I think that so many people tune out politics that they have no idea what is happening. I worry that they would think that this is all just Democratic Propaganda. I shudder to think that as Liz Cheney said, "sleepwalking into a dictatorship". I know people will wish that they had been paying attention after the fact.
The fact that authoritarianism has been the historically dominant form of human government proves nothing aside from our lack of confidence in ourselves combined with a fundamental laziness about making decisions. If the morbidly rich and their tool tfg prevail, the world will slide into an authoritarian hellscape miserable for the many and a delight for the few. Should our species go that route, for me, that means it will have failed. It will have surrendered what could have made it worthy. Were it not for the fact that the means of our self-extinction will likely take most other life on earth with it, I would be all for it in that event. Maybe I still would. After all, the cockroaches have been waiting billions of years for their chance to rule, and might well be better at it.
I have taught many of the political theorists, including Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. And you are right. But in my most cynical, darkest moments, I think there’s no theory or ideology, per se, that the power-hungry embrace. I think I comes down to “how much money can I make from this thing they call the state?”
Democracy is indeed under attack across the world and the underdog supporters are losing ground more and more every year. We have to keep fighting as quitting is not an option, unless you like slavery and indentured servitude. Those are coming back more as well. Just ask the domestic workers from the Philippines. There are hundreds of people being kidnapped and coerced into slavery in south east Asia all the time now. Vietnam (I think) just pulled of a rescue mission in Cambodia and Laos, as I recall.
The bottom line is that feudalism is coming back and if those of us who would be considered in the serf or slave caste of that ancient system don't fight back, our grand children will end up with lives very much like our ancestors endured back in the middle ages.
If those who make the decisions for our democracy want to fulfill their Constitutional purpose, we need them to collaborate with our fellow citizens to build and maintain a role model education system (among other things). Without it, we now have tens of millions of poorly educated citizens who are incapable of critical and analytical thinking, and especially vulnerable to authoritarianism, fear and rage.
And that makes them perfect marks for the Russian-run grifters we have in our government today. A democracy will only thrive if we have enough folks who choose to learn what’s going on in the world and the skills to discover it. And since money is speech and corporations get to exploit the rights of our citizens, any efforts to have a role model education system available to all of us will be thwarted by those who benefit from our collective ignorance and stupidity, and our devolution into autocratic rule will be assured. We must end the powers of corporate personhood with a supermajority of competent elected officials and it would be very helpful if we could do it this year.
Authoritarian regimes that were previously Democracies cannot help but be resentful and resistant . And if they are not , I question their current mental health.
People that wish to be dominated, find out that it’s not exactly a compassionate arrangement.
Remember how absolutely not caring the Republicans have become . They are happy to create all kinds of devious policies to undermine democracy and the will of the people.
They don’t care.
They care about money and power and domination of others .
Being on the other side of that is not a reasonable or pleasant way to live.
Freedom is a higher value and must be pursued in spite of the prevailing political winds .
We have these prevalent winds because Trump and his followers have sold their souls to other dominating authoritarians . Putin, Orban, and many others are not “ nice, fair, or reasonable” people.
Remember the Republicans sent for the kit of authoritarianism , having invited Orban to address the Republicans Conventions over the past several years. They suck up to Putin in fear .
And spend the rest
Of their time falsely investigating the current administration and family members . But do not function as a Congressional body .
We must fight this mess on every level . For ourselves, children and grandchildren .
Democracy, democracy, democracy. Minus the fact that we’re reduced to elections for accomplishing “representative government,” I do appreciate the representative aspects of our constitutional republic; our rule of law for civic peace and order.
Civic peace and order are things we’ve enjoyed so long we expect them, and take the completely for granted. And we forget where they came from (at least in our society). Those don’t come from democracy. They come from civic law & order.
I favor representative government. But functional democracy is contingent on a constitutional republic. It’s our rule of law - our constitutional republic at stake here. How it goes - so goes our democracy.
We need to wake up and get serious about protecting our constitutional republic. If we actually do that - the democracy related aspects will take care of themselves.
If we don’t do that, nothing is going to save our “democracy” anyway.
Two signs that we are now in very dangerous territory. One is that the courts, which are supposed to protect our Constitution and rule against people who blatantly break the law, have now chosen to protect Trump. Justice Thomas and Judge Cannon are already tilting the next election towards Trump.
The second huge threat is that Russian propaganda and lies are now being told by members of the US House. We have been altered to this danger by Chairman Michael McCaul Republican head of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Trump and his Congressional lackeys are falling in line with Putin. We don't know how much financial aid they are getting.
Another excellent lesson Thom. It pains me to think that the authoritarians may yet seize the day, but in so doing they will wake up with a hangover like a binge drinker, and bemoan the fate that they brought down upon themselves.
The standard of living that the world enjoys, was not brought by authoritarian governments and rulers, be they sectarian or secular. But by the freedom of choice enjoyed by Democratic governments, with the USA leading the way.
Should the dictator Trump actually take over America, the quality of life for all of us peons will degenerate, not overnight, for there is enough fat in the land for the social animal to live off. and not just America but the world.
On the plus side, we won't see the Saudis and Emirates rushing to send their brats to the U.S. for education and using their money to corrupt our educational institutions and government.
As the quality of life degenerates so will the consumption of fossil fuels, and maybe the mammals will gain a decade or two of reprieve before the anthropogene extinction.
Another great article by Hartmann. But I have to take issue with a phrase in the article:
"and the party is using Trump’s “stolen election” [LIE] to undermine and ultimately end democracy at the state level."
It is concerning that Trump's brush with treason is conveniently reduced to a stolen election lie. It's like saying you found a tree in the forest. I wish journalists would be a little more accurate and descriptive. Here is how I would write that phrase:
Trump's massive, ongoing, coordinated stolen election CONJOB involving THOUSANDS of CO-CONSPIRATORS and MILLIONS of LIES.
I gotta read Thom's book. I think we didn't actually have "democracy" until the Voting Rights Act became law in 1965. I think we pretty much lost it in Shelby County v. Holder, 2013.
I don't presume to speak for humanity, but Americans worked through evolution in applying the Constitution. IMHO we no longer are relegated to "place" a/k/a "states" as that term was defined in the Articles of Incorporation or the Constitution and the 10th Amendment is relegated to scraps due to the supremacy clauses.
The Voting Rights Act supposedly ended racial discrimination in voting. At our founding only white male landowners could vote. The Constitution made slaves count as 3/5 of an elector, and the Electoral College gave states outsized power.
That power was vested in the Senate. The Constitution originally provided for the election of senators by individual state legislatures. In the years following the Civil War, that system became increasingly subject to bribery, fraud, and deadlock. As Congress took on a greater role in shaping an industrializing nation, those with a major business stake in that development believed they could best exert their influence on the U.S. Senate by offering financial incentives to the state legislators who selected its members.
The 17th Amendment changed the method to direct election, in an attempt to reduce the influence that that large corporations and corrupt state legislators played in selection of senators.
Our founders were not ideologues, and the first thing they did was amend the Constitution. In reading their arguments and the Federalist Papers, Al Levine (a/k/a Alexander Hamilton) and his followers favored a loose interpretation of the Constitution, which meant they believed that the document permitted everything that it did not expressly forbid. This contrasted sharply with Thomas Jefferson's strict interpretation. This is ironic because Jefferson was a Deist and not a fundamentalist.
Hobbes alleged that we are naturally cruel and competitive. Reminds me of the insurance company defense in PI cases, "Man, born of woman, comes into the world in pain and from the moment of conception begins to die." Extrapolating, to any reasonable degree of inference therefore, choose Fascism and choose a life of pain leading to hell.
The idea that it is natural and inevitable that humans move toward authoritarian forms of government is nonsense and self serving BS from those who want authoriatarian govt. If you haven't read it yet read The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by Graber and Wengrow. In it the authors show (based on new findings in archealogy and anthropology) that for most of human history (including prehistory) we may have experimented with authoritarian govt but eventually came to our senses and got rid if it. That included several large cities of 20,000 plus population managing themselves just fine without oligarchs, kings, high priests etc. Early on Native Americans had trouble believing europeans bowed down to some idiot in a funny suit. They intensely valued their freedom. Their leaders had to lead by being eloquent and persuasive or they would be ignored (with no consequence).
George Lakoff (cognitive scientist)(Whose Freedom?) shed light on a second issue here . In this country (and others?) there is a battle between what Lakoff refers to as the strict father model (very authoritarian) and the nurturant father model (very democratic, inclusive etc). These books are well worth reading.
Jeffersonian Democracy was an explosion of success around the world which took notice. The economic royalist believed it would fail quickly and they could take over so no big deal with the experiment. They had to turn around and pretend they believed in democracy when it was an undeniable success. In fact they turned around and claimed to be the protectors of democracy while doing all they could to undermined its true values and functions. They have a program to undermine America and end democracy around the world. They will fail as they always do in the long run. All we need to do and undo the damage to it that they have done.
"Russia’s president Putin clearly is more in Hobbes’ camp: government needs an iron fist to retain law and order. As are China’s President Xi, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammad Bin Salman, the ruling mullahs of Iran, and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, among others."
How the hell is Benjamin Netanyahu not on this list...
Have the Brownshirts arrived here ? I just read on my cell phone this AM that at Louisiana SHOOL BOARD MEETING THAT when the board superintendent was being voted a raise a teacher asked why is he getting a raise and struggling teachers with increasing class sizes are denied raises. The teacher (a woman) was thrown to the ground, handcuffed and arrested.
I think that so many people tune out politics that they have no idea what is happening. I worry that they would think that this is all just Democratic Propaganda. I shudder to think that as Liz Cheney said, "sleepwalking into a dictatorship". I know people will wish that they had been paying attention after the fact.
The fact that authoritarianism has been the historically dominant form of human government proves nothing aside from our lack of confidence in ourselves combined with a fundamental laziness about making decisions. If the morbidly rich and their tool tfg prevail, the world will slide into an authoritarian hellscape miserable for the many and a delight for the few. Should our species go that route, for me, that means it will have failed. It will have surrendered what could have made it worthy. Were it not for the fact that the means of our self-extinction will likely take most other life on earth with it, I would be all for it in that event. Maybe I still would. After all, the cockroaches have been waiting billions of years for their chance to rule, and might well be better at it.
I have taught many of the political theorists, including Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. And you are right. But in my most cynical, darkest moments, I think there’s no theory or ideology, per se, that the power-hungry embrace. I think I comes down to “how much money can I make from this thing they call the state?”
Democracy is indeed under attack across the world and the underdog supporters are losing ground more and more every year. We have to keep fighting as quitting is not an option, unless you like slavery and indentured servitude. Those are coming back more as well. Just ask the domestic workers from the Philippines. There are hundreds of people being kidnapped and coerced into slavery in south east Asia all the time now. Vietnam (I think) just pulled of a rescue mission in Cambodia and Laos, as I recall.
The bottom line is that feudalism is coming back and if those of us who would be considered in the serf or slave caste of that ancient system don't fight back, our grand children will end up with lives very much like our ancestors endured back in the middle ages.
If those who make the decisions for our democracy want to fulfill their Constitutional purpose, we need them to collaborate with our fellow citizens to build and maintain a role model education system (among other things). Without it, we now have tens of millions of poorly educated citizens who are incapable of critical and analytical thinking, and especially vulnerable to authoritarianism, fear and rage.
And that makes them perfect marks for the Russian-run grifters we have in our government today. A democracy will only thrive if we have enough folks who choose to learn what’s going on in the world and the skills to discover it. And since money is speech and corporations get to exploit the rights of our citizens, any efforts to have a role model education system available to all of us will be thwarted by those who benefit from our collective ignorance and stupidity, and our devolution into autocratic rule will be assured. We must end the powers of corporate personhood with a supermajority of competent elected officials and it would be very helpful if we could do it this year.
Authoritarian regimes that were previously Democracies cannot help but be resentful and resistant . And if they are not , I question their current mental health.
People that wish to be dominated, find out that it’s not exactly a compassionate arrangement.
Remember how absolutely not caring the Republicans have become . They are happy to create all kinds of devious policies to undermine democracy and the will of the people.
They don’t care.
They care about money and power and domination of others .
Being on the other side of that is not a reasonable or pleasant way to live.
Freedom is a higher value and must be pursued in spite of the prevailing political winds .
We have these prevalent winds because Trump and his followers have sold their souls to other dominating authoritarians . Putin, Orban, and many others are not “ nice, fair, or reasonable” people.
Remember the Republicans sent for the kit of authoritarianism , having invited Orban to address the Republicans Conventions over the past several years. They suck up to Putin in fear .
And spend the rest
Of their time falsely investigating the current administration and family members . But do not function as a Congressional body .
We must fight this mess on every level . For ourselves, children and grandchildren .
Democracy, democracy, democracy. Minus the fact that we’re reduced to elections for accomplishing “representative government,” I do appreciate the representative aspects of our constitutional republic; our rule of law for civic peace and order.
Civic peace and order are things we’ve enjoyed so long we expect them, and take the completely for granted. And we forget where they came from (at least in our society). Those don’t come from democracy. They come from civic law & order.
I favor representative government. But functional democracy is contingent on a constitutional republic. It’s our rule of law - our constitutional republic at stake here. How it goes - so goes our democracy.
We need to wake up and get serious about protecting our constitutional republic. If we actually do that - the democracy related aspects will take care of themselves.
If we don’t do that, nothing is going to save our “democracy” anyway.
Two signs that we are now in very dangerous territory. One is that the courts, which are supposed to protect our Constitution and rule against people who blatantly break the law, have now chosen to protect Trump. Justice Thomas and Judge Cannon are already tilting the next election towards Trump.
The second huge threat is that Russian propaganda and lies are now being told by members of the US House. We have been altered to this danger by Chairman Michael McCaul Republican head of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Trump and his Congressional lackeys are falling in line with Putin. We don't know how much financial aid they are getting.
Another excellent lesson Thom. It pains me to think that the authoritarians may yet seize the day, but in so doing they will wake up with a hangover like a binge drinker, and bemoan the fate that they brought down upon themselves.
The standard of living that the world enjoys, was not brought by authoritarian governments and rulers, be they sectarian or secular. But by the freedom of choice enjoyed by Democratic governments, with the USA leading the way.
Should the dictator Trump actually take over America, the quality of life for all of us peons will degenerate, not overnight, for there is enough fat in the land for the social animal to live off. and not just America but the world.
On the plus side, we won't see the Saudis and Emirates rushing to send their brats to the U.S. for education and using their money to corrupt our educational institutions and government.
As the quality of life degenerates so will the consumption of fossil fuels, and maybe the mammals will gain a decade or two of reprieve before the anthropogene extinction.
Another great article by Hartmann. But I have to take issue with a phrase in the article:
"and the party is using Trump’s “stolen election” [LIE] to undermine and ultimately end democracy at the state level."
It is concerning that Trump's brush with treason is conveniently reduced to a stolen election lie. It's like saying you found a tree in the forest. I wish journalists would be a little more accurate and descriptive. Here is how I would write that phrase:
Trump's massive, ongoing, coordinated stolen election CONJOB involving THOUSANDS of CO-CONSPIRATORS and MILLIONS of LIES.
I gotta read Thom's book. I think we didn't actually have "democracy" until the Voting Rights Act became law in 1965. I think we pretty much lost it in Shelby County v. Holder, 2013.
I don't presume to speak for humanity, but Americans worked through evolution in applying the Constitution. IMHO we no longer are relegated to "place" a/k/a "states" as that term was defined in the Articles of Incorporation or the Constitution and the 10th Amendment is relegated to scraps due to the supremacy clauses.
Yesterday in another forum, I referenced the "Treason of the Senate": https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/electing-appointing-senators/treason-of-the-senate.htm
The Voting Rights Act supposedly ended racial discrimination in voting. At our founding only white male landowners could vote. The Constitution made slaves count as 3/5 of an elector, and the Electoral College gave states outsized power.
That power was vested in the Senate. The Constitution originally provided for the election of senators by individual state legislatures. In the years following the Civil War, that system became increasingly subject to bribery, fraud, and deadlock. As Congress took on a greater role in shaping an industrializing nation, those with a major business stake in that development believed they could best exert their influence on the U.S. Senate by offering financial incentives to the state legislators who selected its members.
The 17th Amendment changed the method to direct election, in an attempt to reduce the influence that that large corporations and corrupt state legislators played in selection of senators.
Our founders were not ideologues, and the first thing they did was amend the Constitution. In reading their arguments and the Federalist Papers, Al Levine (a/k/a Alexander Hamilton) and his followers favored a loose interpretation of the Constitution, which meant they believed that the document permitted everything that it did not expressly forbid. This contrasted sharply with Thomas Jefferson's strict interpretation. This is ironic because Jefferson was a Deist and not a fundamentalist.
Hobbes alleged that we are naturally cruel and competitive. Reminds me of the insurance company defense in PI cases, "Man, born of woman, comes into the world in pain and from the moment of conception begins to die." Extrapolating, to any reasonable degree of inference therefore, choose Fascism and choose a life of pain leading to hell.
No thanks.
The idea that it is natural and inevitable that humans move toward authoritarian forms of government is nonsense and self serving BS from those who want authoriatarian govt. If you haven't read it yet read The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by Graber and Wengrow. In it the authors show (based on new findings in archealogy and anthropology) that for most of human history (including prehistory) we may have experimented with authoritarian govt but eventually came to our senses and got rid if it. That included several large cities of 20,000 plus population managing themselves just fine without oligarchs, kings, high priests etc. Early on Native Americans had trouble believing europeans bowed down to some idiot in a funny suit. They intensely valued their freedom. Their leaders had to lead by being eloquent and persuasive or they would be ignored (with no consequence).
George Lakoff (cognitive scientist)(Whose Freedom?) shed light on a second issue here . In this country (and others?) there is a battle between what Lakoff refers to as the strict father model (very authoritarian) and the nurturant father model (very democratic, inclusive etc). These books are well worth reading.
Jeffersonian Democracy was an explosion of success around the world which took notice. The economic royalist believed it would fail quickly and they could take over so no big deal with the experiment. They had to turn around and pretend they believed in democracy when it was an undeniable success. In fact they turned around and claimed to be the protectors of democracy while doing all they could to undermined its true values and functions. They have a program to undermine America and end democracy around the world. They will fail as they always do in the long run. All we need to do and undo the damage to it that they have done.
"Russia’s president Putin clearly is more in Hobbes’ camp: government needs an iron fist to retain law and order. As are China’s President Xi, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammad Bin Salman, the ruling mullahs of Iran, and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, among others."
How the hell is Benjamin Netanyahu not on this list...
The animal kingdom as our guide. Mother Nature knows!
We may be brilliant - developing liberal democratic rule - but we're broken - fallible, self-serving, money grubbing and power hungry.
Have the Brownshirts arrived here ? I just read on my cell phone this AM that at Louisiana SHOOL BOARD MEETING THAT when the board superintendent was being voted a raise a teacher asked why is he getting a raise and struggling teachers with increasing class sizes are denied raises. The teacher (a woman) was thrown to the ground, handcuffed and arrested.