Part of our current situation is that at their best the American ideals of equality and liberty have always been very fragile and constrained. I don't need to go over slavery, genocide, etc., or the institutional drags like the Electoral College, voting restrictions and now corporate personhood, but somehow as my father (1900-90) used to…
Part of our current situation is that at their best the American ideals of equality and liberty have always been very fragile and constrained. I don't need to go over slavery, genocide, etc., or the institutional drags like the Electoral College, voting restrictions and now corporate personhood, but somehow as my father (1900-90) used to say, the country "staggered along." We were very lucky in the people who started it and got America through the crises of the 1860s and 1930s, but right now there is nobody, no group, no agenda widely seen to be carrying the torch.
Saying this should be done by "the people" sounds good and is true, but consider how such a nebulous group usually acts. Most will follow leaders and do what they are told, or stand back and let others do it. (Consider how the Korean people, united for all their history, were easily split into two groups that were led to fight each other.) After World War 2 many former Nazis turned into supporters of Communist East Germany (some went to capitalist West Germany and the scientists came to the U.S.), and they often got similar official positions. Their pasts were forgiven and forgotten. Communist, Fascist, Monarchist...the labels don't matter, taking care of yourself while being part of a cause is all that counts.
The Trump gang knows all this. Take a population where education and critical thinking are in decline, make them scared, push the right buttons with a leader who promises them everything and you can lead them anywhere. And of course it is treason, and they don't care.
Part of our current situation is that at their best the American ideals of equality and liberty have always been very fragile and constrained. I don't need to go over slavery, genocide, etc., or the institutional drags like the Electoral College, voting restrictions and now corporate personhood, but somehow as my father (1900-90) used to say, the country "staggered along." We were very lucky in the people who started it and got America through the crises of the 1860s and 1930s, but right now there is nobody, no group, no agenda widely seen to be carrying the torch.
Saying this should be done by "the people" sounds good and is true, but consider how such a nebulous group usually acts. Most will follow leaders and do what they are told, or stand back and let others do it. (Consider how the Korean people, united for all their history, were easily split into two groups that were led to fight each other.) After World War 2 many former Nazis turned into supporters of Communist East Germany (some went to capitalist West Germany and the scientists came to the U.S.), and they often got similar official positions. Their pasts were forgiven and forgotten. Communist, Fascist, Monarchist...the labels don't matter, taking care of yourself while being part of a cause is all that counts.
The Trump gang knows all this. Take a population where education and critical thinking are in decline, make them scared, push the right buttons with a leader who promises them everything and you can lead them anywhere. And of course it is treason, and they don't care.