jackboots." I expect some of the civilian terrorists expect any given law enforcement agency to join up with them, for the reason you describe. Some will be surprised, some not. My experience of LE agencies as a Public Defender was that leadership profoundly influenced the culture, starting with hiring, of course. It could devolve into a very chaotic, agency-by-agency and county-by-county lightning-cluster of conflicts, all the way up to the military, all the way to multiple base commanders going rogue, how's your Purity of Essence, by the way? I don't see any way of managing any outcome. This may be politically incorrect, but the whole shebang might depend on thumbs up or down by the Old Man in the Temple in Salt Lake....
As support for your argument, here is a real story, recently ended. My niece was killed by a drunk driver. It happened at a busy intersection, and EMTs and others who pulled him out of his crashed truck testified that he smelled like beer, could barely stagger, and empty beer cans covered his floor. He admitted to having just come from a wedding party.
Many of his friends are Naples, Fl police officers. This guy was not tested for blood alcohol at the scene, or later. He was sent to the hospital but allowed to walk away when he arrived, rather than be arrested and tested.
Two weeks ago, he walked with a small wrist tap, because there was no evidence, only dozens of eye witnesses. The local police dept cannot be prosecuted as they have [un] qualified immunity.
Jeese. Even with a death involved: I am so sorry. In a sane world, those officers would all be fired. You've got a Chief who is either corrupt or has just "checked out," and gone full Sgt. Schultz. Then there is the police-worship cult of most District Attorney offices. Ever heard of a DA elected without the endorsement of the local police union? Knee-jerk voters. Oh, well. I'm with you in fatalism that there's gonna be a fight; just not sure who's gonna pick what side.
Again, sincere sympathy. I just make the observation that the idealistic image of LE results in voters with no skin in the game, so to speak, to vote on automatic for whoever seems to be holding LE highest up on the fictional pedestal, which stereotypically is whoever has the "R" next to name. So now qualified immunity is chiseled in stone, and going to be real, real hard to undo. America is a long, long way down the road in the wrong direction, here. God Bless America.
Agreed, we have far to go, but we didn't largely eliminate our free market economy and world leading individual freedom overnight. Many of us remember when the massive productivity improvement provided by education was viewed as a good thing, when health care was viewed as something you did grudgingly, not at the exclusion of eating this year, and every year we had more protection against police violence.
Many others are learning.
"These kids today" are really talented at digging out reality and they plan to vote.
OK, humans will be extinct fairly soon, but I think we will see one last resurgence of personal freedom before we go.
Also, after 40 years in oil drilling, there is hope. The oil companies wasted a few years trying to get governments to approve zero carbon cheaper alternatives to fossil fuels, but have given up. They have realized that people will not willingly save themselves from extinction, all people do is say "THEY won't save me". No kidding, when did "they" ever save anyone?
Now oil companies are using their considerable political leverage to have governments suck the carbon out of the air, a solution that is popular because it provides an opportunity for every politician to steal a bag of cash. It's working. Over just the last two years, my industry has changed to drilling carbon capture wells and installing wind generators. We may save the planet yet, if we can keep citizens from trying to force supply side economics on us. Supply side economics can't work, they just waste time, for example calls to quit drilling for oil - all that would accomplish is $25 gasoline and food riots. Replacing oil is the only thing that CAN work. Demand side works, not supply side.
Most Americans don't realize that the axe was invented to all everyone more energy, by chopping trees faster. My state, Missouri, was largely deforested before coal came along and provided cheaper energy than wood. Oil and gas were cheaper than coal. Wind and solar are cheaper still. Energy powers human society, we can't simply quit using energy or we die. If we drop oil and gas, we have to ramp up coal, or we can go back to biological energy - BURNING WOOD. Oil and gas didn't invent energy sources for humans, they developed far cleaner and cheaper energy sources for humans. Let's keep going cheaper and cleaner, anything else leads to destruction.
"...the consent of the governed..." means that the people have a say in the production of laws, but that requires that they also consent to abide by those laws. But there always have been and always will be those who refuse to be bound by laws. If there is no enforcement of said laws, the people will no longer consent to be bound by them.
That is what has happened in this country. Beginning with Nixon's pardon, and then normalized with the pardons of the Iran-Contra criminals, and Reagan skating off scot free, we have gotten completely away from enforcing laws on the rich and/or connected or powerful. So it is not surprising that people do not trust government or law enforcement.
Yes, scores of local police departments, as well as other agencies, abuse their power. But they are not enforcing laws according to society's standards, they are enforcing their own interpretations of what the laws should be. To say that we should just abandon law enforcement in general because there are some really bad apples is basically giving up on democracy and embracing a chaotic, anarchic third-world view of what our country should look like.
Well, you raise really, really good points. However, I've worked in 150 countries, roughly 40 long enough you could drop me in and I'd survive fine. I've seen every variation of government, and you are 100% right, but I don't agree that we need go there. We should defund organizations that provide no protection to citizens. That's 90% of spending. We should stop forcing cops to "charge the machine guns". Get military weapons off the streets. We should stop expecting cops to be psychologists, hire psychologists for that, there are plenty more psych majors graduated every year than jobs available. We should require a Master's Degree in police science, and if they don't have one, we pay to send them. No cop ever got worse from better training. Increasing funding without limit and buying tanks and armored cars for an ever more alienated public will restore feudalism. We want to restore civility at all levels to our society instead. It starts with laying down weapons and asking everyone else to. No, it won't be 100%, but all of us mostly agree.
Again thank you Thom for a chilling synopsis of the Maga world craziness taking over the Republican Party. Even though this segment of anti -democracy fascist ideology has been simmering below the surface for years it is now out in the open, in our face and a very real threat to all law abiding people who support democracy. Right now we have a media owned by billionaires who are complicit in the dumbing down of Americans with their outright gaslighting and propaganda and unapologetic right wing BS(ie. Fox noise) to MSNBC (both siderism). Where is the “liberal media “ that the right wing cries about? I certainly have tried to find liberal leaning mainstream media stations but so far it’s difficult-?PBS, corporate owned cable companies that don’t even offer alternative to Fox?. Thank goodness I am retired and have time to read sites such as this one and others like Palmer Report, Raw Story, Emptywheel, The Bulwark etc. Unfortunately most Americans are busy working and raising kids and have little time to research what snippets they hear on their local news so remain basically uninformed of the systematic attack on our democracy and our educational system. I personally have Republican family members and I have confronted them with “please tell me what the Republican Party stands for, what is in their party platform and why would you support that?” Needless to say they try to repeat the same old BS about conservative values, and support of law and order. Granted there are many conservatives that have separated themselves from the trump worshippers and I applaud their courage by standing up for sane political alternatives. I’m trying not to give up on fellow Americans but too many have gone down the rabbit hole and are permanently gone as rational thinking people. For them ( like the guy who confronted the FBI) I am sad for us Americans that many think like him but part of me felt “ good riddance”. I have to be honest that if it takes a few of the gun toting trump nutters to be taken out then so be it, just don’t want loss of life of innocent bystanders which is impossible to predict realistically. Anyway-Vote Blue!!
Hey Kathy; hear what you're saying about being retired and finally having time to take in more than just the snippets that today's working folk have time for. Appreciate your balanced views. Cheers.
The irony is that democracy requires strong individuals who recognize their limitations and understand that their true strength comes with their willingness to cooperate with others for the common good of all. Versus those willing to give up their agency to an overlord for their protection, because they sense their own weakness and assume that others are as weak.
Thus far, WWI and WWII and the Cold War have demonstrated that those fighting to preserve the right to exercise their individual freedoms and govern collectively have prevailed over those willing to submit to the overlords. We are now engaged in a two front struggle within and without our borders.
The next historical cycle is happening today, tomorrow, and...............
Yes. The oligarchs have regained control and are again funding a fascist revolution.
I think there's an argument for a long-term Cold Civil War since 1865. The losers, their authoritarian leaders, and their offspring, were/are not held accountable and were/are allowed to start a cold civil war. They are working tirelessly to deny their defeat, reframe why they committed treason, install statues of their traitorous leaders, promote and invest in social hierarchy and inequality, cast out those who dissent from their views and resist requirements for blind loyalty, and voting against public services for others not like them. That once open rebellion went stealth for decades and has now reemerged as an alt-right, tie and shirt wearing, effort that is now promoting and using violence thanks to the Orange Enabler.
Maybe one day we will create a democratic economic system that will stop protecting and empowering the oligarchs so we can end this insane 80 year cycle?
Same shit, different times. Same dumb mentality behind the "lost cause" and "The South will riiise agiiin!" Pick a time all the way back to the "20001, A Space Odyssey" ape with a club. Evolution seems more about the mind and mental progression rather than just the physical changes, one leading, the other following.
But some people are either stuck in place or evolving downward with little hope of changing course, like whatever winger in response to police violence against black people came up with "comply or die." Cute, clever. It even rhymes and really caught on. Of course it did. They're proud of their own ignorance. To some, it's always about how big your club is. That's all -- shallow people living shallow lives, best described by the repulsive Donald Rumsfeld (it takes one to know one) as "deadenders."
Progressives and liberals and everyday people working for a living and raising families have the biggest club of any other tribe on the political landscape claiming rights to the water hole, and they WILL out-vote all you fascists and return control where it rightfully belongs: back to all the people equally, both politically and economically.
Think of Woody Guthrie's guitar: "This machines kills fascists." That's an obvious metaphor for peaceful revolution through word and song and the ballot box but, thanks to unhinged proponents of civil war, it's a little too cringy nowadays. Not-so-secret armies of fascists are roaming the streets everywhere, plotting their end-games, psyched up for real, honest-to-god battle to smite thine enemies, or some such shit.
The Bible says both to smite and love your enemies, although it's not clear which is supposed to come first, or maybe at the same time, or as a metaphor? Sounds conflicting. I suppose it depends on circumstances, like who's doing the bible-thumping -- some dude in camo with a gun, a flag, a cross and a literal translation of the Bible stuffed in his shirt pocket with a heavily smudged, crossed-out, and rewritten copy of the Constitution? Sounds explosive. The lucrative internet conspiracy-theory/right-wing media industry may as well sell End Times Elmer Fudd a bucket of gas, a candle, and a match. (Good luck finding a shipping company.)
The People WILL rise up against the tyranny of runaway greed and power! You'd think anyway. And peacefully! That would be a neat trick to defy historical trends And soon, it will be a feat too hard to pull off logistically -- rallying citizens peacefully behind a worthy cause! The longer and faster this fractured democracy slides inexorably toward a macro-fascistic world at every level, it promises to be a much more subtle and sinister world than George Orwell's dystopia.
Running out of resources, a world on fire, too many people pulling in too many directions all at once, hate everywhere, wars everywhere -- if you want to know the future, study the present. In the simplest terms, two widely divergent paths are upon us and there's not much time left to make up our minds. Like a school of fish changing direction, each individual must first decide and make the move, seemingly as one. Democracy in action.
I believe in the "turnings" and also a "quickening" in the last years of each cycle. We have literally rocketed into the 21st Century and new millennium as well.
If world connectivity demonstrated by the pandemic didn't wake us to save ourselves, what in all creation can?
Liberal and progressive people must not be afraid of a struggle to overcome conservative authoritarian forces trying to drag us back to the bad old days. “A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.” ― Samuel Adams
Well said. Virtue is all those things wrapped up in one word -- honesty, trustworthiness, commitment to the highest ideals, steadfastness, bravery, but also empathy, compassion, tolerance, awareness, and basic human goodness -- the most precious of treasures and most powerful of forces. (Hint to the "morbidly rich" and pet politicians: If you can buy and sell it or keep it locked away in a safe as your very own, then you ain't got it.)
Humans are pretty dumb animals. So it'll be a long hard slog that won't end any time soon if past is prologue, even if enough people actually do truly wake up and forge ahead toward better days. At the moment, we still live in a ruthless jungle, and a lot of people are still living the "nasty, brutish, and short" lives of Thomas Hobbes fame. If you let your guard down, a lethal predator will go immediately for the throat, which is the quickest, easiest way to expend the least energy and reap the most reward. With no blood to pump, the heart stops and life ends. (Thus: "the bleeding heart of democracy.") A fast food happy meal for the rapacious and ferocious.
Huge juicy facts are hard to ignore. Through the eyes of the prey it's clear enough who's on the menu. Maintaining constant vigilance is the key to survival. But the worst of all enemies has already circled the herd, running down their prey, lunging, clawing, biting.
Haha, so how does this allegory end? It sure ain't looking good for the really dumb-ass humans dragging their big carbon footprints. But, in politics as in nature, the sheer force of numbers should, in most cases, eventually overcome any relatively minor threats nipping at the heels of progress. Spaceship Earth is a self-contained unit where life must consume other life, a balancing act between life and death. The important thing is what holds the main herd together.
Most complex organisms have a natural fear of death, of course, but higher up the evolutionary ladder exists a sense of belonging, shared purpose, nurturing the young, an ability to distinguish normal everyday risks from dire threats ending in catastrophe. Especially critical is the ability to respond intelligently and to meet the moment with an abundance of energy -- for the sake of the many, as Mr. Spock might say. These are abstract, almost ethereal senses, impossible to define adequately, more feeling than thought. But they're powerful and absolutely critical for long-term survival.
In this tale, needless to say, the herd is the Democratic Party fighting for the life of democracy, and the predator is the Republican Party going for the jugular. If that's not totally obvious to most thinking apes by now then we're all in big trouble.
Tragically, this is not an uncommon story. America needs a top to bottom reform of its policing culture…
A start would be to get a lot more people on a lot more juries. The LE get so arrogant that they can make up or boiler-plate their way thru, it is not uncommon for juries to be outraged at blatant lying by, you know; their idols in blue. My Mom was an extreme lifelong authoritarian, and she came back after sitting on a garden-variety DUI declaring she could never sit on a trial involving police testimony again, because the whole jury had been so shocked at the lying cops.
"During the [Trump era] the anti-democracy folks were called [MAGAs or Trumplicans], because they were loyal to the [Orange King] and believed that the best form of government was a [kakistocracy], and that letting average people participate in democratic governance would lead to disaster."
Sorry for mangling the quote, but not much has changed except for new actors in the same old play. Maybe they're right: self-governance does lead to disaster -- in the hands of authoritarians like themselves.
Democracy of, by, and for the minority is an obvious and ridiculous oxymoron but one that makes perfect sense to mesmerized aficionados of so-called Fox "News," who, in unison, believe only certain people should have the right to vote. If you call democracy a republic and the Democratic Party the DemocRAT Party because it sounds better to your ear, and if you feel in rare moments of inward honesty that it's totally fine and kinda funny to hate on "others" not in your tribe of wild-eyed crazies howling at the moon, then you might be a red-hat.
This is for Thom and goes out to the universe: no one has more backbone than you do. I hope you, the doc, your caregivers, and Louise are in a happy place and ready to get you better than ever!
It seems to me that we need common sense laws regulating and defining what Free Speech is, and what it is not, within the context of a Free Democracy.
As we desperately need common sense laws regulating fire arms' sales, possession, and usage, we need to define and protect actual free speech, while protecting ourselves from inflamed and inciteful speech which hurts people, and has already caused several folks to be killed
.
The Right insists that both these rights (speech and guns) must be absolute. Absolutism appears unique to societies based on the three Abrahamic religions, and can lead to terrible things like Terrorism, and forced child-birth, Both of which are rooted in Absolutism.
Nothing is more untrue than the idea of an Absolute and never-changing, never-growing, never evolving truth. Absolutism is the original Big Lie.
It's clearly time to consider how to regulate Free Speech... not egregiously, but sensibly, which would help with the "deprogramming" of the cult of tRump.
Some modest proposals might include:
*Clearly identifying whether the "news" program you're watching (or any media with which we interact) is based on actual Facts (which are readily providable), or simply Opinion.
*Bouncing the Murdochs out of the country for being Aliens who are a clear and present danger to our society, who have already involved themselves with trying to overturn our government, and inciting violence.And I'm okay with locking up Steve Bannon for inciting violence, btw.
*Set boundaries (or guardrails if you prefer) on all forms of public discourse. Of course you can still lie and spread conspiracies in all your personal communications... (and of course they'll go underground, but won't be able to incite and gaslight the majority of Americans, all the time!)
* complete transparency of all publications' and broadcast, streaming or digital media ownership, and their corporate donations to political entities.
One argument against even attempting common sense regulations is that the Right would scream. But they're already screaming out lies and violent rhetoric. They want civil war. They are itching to gun down Liberals, POC, LGBTQ, Intellectuals, and Honest Americans. Twice I've had local maga-heads actually tell me that. In person. And it was sickening.
I keep remembering something I'd read (either in the SCMP or in the multi-volume "The Governance of China" - no I did not finish it, sadly he's not a compelling writer) where Xi Jinping said it would be "easy to destroy Democracy from within by turning their own freedoms against them, especially the Freedom of Speech." I've been mulling that over for awhile and I believe we have now seen how true that is. I further believe the marriage between Xi and Putin is largely based on this idea... (and remember, the NRA has been in bed with Putin... for a looooong time.) Xi and Putin hate Americans almost as much as the Red Hats do.
To give one more example of the Right's adhesion to Absolutism: Abortion Rights. to them ALL females MUST give birth not matter what. Think about that. That is Absolute to them.
Obviously protecting free speech is critical, but making it an Absolute Right is stupid and self-defeating. It will be very difficult to accomplish (because the right goes crazy when you suggest common sense regulations on either Guns or Speech...) But difficult doesn't mean impossible. And Absolutism is impervious to facts and growth. So, where do we go from here?
Thom... what do you think? Impossible or do-able? Needed or not? And why is everyone so frightened to even discuss this? (as has been my experience). I truly believe fixing our mass comms problem would begin the healing process... without sensible regulations then we are swimming upstream, and will surely drown in the garbage from fox, FB, OAN, Breitbart, Sinclair, Twitter, etc etc etc.
I agree with you in principle. The application is extremely thorny, though. It's a two-edged sword: who gets to decide or make the rules? Many of those who advocated for democracy in Revolutionary War times were speaking out at the risk of their own liberty, or even their lives. How can we restrict free speech in a way that DOESN'T restrict free speech, if you see what I mean? I believe the best argument you made was for expelling the Murdochs from our political discourse, which should be expanded to breaking up all corporate monopolies of the press and the media. Perhaps we could establish some form of subsidy for free and independent press outlets regardless of viewpoint, so they wouldn't be dependent on advertising revenue...? That's just a thought, but more than any other aspect of our economy and system, we need to eliminate corporate control and ownership of the press.
It is extremely thorny indeed. But we are the country who went to the moon, not because it's easy, but because it's hard.(TY JFK)
Democracy (as we are learning) is FRAUGHT! It's HARD! And it's despised by autocracies who despise humans and sell their own souls for power and money.
We need to find a way to begin "deprogramming" as many as possible from the cult of tRump... It takes interventions (thank you Liz Cheney for intervening on our behalf), it takes courage, patience, and a severing of the victims' (Red Hats) access to the perpetrating abuser (most of the GQP).
So, yes, thorny... and that's why we need to begin the conversation.
I really appreciate that you replied at all... I do feel like a voice crying in the wilderness with this.
Free speech in the age of the internet has devolved into chaos, who can out-shout who, personal responsibility be damned! That would be okay -- such is the human condition -- if the simple, damn truth of things could still be discerned somehow in the maelstrom by the majority of users, at least now and then when it really counts -- like right now!
Somebody is lying; somebody is telling the truth; both can't be right. I don't understand the whole multi-verse thing, so maybe it's possible for two equally opposing forces to occupy the same time and space without obliterating each other like matter and anti-matter. May the biggest, baddest m-efer prevail in that ugly reality. Whatever.
But religious/political fanatics armed to the teeth and lying through their teeth live in an alternative, fact-free universe. They're dedicated soldiers for "god" on an unholy crusade of full-spectrum dominance bent on destroying democracy. The "dark side" of American politics, by design, is not compatible with the fact-based universe of transparent democracy of, by, and for the people, and it never will be.
Here again, we are speaking of absolutes; all corporations aren't bad all of the time, but we have allowed our laws, regulations and enforcement - especially in the Reagan and Bush eras, and Clinton didn't help - to become emasculated and ignored, allowing these oligarchic empires to run the government and putting them above the law....and paying taxes.
FYI folks, Rupert and James Murdoch are American citizens, Lachlan is not. They own a big spread in Montana near Yellowstone. Hmmm, sounds like a good plot for a series.
James is the only good guy in the bunch... married to an American gal, I believe, and they donate big bucks to attempt to counteract tRumpism and the effects of fox.
Rupert should shortly crumple under the weight of his endless Evil Deeds.
Then lets kick the current Overlord of Fox, Lachlan, out of this country. I so hate everything they have done to our society, I'd love to see them pay.
Let's just enforce our anti-trust laws and break up the media monopolies. The citizenship of the overseers is beside the point.
Okay. That works. The point is, this is a conversation our nation needs to be having. I like your idea.
Wouldnt really address the lies and conspiracy gaslighting, but breaking up monopolies is usually an excellent idea! 👍🏼
Apparently “Succession” has more Emmy noms than any other series. We just love to watch how dysfunctional the overly-wealthy are!! Hahaha. Cant wait for the next season.
It takes about 30 years for an idea to become common knowledge and 60 years for it to become part of the culture. 80 years seems about right for another war over entrenched ideas engineered by those who hope to profit from a change in regime. War in any form is profitable for those who supply both sides with military material. Sadly human beings seem to go through this over and over again.
Excellent, thoughtful post; thanks Susan. Cheers.
Dear Thom, thank you for your lessons in our history. Usually I read Dr. Richardson for that. But the regularity of our wars within our borders was a new fact for me to wrestle with. Every 80 years? Democracy may have its vulnerabilities, but it IS worth fighting for. With the BALLOT! We have a huge battle this November to fight - and win. It will be harder as long as Trump is still around and promoting “his” candidates. And the states that can literally ignore the plurality of voters. I’m STILL hoping for the best! No matter my odds in other personal matters in my life, I was always optimistic and with that optimism found my way to my goals. I’m not changing this late in life!!!
Sure, "with the ballot"... except several states may well elect autocratic Secs of State to "decide" who wins their State. This is a very big problem!
The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long. Let’s bend it. Make and wear a democracy awareness ribbon and learn why the Möbius strip has no Right or Left side and is indivisible.🇺🇸♾ #democracy #VotingRights #Election2022
I have a slightly different conclusion about this, based on three observations.
First, a VERY large percentage of the dozens of law enforcement agencies definitely lean fascist, and the ONLY reason they do is because none of them understand fascism.
Second, most of the dozens of law enforcement agencies are heavily armed and trained to take on urban attackers.
Third, these fascist brownshirt-wannabes are definitely going to attack SOMEBODY.
To me, if they attack our law enforcement, that's perfect. It protects citizens from attack, it gets the nutters out in the open where we can identify them, and it will show our dozens of law enforcement agencies what fascism really stands for.
Educating all Americans to avoid this sort of stupidity would be best, but if low knowledge armed thugs are going to attack, I definitely want them attacking our low knowledge armed thugs, the dozens of law enforcement agencies.
Stabilizer - you are NOT urging stabilizing at all. You just want to head up the rank and file American to commit sedition aimed with your arrow of Hatred. We’ve had QUITE enough of that. Stand down, buddy. Go help one of your neighbors instead. We aren’t going to beat TFG with more chaos, hatred, and YOUR form of fascism. I’m SO tired of your type of rhetoric. I’m 75 and I need help - daily. There are plenty of others like me around. Looking for a return to democracy - and kindness
My goal is not to cause violence, but to manage it with minimum damage. We are not violent and we cannot prevent these people being violent, but we can direct the violence to those whose job it is to handle the insanely violent.
After all, why else do they exist? I have quite a few members of the many law enforcement agencies in my family and the majority of them enjoy when they get to be violent or brutal, you can see it in their faces, they didn't get trained to kill to keep old ladies from wandering into parades.
Ubiquitous senseless violence is an unfortunate fact of modern life, as it was in the past. So your point makes sense insofar as the primary duty of the police and military is to run interference and protect the public from the bad guys. By definition, their job is to "absorb" violence in the line of duty, for lack of a better way to put it. It's an understatement to say it takes a strong character and steady nerves to put oneself at extreme risk, balancing life and death on the cutting edge, in a professional manner while still maintaining human dignity. Too often, many fail the test; but more often than not, many more do pass the ultimate test and deserve our support as they bravely protect us.
Although, until society goes through a fundamental sea change, there are no easy answers.
Your larger point of managing violence pragmatically in the best way possible, given that we already have nutballs with ARs roaming around in our midst actively planning for a shootin' war against their innocent neighbors, also makes sense in these crazy times. But it brings to mind the even larger point of the human race and its most consequential mismanagement of all time: failing to honestly and thoroughly confront our innate violent nature and change accordingly, naturally, instantly, like yanking your hand away from the open flames.
Oil tycoons, zealous neo-cons, and blood-money "defense" contractors tried to "manage" the violence during the longest war in American history, resulting in spectacular failures on all sides. Now, filling the vacuum, Putin starts a whole new cycle of endless, senseless destruction and death. We absolutely have the right to defend ourselves. And around and around we go...
The evolutionary fork in the road ahead for the human psyche is pretty stark: Continue on the path of destruction and die out, taking down the rest of the planet with us; or, reach deep inside, face the truth of ourselves, and discover a better, more honest and natural way to live and thrive (whatever that means) -- for everyone and all of life as a whole. Living may be hard, but life is tenacious, full of surprises, and well worth it ...considering the alternative.
That's how Mother Nature makes it all come together. Grossly ignorant, self-occupied, immature little Homo sapiens should just shut up and sit down. For once in their miserable existence, LISTEN to the greatest of all teachers. We're like unruly first graders throwing spitballs at each other while the harried schoolmarm is about ready to pull the goddamn fire alarm!
Lots of words, let's boil it down. In terms of evolution, we are primates that did most of our evolution while wandering the savannah, scavenging. Pretty much every predator was larger and faster than us, so evolution drove us to depend on tools for survival and DEEPLY learn to always run from trouble but fight all out if we cannot escape.
Many creatures use tools, but our tool use uniquely became dependency, because of overpopulation. We cannot support all of our tribes with available resources, we DEPEND on weapons and climate control to expand our grasp.
When humans face "flight or flight", there isn't an option to "be nice and make friends". Our basic drives are violent, run like crazy or kill. It skews our entire society.
All of my relatives who went into the dozens of law enforcement agencies did so because it was the only access they had to a good paycheck and personal power. None did it to protect anyone. They do whatever the job requires, but they took the job because in competitive jobs they always have to start at the bottom, because they choose to live in red states and vote against education, so they struggle to read written instructions.
All of my relatives who are well educated have professional jobs. Some in one of the dozens of law enforcement agencies, but again, they do it for the money, in this case often filling out a resume to move from government welfare jobs into the free market economy, which pays more because it's competitive.
Agreed. All that so-called evolution has brought humankind to the brink of destruction. It might be time to question assumptions rethink priorities. Our selfish, greedy, fearful, violent, petty nature is literally killing us and everything around us.
Haha, less words.
It seems there's always been a cognitive dissonance on the right about revering "law and order" while simultaneously being paranoid about "jackboots." I expect some of the civilian terrorists expect any given law enforcement agency to join up with them, for the reason you describe. Some will be surprised, some not. My experience of LE agencies as a Public Defender was that leadership profoundly influenced the culture, starting with hiring, of course. It could devolve into a very chaotic, agency-by-agency and county-by-county lightning-cluster of conflicts, all the way up to the military, all the way to multiple base commanders going rogue, how's your Purity of Essence, by the way? I don't see any way of managing any outcome. This may be politically incorrect, but the whole shebang might depend on thumbs up or down by the Old Man in the Temple in Salt Lake....
Superb response, I learned a lot, many thanks.
As support for your argument, here is a real story, recently ended. My niece was killed by a drunk driver. It happened at a busy intersection, and EMTs and others who pulled him out of his crashed truck testified that he smelled like beer, could barely stagger, and empty beer cans covered his floor. He admitted to having just come from a wedding party.
Many of his friends are Naples, Fl police officers. This guy was not tested for blood alcohol at the scene, or later. He was sent to the hospital but allowed to walk away when he arrived, rather than be arrested and tested.
Two weeks ago, he walked with a small wrist tap, because there was no evidence, only dozens of eye witnesses. The local police dept cannot be prosecuted as they have [un] qualified immunity.
Jeese. Even with a death involved: I am so sorry. In a sane world, those officers would all be fired. You've got a Chief who is either corrupt or has just "checked out," and gone full Sgt. Schultz. Then there is the police-worship cult of most District Attorney offices. Ever heard of a DA elected without the endorsement of the local police union? Knee-jerk voters. Oh, well. I'm with you in fatalism that there's gonna be a fight; just not sure who's gonna pick what side.
This DA was as angry as our family. Qualified immunity has to go. It allows criminal activities.
Again, sincere sympathy. I just make the observation that the idealistic image of LE results in voters with no skin in the game, so to speak, to vote on automatic for whoever seems to be holding LE highest up on the fictional pedestal, which stereotypically is whoever has the "R" next to name. So now qualified immunity is chiseled in stone, and going to be real, real hard to undo. America is a long, long way down the road in the wrong direction, here. God Bless America.
Agreed, we have far to go, but we didn't largely eliminate our free market economy and world leading individual freedom overnight. Many of us remember when the massive productivity improvement provided by education was viewed as a good thing, when health care was viewed as something you did grudgingly, not at the exclusion of eating this year, and every year we had more protection against police violence.
Many others are learning.
"These kids today" are really talented at digging out reality and they plan to vote.
OK, humans will be extinct fairly soon, but I think we will see one last resurgence of personal freedom before we go.
Also, after 40 years in oil drilling, there is hope. The oil companies wasted a few years trying to get governments to approve zero carbon cheaper alternatives to fossil fuels, but have given up. They have realized that people will not willingly save themselves from extinction, all people do is say "THEY won't save me". No kidding, when did "they" ever save anyone?
Now oil companies are using their considerable political leverage to have governments suck the carbon out of the air, a solution that is popular because it provides an opportunity for every politician to steal a bag of cash. It's working. Over just the last two years, my industry has changed to drilling carbon capture wells and installing wind generators. We may save the planet yet, if we can keep citizens from trying to force supply side economics on us. Supply side economics can't work, they just waste time, for example calls to quit drilling for oil - all that would accomplish is $25 gasoline and food riots. Replacing oil is the only thing that CAN work. Demand side works, not supply side.
Most Americans don't realize that the axe was invented to all everyone more energy, by chopping trees faster. My state, Missouri, was largely deforested before coal came along and provided cheaper energy than wood. Oil and gas were cheaper than coal. Wind and solar are cheaper still. Energy powers human society, we can't simply quit using energy or we die. If we drop oil and gas, we have to ramp up coal, or we can go back to biological energy - BURNING WOOD. Oil and gas didn't invent energy sources for humans, they developed far cleaner and cheaper energy sources for humans. Let's keep going cheaper and cleaner, anything else leads to destruction.
"...the consent of the governed..." means that the people have a say in the production of laws, but that requires that they also consent to abide by those laws. But there always have been and always will be those who refuse to be bound by laws. If there is no enforcement of said laws, the people will no longer consent to be bound by them.
That is what has happened in this country. Beginning with Nixon's pardon, and then normalized with the pardons of the Iran-Contra criminals, and Reagan skating off scot free, we have gotten completely away from enforcing laws on the rich and/or connected or powerful. So it is not surprising that people do not trust government or law enforcement.
Yes, scores of local police departments, as well as other agencies, abuse their power. But they are not enforcing laws according to society's standards, they are enforcing their own interpretations of what the laws should be. To say that we should just abandon law enforcement in general because there are some really bad apples is basically giving up on democracy and embracing a chaotic, anarchic third-world view of what our country should look like.
Well, you raise really, really good points. However, I've worked in 150 countries, roughly 40 long enough you could drop me in and I'd survive fine. I've seen every variation of government, and you are 100% right, but I don't agree that we need go there. We should defund organizations that provide no protection to citizens. That's 90% of spending. We should stop forcing cops to "charge the machine guns". Get military weapons off the streets. We should stop expecting cops to be psychologists, hire psychologists for that, there are plenty more psych majors graduated every year than jobs available. We should require a Master's Degree in police science, and if they don't have one, we pay to send them. No cop ever got worse from better training. Increasing funding without limit and buying tanks and armored cars for an ever more alienated public will restore feudalism. We want to restore civility at all levels to our society instead. It starts with laying down weapons and asking everyone else to. No, it won't be 100%, but all of us mostly agree.
Again thank you Thom for a chilling synopsis of the Maga world craziness taking over the Republican Party. Even though this segment of anti -democracy fascist ideology has been simmering below the surface for years it is now out in the open, in our face and a very real threat to all law abiding people who support democracy. Right now we have a media owned by billionaires who are complicit in the dumbing down of Americans with their outright gaslighting and propaganda and unapologetic right wing BS(ie. Fox noise) to MSNBC (both siderism). Where is the “liberal media “ that the right wing cries about? I certainly have tried to find liberal leaning mainstream media stations but so far it’s difficult-?PBS, corporate owned cable companies that don’t even offer alternative to Fox?. Thank goodness I am retired and have time to read sites such as this one and others like Palmer Report, Raw Story, Emptywheel, The Bulwark etc. Unfortunately most Americans are busy working and raising kids and have little time to research what snippets they hear on their local news so remain basically uninformed of the systematic attack on our democracy and our educational system. I personally have Republican family members and I have confronted them with “please tell me what the Republican Party stands for, what is in their party platform and why would you support that?” Needless to say they try to repeat the same old BS about conservative values, and support of law and order. Granted there are many conservatives that have separated themselves from the trump worshippers and I applaud their courage by standing up for sane political alternatives. I’m trying not to give up on fellow Americans but too many have gone down the rabbit hole and are permanently gone as rational thinking people. For them ( like the guy who confronted the FBI) I am sad for us Americans that many think like him but part of me felt “ good riddance”. I have to be honest that if it takes a few of the gun toting trump nutters to be taken out then so be it, just don’t want loss of life of innocent bystanders which is impossible to predict realistically. Anyway-Vote Blue!!
Hey Kathy; hear what you're saying about being retired and finally having time to take in more than just the snippets that today's working folk have time for. Appreciate your balanced views. Cheers.
The irony is that democracy requires strong individuals who recognize their limitations and understand that their true strength comes with their willingness to cooperate with others for the common good of all. Versus those willing to give up their agency to an overlord for their protection, because they sense their own weakness and assume that others are as weak.
Thus far, WWI and WWII and the Cold War have demonstrated that those fighting to preserve the right to exercise their individual freedoms and govern collectively have prevailed over those willing to submit to the overlords. We are now engaged in a two front struggle within and without our borders.
The next historical cycle is happening today, tomorrow, and...............
Hi Thom,
Yes. The oligarchs have regained control and are again funding a fascist revolution.
I think there's an argument for a long-term Cold Civil War since 1865. The losers, their authoritarian leaders, and their offspring, were/are not held accountable and were/are allowed to start a cold civil war. They are working tirelessly to deny their defeat, reframe why they committed treason, install statues of their traitorous leaders, promote and invest in social hierarchy and inequality, cast out those who dissent from their views and resist requirements for blind loyalty, and voting against public services for others not like them. That once open rebellion went stealth for decades and has now reemerged as an alt-right, tie and shirt wearing, effort that is now promoting and using violence thanks to the Orange Enabler.
Maybe one day we will create a democratic economic system that will stop protecting and empowering the oligarchs so we can end this insane 80 year cycle?
https://the-wawg-blog.org/american-history-of-authoritarian-coup-ending-the-cycle/
Same shit, different times. Same dumb mentality behind the "lost cause" and "The South will riiise agiiin!" Pick a time all the way back to the "20001, A Space Odyssey" ape with a club. Evolution seems more about the mind and mental progression rather than just the physical changes, one leading, the other following.
But some people are either stuck in place or evolving downward with little hope of changing course, like whatever winger in response to police violence against black people came up with "comply or die." Cute, clever. It even rhymes and really caught on. Of course it did. They're proud of their own ignorance. To some, it's always about how big your club is. That's all -- shallow people living shallow lives, best described by the repulsive Donald Rumsfeld (it takes one to know one) as "deadenders."
Progressives and liberals and everyday people working for a living and raising families have the biggest club of any other tribe on the political landscape claiming rights to the water hole, and they WILL out-vote all you fascists and return control where it rightfully belongs: back to all the people equally, both politically and economically.
Think of Woody Guthrie's guitar: "This machines kills fascists." That's an obvious metaphor for peaceful revolution through word and song and the ballot box but, thanks to unhinged proponents of civil war, it's a little too cringy nowadays. Not-so-secret armies of fascists are roaming the streets everywhere, plotting their end-games, psyched up for real, honest-to-god battle to smite thine enemies, or some such shit.
The Bible says both to smite and love your enemies, although it's not clear which is supposed to come first, or maybe at the same time, or as a metaphor? Sounds conflicting. I suppose it depends on circumstances, like who's doing the bible-thumping -- some dude in camo with a gun, a flag, a cross and a literal translation of the Bible stuffed in his shirt pocket with a heavily smudged, crossed-out, and rewritten copy of the Constitution? Sounds explosive. The lucrative internet conspiracy-theory/right-wing media industry may as well sell End Times Elmer Fudd a bucket of gas, a candle, and a match. (Good luck finding a shipping company.)
The People WILL rise up against the tyranny of runaway greed and power! You'd think anyway. And peacefully! That would be a neat trick to defy historical trends And soon, it will be a feat too hard to pull off logistically -- rallying citizens peacefully behind a worthy cause! The longer and faster this fractured democracy slides inexorably toward a macro-fascistic world at every level, it promises to be a much more subtle and sinister world than George Orwell's dystopia.
Running out of resources, a world on fire, too many people pulling in too many directions all at once, hate everywhere, wars everywhere -- if you want to know the future, study the present. In the simplest terms, two widely divergent paths are upon us and there's not much time left to make up our minds. Like a school of fish changing direction, each individual must first decide and make the move, seemingly as one. Democracy in action.
I believe in the "turnings" and also a "quickening" in the last years of each cycle. We have literally rocketed into the 21st Century and new millennium as well.
If world connectivity demonstrated by the pandemic didn't wake us to save ourselves, what in all creation can?
Liberal and progressive people must not be afraid of a struggle to overcome conservative authoritarian forces trying to drag us back to the bad old days. “A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.” ― Samuel Adams
Hold tight to your virtue.
Well said. Virtue is all those things wrapped up in one word -- honesty, trustworthiness, commitment to the highest ideals, steadfastness, bravery, but also empathy, compassion, tolerance, awareness, and basic human goodness -- the most precious of treasures and most powerful of forces. (Hint to the "morbidly rich" and pet politicians: If you can buy and sell it or keep it locked away in a safe as your very own, then you ain't got it.)
Humans are pretty dumb animals. So it'll be a long hard slog that won't end any time soon if past is prologue, even if enough people actually do truly wake up and forge ahead toward better days. At the moment, we still live in a ruthless jungle, and a lot of people are still living the "nasty, brutish, and short" lives of Thomas Hobbes fame. If you let your guard down, a lethal predator will go immediately for the throat, which is the quickest, easiest way to expend the least energy and reap the most reward. With no blood to pump, the heart stops and life ends. (Thus: "the bleeding heart of democracy.") A fast food happy meal for the rapacious and ferocious.
Huge juicy facts are hard to ignore. Through the eyes of the prey it's clear enough who's on the menu. Maintaining constant vigilance is the key to survival. But the worst of all enemies has already circled the herd, running down their prey, lunging, clawing, biting.
Haha, so how does this allegory end? It sure ain't looking good for the really dumb-ass humans dragging their big carbon footprints. But, in politics as in nature, the sheer force of numbers should, in most cases, eventually overcome any relatively minor threats nipping at the heels of progress. Spaceship Earth is a self-contained unit where life must consume other life, a balancing act between life and death. The important thing is what holds the main herd together.
Most complex organisms have a natural fear of death, of course, but higher up the evolutionary ladder exists a sense of belonging, shared purpose, nurturing the young, an ability to distinguish normal everyday risks from dire threats ending in catastrophe. Especially critical is the ability to respond intelligently and to meet the moment with an abundance of energy -- for the sake of the many, as Mr. Spock might say. These are abstract, almost ethereal senses, impossible to define adequately, more feeling than thought. But they're powerful and absolutely critical for long-term survival.
In this tale, needless to say, the herd is the Democratic Party fighting for the life of democracy, and the predator is the Republican Party going for the jugular. If that's not totally obvious to most thinking apes by now then we're all in big trouble.
In light of your discussion this morning,
I couldn’t help but think of this:
“Ben Franklin: Hero or Hophead?”
https://firesigntheatre.bandcamp.com/track/ben-franklin-hero-or-hophead