I'm concerned about the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Until recently I was among the group of people who would put down any comparisons of today's America to the early days of Nazi Germany. I find I cannot do that anymore. People on both Right and Left have screamed "Nazi!!" so many times over the years, I think we've collectively become inured to it. But there is a rising fascism in this country. It's stronger than a lot of people realize because most of it isn't in the news. Most of it is in our communities, quietly festering. It's been there a long time; what we're seeing in today's headlines is the result of SOMETHING. I believe we need to find what that something is, and I think we are beginning to. But we need to coalesce it into a solid that we can destroy before too many more people are hurt; before people start to die en masse and we turn our heads, saying "Oh, it's not THAT bad. That's not happening HERE." Thoughts?
25
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32 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Hitler needed the burning of the Reichstag to coalese his power. Anyone think that Trump isn't looking for his burning Reichstag moment?
jwd45244
Level 7
June 16, 2018
3
Yeah. Burn Trump Tower!
My mum is old enough that she lived through WW2. She was evacuated but her dad brought her back to London, just before the Blitz. She was traumatized. Parts of London looked like Aleppo. Not saying this was right in terms of parenting, these days, but when I was 7 she taught me about the holocaust, what fascism is, and why our family is left-wing. I love her for sharing that with me. My mother and entire family are vigilant for signs of fascism, and to be honest I saw the slow decline into fascism gearing up in the early 2000’s. There has been a beating slow march that began with attacks on political correctness, and no platforming, which were standard practice in the 1990s. The push back about “political correctness gone mad” came from news papers whose readership was pissed off that they were being stigmatized and marginalized by society because they were sexist and racist. They still wanted to call gay people “poofters”, anyone vaguely Indian looking “paki” and call black people “coons”. “Freedom of speech” they’d cry. “It’s our fuckin’ country”. They said. Then, in the wake of 9/11, perpetrated by Saudi nationals (our allies, don’t forget) the far right were emboldened to say what they wanted, and Britain saw an increase of social control and loss of civil liberties for “security reasons”. Then we bombed countries that were not connected to 9/11 and the cycle of hate, loss of rights and liberty and increased social control intensified. Hate was amplified and protect dampened by social media. Fascism has been creeping since the early 2000s and you are only seeing it now????? America and the UK are in the grip of fascism, and in America Donald Trump is placing all his allies into positions of power into government infrastructure that was supposed to be your checks and balances. He is a nasty “king” type despot and he will make himself a dictatorship. America is in the grip of fascism and rule by executive orders . We can’t fight fascism on social media, that’s for sure.
Livia
Level 6
June 16, 2018
14
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Thank you for sharing. Didn't mean to ruffle your feathers. It was only a voiced concern. Please don't yell at me? There is more to my life and experience than one post. I was just trying to start a conversation..apparently it's a popular one. I'm a little frightened by it, to be honest.
@PeterDvorak I wasn’t shouting or aiming comments at you in particular - it was a collective “you” only a personal one. I loved your post and am following, so I apologize for my impassioned question marks!
Like millions and millions of people who have families, jobs, things to do, are not spending their lives fascist-watching, it’s completely normal. You shouldn’t have to worry about fascism, when we are dealing with our daily stuff, caring for family members or trying to pay a mortgage.
I am the abnormal one, living out my mum’s trauma through my vigilance!
You have definitely seen fascism now - there is no right/wrong time to realize what it is. I also don’t think it’s too late to stop it, but we definitely can’t fight it on social media. It’s either stopped at the polling booth or on the streets unfortunately.
@Livia whew, thank you. And you're right and I am actively engaged in this election year. (I must have hit some kind of nerve or something here, holy moly!) And I have no reason to think you abnormal, but you ARE incredibly interesting.
@Livia I rather fear that the only way to stop The Beast is to let it crawl out from under its rock so that one may be able to crush it... Despite the years of Vichy, many in France remain tempted by the siren calls of Le Pen, others have succumbed, as in Italy, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine (etc). You know, after every war, survivors look at the mountains of corpses and grandiloquently declare "Never again!". And then the next generation comes, and... Here we go again! Even Japan, though it took it a bit longer, after Hiroshima, now wants to turn from having defensive to offensive armed forces... Perhaps what it all boils down to is that if we were all vegetarians, and if we burnt all bibles and corans, it would not occur to us to indulge so readily in blood-letting...
@LoneJungle - there is a way to keep fascism in check - to be intolerant towards intolerance. Being in the UK, and having no actual legal protection for “freedom of speech” we have the ability to prosecute hate crime, including verbal assault. I believe in political correctness- it simply indicates respect and acknowledgment of how people want to be treated. The ultimate tool we have is no platforming. We have given the likes of Farage, Katie Hopkins and Tommy Robinson too much publicity and we have assisted with spreading their hate by allowing them time on radio and TV. They should never be aired. We should never allow them an audience. That’s how they recruit. Where hate speech flourishes, human lives are taken. I cannot abide the enabling of these nasty people, which has been happening in the UK for the last 18 years. I would like them to stay under the rock - forever.
@Livia I could say that I disagree with you, but in this case, I will go the whole way and say that you are totally wrong! "One resists the invasion of armies; one does not resist the invasion of ideas" (Victor Hugo). Put it another way, when you keep a boil hidden, it festers and it grows out of control, until it is too late, and you cannot put the worms back in the can - if I may be allowed such mix of metaphors !
In England, we allow groups like the National Front or the English Defence League precisely because they attract shaven-headed oafs on whom one can not only keep an eye, but - and this is the important bit - heap derision. For there is no more potent weapon than mockery, which is why these people must be allowed to try to express themselves!
Had the KKK been in England, it would have been laughed out of court; the reason it thrived in the US is because it was taken seriously... Idem for your plethora of ridiculous "churches" and their grotesque rites, such as the Mormons and their anti-devil underpants! (And people would seriously consider having one of those as president!!).
Finally, when you see a turd on the pavement, you walk around it and hold your breath. You do not jump in it with both feet. If you do not like what is being said at a meeting, walk out, and leave it to those better at the art of the put-down to have the assembly laugh the speaker out of court; on the radio or TV: switch off! If you want to cure someone of nazism, give them Mein kampf to read! Communism? Give them Das Kapital! Islam? Make them read the Coran. From cover to cover! Guaranteed cure!
And don't forget that if you won't let people speak, they will shut you up in turn, for all actions engender a reaction, and, just like you, they think that they are right!
Your wanting to shut people up is kindred to Hitler wanting to shut Jews up (permanently !) because he did not like them. It is, quite simply, immaturity: There will always be all manner of people on earth we do not like ("Hell is other people" -
J-P Sartre); burning their books has been tried: it is petulantly childish, and worse, it does not work !
@LoneJungle A lot of what you say is based on the philosophy that grew from the French Revolution. Despite Liberté, égalité, fraternité ou la mort, that only applies to the French and not to Moroccan or Algerian citizens of France. France, despite its high ideals is well known for its attitude of tolerating daily racism. They also insist their foreign population assimilate rather than integrate. I am not going to take lessons from France’s track record! They ban hijabs ffs! The government polices what women can and cannot wear in France! It’s a joke shop.
Also, I did not suggest, once, or ever, book burning. That type of thing disgusts me - that is the burning of human thought, and I would never advocate such actions.
I am talking about our aggressive British tabloid press have given Farage and Robinson exposure again and again, as if that scum have equal weight in terms of our society. Katie Hopkins gets TV shows, radio shows and a column. I wouldn’t give them a glass of water on a hot day! You seem to be advocating their ideas are worth proliferation because Satre and Hugo penned Romantic idealism. The KKK would not have been laughed out of England. Our humor isn’t so powerful. Our humor doesn’t stop street gangs does it? Don’t forget the Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts. There were plenty of tossers ready to sign up to wear a ridiculous faux military uniform.
Also, our humor got us Boris Johnson as a mayor and foreign secretary. ?
Social media is another way the oxygen of publicity is given to the likes of the EDL, who had their evil comments re-tweeted by Trump. The media have space to fill on their papers and fill them with shit. That needs to stop. That is no-platforming. Anyway, please don’t confuse my passionate stance with attack, I just get very passionate about these topics! ?
Atheists:
Pol Pot - Cambodia
Mengistu Haile Mariam - Ethiopia
Adolph Hitler - Germany, The Third Reich
Benito Mussolini - Italy
José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia - Paraguay
Nicolae Ceaușescu - Romania
Slobodan Milošević- Serbia/Yugoslavia
Josip Broz Tito - Yugoslavia
Vegetarians:
Adolph Hitler
Genghis Khan
Pol Pot
If anyone has any others to add to these lists, please comment.
@ailurophile frankly, what a ridiculous list! Not one, NOT ONE of the top nazis were brought up in an atheist household! Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Heydrich (look it up on Google for yourself!) and Mussolini, Tito, and Pol Pot, (and Franco, Salazar, every South American dictator, Pétain, Papa Doc, Castro, etc., etc!) were all brought up as catholics! Even Stalin began his career in the priesthood! Hitler was even an altar boy, and if you bothered to read Mein Kampf, you would discover his constant allusions to the deity, to whom he referred constantly as God, The Creator, or Providence!
I've been saying this for years but nobody takes it seriously. The trouble with US is that everybody has been conditioned for so long to believe they are living in the greatest country in the world. They have never been anywhere else so they believe it. I have lived out of the country for many years (part of the year) and when I say they need to see what it's like in other places they just say, "What do you want to go over there for? Everybody there wants to come here!" Trump has modeled his "Political Coup D'Etat" after the most infamous Fascists in history. He employs propaganda routinely and every word out of his mouth is a lie, but he learned from experts like Bannon and Putin et al. But his regime is the first to have such unprecidented success, and it's all because of computers! If Hitler had had the Internet, he would have conquered the world! The right wing have been trying since Nixon and Reagan but the Republican machine together with the "Alt Right'" and neo fascist groups have it honed to a razor edge. Join my little Group called "Nazism Rises Again" (NRA) and post some of your info or theories with us. I don't have many adherents but maybe we can boost the group a little, for what it's worth.
fishline79
Level 7
June 16, 2018
11
That's a group on this site, for clarification? And yes, you have been right. Many good points here. I've really never been out of the country except for a choir tour of Italy after graduation, but I've certainly been paying attention.
'Ya gotta change the name. Sounds as if it is in support of......A supremesist group. ie ":The south shall rise again. IMO
TOTALLY correct! Luckily, I've traveled widely and can't tell you how many times people have said "Why spend all that money to see the rest of the world when there are so many good things here?" It's that attitude which adds to the "Best nation in the world'' illusion. Now, people who hold that view are threatened because it's becoming apparent that we're NOT ''the best nation in the world"....far from it!
@Countrywoman I actually thought that, too.
@PeterDvorak Yes, it's a group I started. I think it has 3 or 4 members! Frankly, I'm not even sure how one goes about joining these "auxilliary" groups. I am fairly new to Agnostic and ham-handed when it comes to manipulating Social Media.
@Countrywoman I think you suggested that before and you may be right, but it is partly about guns and the initials NRA are suggestive of that. I'm kind of big on double meanings. It doesn't say Nazism shall rise again, but Nazism rises again.
@fishline79 me, too
My conservative friends get very angry when I make comparisons of Trump's methods to Hitler's. They don't seem to care how vile he is, they won't see the risk of Trump muzzling the press, using evangelical, radical Christian's, inflaming hatred and division, empowering white supremacists, leading up the cabinet with rich, incompetent people, his nepotism, and constant lying to make himself look good, and his crazy rallies. They are in thrall to him. They are a cult. They actually think the tax cut to the top 1percent is great, even though it will be paid by them and their kids. I told a 20 something friend, who supports Trump, that I fear for our country. He was saying how Trump saved America and he think Trump's crazy tweets are just him being funny. When I asked him about taking kids and babies away from their parents at the border, he didn't know what I was talking about. He watches very little TV or social media, except for Fox. I gave him a list of things to look up. I hope he will think about what is going on. I have been through lots of presidents in my 71 years, but I have never feared for America like I do now.
Wisewoman3
Level 7
June 16, 2018
10
Yes, it IS cultish. It's creepy. Vote well.
Things to you can do Now:
- Donate to the ACLU and/or similar organiztions.
- Put your "representatives" numbers in your phone so it is easy to make your wishes known to them, often.
- VOTE! Not voting is the same as waving to the cattle cars as they go by!
But do you suppose this is something so obvious to most of us and yet the reprobate "enablers" that we to enforce "checks and balances" continue to give their tacit approval? Is that seat in Congress THAT important to them?
Whenever nationalism is thrown into the mix, society should be vigilant. We are in deep trouble and there are no signs out there that indicate it will improve any time soon, if at all. I am fearful that the America I love and chose to become a citizen of is slipping away.
patchoullijulie
Level 8
June 16, 2018
9
People are already dying in large numbers. The health care safety net has been almost entirely dismantled. We have people dying from preventable, treatable disease because they can't afford doctors visits or medication. People don't care because it's always " those" people dying. They're lazy, they're not very smart, they're P.O.C, they're blue collar etc. a hundred reasons to other your neighbors and ignore their misery or blame it on them. We've got insane levels of homelessness, job market is terrible and most folks have to work more than one job just to keep their heads above water. But sure, those of us who've been seeing this every day for the last decade have just been crying wolf the whole time, right.
OpposingOpposum
Level 9
June 16, 2018
6
Sadly, I have to agree. The level of hatred and resentment in our country has shocked and appalled me since the treasonous groper showed up. My questions are....was that level seething there all along? Is it his level of coarse CRASSNESS encouraging it? How much did the Russian trolling have to do with it? Does the tendency toward religion in the ''red'' states mean they're looking for another authoritarian dictator? DAMNED IF I KNOW! But it's worrisome.
LucyLoohoo
Level 9
June 16, 2018
7
I think a lot of those answers are probably yes. And to be honest, I've met people who think we really would be better off with a dictator. None of them strike me as deep thinkers.
Sadly, I have to agree, there are things going on that are frightening and portents of much worse. If Americans don't turn things around, we will find ourselves living in little Russia. (or N.K.) As E. Burke said, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing".
If the "good" people sit by, without challenging things like the incarceration of children snatched from their parents for trying to enter the country, the significant rise in hate crimes since 45 started campaigning, the rampant economic inequality in the country, the open, proud displays of white supremacist conduct, then when will we take a stand? If we wait until the fascist regime has fully taken over and begins executing political enemies, the undocumented, racial and religious minorities(including the non-religious), it will be too late to take a stand without being shot down (literally).
DotLewis
Level 7
June 16, 2018
7
They have started camps for immigrants. Divide and conquer seems to be in full force by the president, with a congress to assist. Assault on the free press. The president proclaiming himself above the law. Talk of arresting the political opposition. Sure glad to have met someone who sees this!
Even when we do take a stand, it seems like it comes to nothing - take the situation with that prick Joe Arpaio out on Arizona. After a long career of profiling and illegally imprisoning Hispanics (somtimes in concentration camps and tent cities) he is finally faced with the possibility of facing consequences for his actions...only to be pardoned by Trump. Oh, and even after that, he's somehow not disqualified from government jobs and is now running for a Republican position in the Senate
@ghost_warlock Great observation! It's definitely a constant struggle that will probably only get worse before it gets better. Somewhere, somehow, in someway the bottoms gonna fall out and things are gonna get real weird real fast.
@PeterDvorak The price of liberty is eternal vigelance." Stay WOKE!
Have a look at a newsreel of Mussolini giving a speech, his chin jutting aggressively, and then juxtapose Trump onto it.... It's uncanny!
This said, to a European, seeing your president - any president - surrounded with flags, with his fist on his chest whilst a single singer belts out your national anthem without accompanying music, like the Hitleryouth in Cabaret, is quite unsettling... Indeed, reading the comments on American sites like this one is quite unsettling : There is a tone of triumphalism, of aggressive superiority complex, of arguments fired from the hip and no reply shall be tolerated, which is uniquely American. Why is it, for example, that whenever a mayor or chief of police is being interviewed, he surrounds himself with a dozen acolytes? (And preferably with a duly decorated lectern and a few flags...) The schoolyard bully's obsession with "prevailing" by the force of numbers, as it is seldom with arguments... Add to this the American's love of uniforms, whether military or Jeans/T-shirt/Baseball cap, indeed, of guns and violence ( what percentage of American films end with someone getting shot or blown up - with much yee hawing and whistling in the cinema...) and yes, one is left with the impression of a country populated by militarised drones. Complete that image with the constant dropping of bombs on at least half a dozen countries in the world at any given time and its support for the fascist regime in Israel through impertinently lying mouthpieces like Nauert and Haley, and yes, the US has undoubtedly inherited the mantle of the Germany of the thirties....
LoneJungle
Level 5
June 16, 2018
7
Depressing, isn't it?
@PeterDvorak: Well, yes, except for Churchill's quip: "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else!". So let us hope that there IS hope yet !
Varn:
Brilliant (sad to say), thank you.
The similarities between 1930s Germany and the US for the last 30 years are
quite striking.
Things have ramped up quite significantly over the last 14 years.
The comparisons are valid, and should concern everyone who isn't a piece of shit.
KKGator
Level 9
June 16, 2018
6
If anyone ever doubted that this country (USA) could ever do what the Nazis did in WWll, look at what is happening with the children of immigrants today. Do you actually think that they would not do the same to A-theists, LGBT, anyone of different color, political stripe or a member of what a particular group, tribe, party considered offensive and against them achieving their goals. You are complicit and evil as they are. IMHO
jlynn37
Level 8
June 16, 2018
5
You mean me personally?
We already did what the Nazis did in WW2. Hitler studied our treatment of our indigenous population He loved our genicidel westerns. & applied it to Europe. The eugenics movement began here but was thwarted enmasse by our governmental structure. Eugenics sans restrictive laws ran rampant in 1930's - 40's Germany. Geo Will noted historial & commentator believes we will survive......unless there is a coup. Will the military support the Commander in Chief if he cancels the election? Will you (rhetorical)?
I'm reminded of the order to round-up Japanese Americans and inter them into camps during WW II. And I realize I don't know whether or not a law was ever passed to prevent that from happening again.
@PeterDvorak No
Totally Agree! Things you can do today:
Donate to the ACLU or similar organizations
Program the contact info for your "representatives" into your phone so it is super easy to weigh in on issues.
VOTE! To not vote is to wave at the cattle cars as they roll by........
AnneWimsey
Level 9
June 16, 2018
7
HORRIBLE IMAGE....and brilliant, too!
@LucyLoohoo makes me sad.......
It appears to me the police force is primed and ready to break out the brown shirts and have their own version of kristallnacht. The targets being anyone who is not white and productive (i.e. pays taxes). If you are other than white and/or homeless you will be the quarry of an increasing violent police task force.
I hope I am wrong and I'm being somewhat paranoid, growing up in the poorest part of Missouri I have seen the cops acting more like bullies than serve and protect types.
Please let me be wrong.
MacTavish
Level 7
June 16, 2018
6
Me too
@PeterDvorak I remember when people were innocent until proven guilty...........anybody else?
Varn:
Around Appalachia ..they’ll wanna be a bit more selective as to which non-producers they target … there’re so many on various disability & welfare programs it’s impossible to know or keep track - and if they vote - they vote/d trump.
@Varn "it'simpossible to know/track"....then how are the monthly support checks being sent out?.
@Varn disability is amazingly difficult to get. welfare has very, VERY little fraud among recipients (it's not as little among vendors, though). this has to be true in appalachia as well as elsewhere. it is ironic that anyone on welfare would vote for trump, who would rather see them starve to death, but i wouldn't call these people nonproducers for being on the programs. i am on disability and food support myself and i worked hard my whole damned life (nor did i vote for trump -- but then, i'm not in appalachia). idiots they may be. scared, racist, whatever, they may be. nonproducers changes the subject and sounds trumpian, itself, in attitude, which i trust you did not mean, which is why i am calling your attention to it.
g
Varn:
@genessa I’m sure, after political harping from one party (the R’s) and political action from the other (the D’s), ‘welfare abuse’ has greatly lessened. I’d once been convinced (likely an expert interview on Fresh Air) that ‘the nation’ had been very (Very) generous with disability awards and payments to those in the Appalachian hills. That ‘this’ was a way to distribute the funds necessary to maintain stability amid this region.
I’ve listened to my ‘new neighbor’s’ speak of those on permanent disability (the dole) with the understanding, tone and attitude as though they’re talking about something as common as dog ticks.. Just as opiod painkillers are being nearly cut off, I suspect ‘new applicants’ to welfare programs are too. But ‘the lifers’ are thick in my neck of the woods.
[Yes, edited to remove the smiley face that appears with my use of a select punctuation]
@Varn Corporate welfare is a bigger problem.
SNAP, formerly known as "food stamps", fraud has been cut down to 1.5%.
It is very hard to get disability benefits, at least in Vermont, New York, and Maine. I know a man who worked all his life who was falling down on the job (literally) due to MS. It took a YEAR for him to be approved, and he was denied twice. He'd paid his taxes his entire working life, and ended up homeless for a while before he started collecting SSDI.. Another man with a broken neck was denied twice. He'd also been paying taxes his entire life.
Is it possible some people are gaming the system? Sure, Trump became President, so I suppose anything is possible.
Good article about all of the above: [cbpp.org]
Under Trump and his irrational fear mongering, hate mongering, and his attempts at idolization of himself as the glorious leader, and with his racist and reactionary base, there is a real danger of it happening here -- unless we stop it. We have never before seen anything like this --so depraved -- in our country!
wordywalt
Level 9
June 16, 2018
6
It's happening here - open your eyes americans. The new nazism is here curtosy of herr trump-the son of a real nazi and kkk member.
sassygirl3869
Level 9
June 16, 2018
5
Coincidentally, I read a couple of book reviews yesterday about that very thesis: [psmag.com] as well as this interview: [salon.com]
with Benjamin Hett, the author of the third book (The Death of Democracy) in the review. Hett is an historian of Germany, especially the rise to power by Hitler. Among the questions is this little nugget:
There are some people who would instinctively reject any comparison between the rise of the Nazis in Germany and the rise of Donald Trump in America. How would you rebut their claims?
Well, the parallel doesn’t and won’t hold 100 percent. But there is a deeper structure which is similar. The cultivation of hatred against minorities, against the vulnerable, against immigrants and so on. The deliberate cultivation of flagrant falsehoods. The manipulation of alienation and a sense of aggrievement among a group you then use to oppress others.
Interesting thoughts in both of those and some books to add to the reading pile to go along with Karl Dietrich Bracher's The German Dictatorship
RPardoe
Level 7
June 16, 2018
5
Thanks for sharing, sounds fascinating! I will read both!
I don’t have any answers but I am fearful
Marcie1974
Level 8
June 16, 2018
4
Hello, MN gal! It's scary, but we live in a good solid state. I don't see us going red in November. At this point I'm backing the Erins for Governer. But we can vote to keep our state sane? Whatcha think?
@PeterDvorak I sure hope so. I am encouraged by the younger generation and seeing them get more involved
@Marcie1974 I'm not THAT young...but thanks!
@PeterDvorak lol!!!! I’m meant the high schoolers and college kids enraged by the shootings in their schools.
@Marcie1974 Ahh. Well, in that case...kidding! Yes, I hope they can keep it up. We all need them. ?
The ruling class will always prefer fascism over socialism.
Ellatynemouth
Level 8
June 16, 2018
5
People saying that the history is supposed to teach the next generation. Obviously, most are poor students. I appreciate your post very much. Some of my relatives survived -- to many did not!
Offresunshine
Level 3
June 16, 2018
4
I'm sorry. And I appreciate you and your kindness!
We all need to read Fascism by Madeleine Albright. She lays out the case and describes the state were in very well. And if your tough, read Fascism by Mussolini He started it all.
BillF
Level 7
June 16, 2018
4
Yeah, I saw her plugging the book on MSNBC or CNN. I'll have to get a copy.
I was just looking at Albright's book the other day at the library. Thank you, I'll be sure and read it. Maybe Mussolini, I'll think about it.
Is that the same degenerate female Albright who declared glibly that starving half a million of Irak's children to death was "a price worth paying" ?
@LoneJungle yes, it’s ironic.
@LoneJungle and your point is, we should never listen to anyone unless they are PERFECT?
@AnneWimsey : Nobody is perfect, but when someone has demonstrated her mind to be morally warped to such an extent, it becomes almost depraved voyeurism to listen (expectantly?) to anything else from her...
The USA is perhaps the only nation that came out of WW2 stronger than it went in.. With military bases around the world and the CIA making sure cheap resources were headed our way - we thrived! We also over-produced & over-consumed…
For decades now, we’re again competing with the world … a world that’s been doing a lot more than playing sports, squandering resources, over-consuming, endlessly entertaining, policing the world and neglecting their social programs.. We’re now competing with (and falling behind) nations with well established health care, workers rights, national education and modern infrastructure.
With that, we’ve a massive, arrogant & expectant population that’s looking to blame someone - anyone! US citizens can no longer support the claim of having been blessed, or being number one ...and they’re angry. Groomed for decades by their industrial overlords (think Koch, rhyming with crotch) via numerous ‘Think Tanks’ and focus groups … while matching ‘supreme court’ decisions re enforced methods and opened endless abuse, it’s reached a critical point.
The Republican party feeds on fear & discontent - and fears the opposite. They view opportunity in chaos, thus promote it, as did the Nazis. ‘trump’ is no Hitler (trump’s intellectually lazy & decadent), but there’s no doubt one in the wings…
I’ve long wondered how bad it must get before ‘my nation’ wakes? Apparently, a lot worse than for myself … but maybe that’s what happens when you’re not following sports, watching movies, shopping, partying, 4 wheeling or shooting.. Vote - consistently … hold yur fuckin nose if necessary - but there’s only one viable party left that has the power and organization to turn this around ..and if you can’t do that, you’ll deserve whatever follows ~
Varn
Level 8
June 16, 2018
4
Eloquent! You are spot on, thank you friend.
Listen to The Economist asks: Has the West lost its touch? by The Economist #np on #SoundCloud
[soundcloud.com]
As I said to others, We know all this. does it continue? Are the House (and Senate) Republicans under some kind of spell, or threat, or collective insanity? What happened to integrity? All rhetorical questions, I'm afraid. I'm only thankful at the moment that I'm currently in a bastian of sanity called Menorca and don't have to watch the madness on TV 8 hours per day. Spain has just done something very admirable. They have replaced a corrupt President with a coalition of two formerly competing parties with a vote of no confidence. Too bad we can't do that in our very Un-Democratic system.
I recently saw a report that conservatives are fearful, and that medical imaging had shown their amygdala is larger than others. Moreover, the amygdala is known to be associated with the fear response.
The media are full of propaganda by the military industrial complex about terrorists trying to do bad things to us. However, worldwide statistics show the world is more peaceful and safer now than ever in history.
We must make the conservatives feel safer by realizing WWIII is not about to occur, and that a kinder world is also safer. Since the propaganda mill is running full time on network news, and reporters who will object do not get jobs, we have a difficult task.
EdEarl
Level 8
June 16, 2018
4
Very interesting points!
I think the drift is to fascism rather than Nazism, which was really a quite specific German adaptation. It's a concern, with the president utilising his powers in ways they were never intended to be employed, but there are still plenty of checks and balances in the US system, flawed as it is. I think the mid-terms will be important in either checking the momentum of the right or giving it free reign for another two years.
Gareth
Level 7
June 16, 2018
3
I question whether the checks and balances can work quickly enough. Keep in mind that POTUS doesn't need any congressional approval to launch nukes.
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