General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEven if Biden wins, I think our Democracy is still in danger.
Trump has proven that America is absolutely susceptible to an authoritarian figure. Lucky for us, the one chosen this time happened to be an incompetent idiot surrounded by even more incompetent idiots. Republicans have failed in every respect to counteract those authoritarian tendencies so long as they get their Obamacare repeal, their judges, and as long as their assault on entitlements is allowed to continue. Plus, it's obvious COVID-19 probably saved the US from a 2nd Trump term.
But, here's what worries me; what happens if said future candidate isn't an incompetent idiot? What if it's someone eloquent, politically savvy, highly educated, and with the charisma to actually pull off the populism Trump tried to pull off? Perhaps I'm being hyperbolic. Who knows? I just have a sense that the past 3 1/2 years have shown us that our democracy, durable as it may be, wouldn't survive the above scenario.
still_one
(92,526 posts)RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)And installs Tom Cotton or some other pig.
SKKY
(11,838 posts)...and were able to flip it, the WH would follow suit. If I was given the choice of either winning the WH, or flipping the Senate, I'd pick the Senate every day of the week, and twice on Sundays.
denem
(11,045 posts)The end of trump is the sine qua non of anything worth while.
blitzen
(4,572 posts)They have shown that they never change their ways. They need to be squashed.
Ahpook
(2,751 posts)My wife and I went to bed election night in 2000 knowing Gore had won. We all know what happened after that, and it changed us forever.
Thankfully we had Obama since then, but there is always the potential for a rogue popping up and seriously fucking us up. We have it now! Who is next? Could it get worse?
If we do get control, we better rollback whatever BS gave Mitch and co the insane powers they have been given. I mean, there is seemingly not a GD thing we can do but watch these people run us over. Its bullshit!
SKKY
(11,838 posts)Last edited Thu Jul 16, 2020, 12:04 PM - Edit history (1)
...to testify, allowing them to perform their constitutional duty of oversight, is what scares me the most. There are a lot of "suggestions", but there doesn't seem to be any bite to them. So, they basically blow them off and say, "So, whatcha gonna do?"
All I have heard since 2000 is what we NEED to be doing.
Where is the fucking fight? The pubes get everything they want over and over.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)just like there are in all countries and throughout history. This has been a fact since this country fought and won the Revolutionary war. Even then there were Americans loyal to Mad King George. It was the same faction that were fine with owning slaves and rejecting Democracy. Theyve always been in this country and they have been losing from the beginning. For the same reason they will lose again after only a handful of years because they are mental throwbacks who want to have everything under control. Why? I think its because theyre greedy cowards who fear uncontrollable things.
Thekaspervote
(32,823 posts)abqtommy
(14,118 posts)the Never-tRUMPER reTHUGS will still be in the mix and will still be reTHUGS...
walkingman
(7,706 posts)think about it - in today's world the idea of a Kanye West becoming President is actually possible. We are in deep trouble. This pandemic has shown just how incompetent America has become. If it wasn't for our ability to print as much money as we want - we would have already sunk.
JI7
(89,289 posts)of white people is decreasing.
populism mainly appeals to white racists .
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Even when they lose their absolute majority in numbers, they will be the largest single group in the USA until Hispanics overtake them many decades into the future.
I do believe the number of reactionary White people is falling pretty fast and the reactionaries are going down kicking and screaming. But so be it, the USA will be a better place for everyone, including Whites once the reactionaries are shoved aside and minimized.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)happened to Athens. And then the Roman Republic.
France, Germany, Russia... How many weak and fledgling democracies went under?
Democracy is messy and fragile. "The people" are disorganized and don't always know what they really want-- this is why a dedicated autocrat can take over.
We dodged a bullet thanks to a system that makes it more difficult for the bad guys to take over. But we should never forget how close we came.
SKKY
(11,838 posts)Good looking out on the knowledge!
Wounded Bear
(58,792 posts)there will be a lot of work to do just to rebuild the government, let alone protect against future versions of Trump.
SKKY
(11,838 posts)...equipped to take advantage of it.
machoneman
(4,016 posts)GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)But they face an existential problem. Their entire message is based on white racial and religious grievances. Both of those groups will be much smaller in 24, less in 28 and so on.
Unless they find another grievance to pick they are in a bad spot.
The party knew that after the 2012 election but they had already painted themselves in a corner. Lindsey Graham warmed them that Trump would destroy their party. He was right.
Unless Barr moves to end democratic rights, which he may try, they are in real trouble. Barr is on record saying he really does not like liberal democracy and wants government supporting moral edicts. He would support trump becoming an American Franco.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)I biggest problem is and will continue to be people that are so far on the fringes, who are convinced that only their way is the right way, that we are going to run the risk of another Trump soon, I am afraid. Rational people thought that W had ended the Republican Party, but then it gave us someone even worse and around 32% of Americans support that monster. We can assume that 32% will die off faster that those that oppose their views, but are we certain of that?
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)But I agree with you about populism and remind you it can come the left as well as the right.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)block out all rational arguments, they have no sense of political balance, everything must be 100% right for them - how can a person deal with such mental intransigence?
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)But news shopping for your comfort zone and social media doesnt make me hopeful.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)It is obvious now that Republican officeholders wont put constitutional reigns on a Republican President. And McConnell is trying to stuff the Federal Courts with zealot judges.
lastlib
(23,388 posts)Benjamin Franklin, after the Constitutional Convention, when asked by a woman what kind of government it created. Ben had a great point--WE have to keep it. We the People have to fight for it. Every generation.
Awsi Dooger
(14,565 posts)Chris Bowers launched a project to cleanse Democratic moderates from the northeast. That's fine but I told him he was totally whiffing the big picture. If both sides started dictating nominees from party activists instead of party machinery it could only benefit Republicans. At the time there were 11% more conservatives than liberals nationwide. Now it's 9%. I emphasized on MyDD that the GOP activists would nominate so many wing nuts that eventually it would be absorbed as the norm, and many of them would be elected.
Meanwhile what would Democrats gain? A handful of senators who score more favorable on the progressive meter. Not exactly a fair swap.
We should have been thrilled when moderates were safe.
There is going to be a Republican who comes across as let's say John Roberts but governs like Trump.
SKKY
(11,838 posts)...we could get a Socialist Authoritarian, and that's not a good thing either. On the right, they are bereft of anything even remotely resembling a centrist. But I wonder how long it will take for a candidate on the left to emerge as well. Neither extreme is a good thing.