General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSeriously are we witnessing the end of the great American expirement?
The US was founded on the destruction of the indigenous populations that were already here. Plenty of back ground on that , and abusing other non white races. Non the less we built something good for lots of people, outside historical experience. But its an expirement. Its gone one well over 200 years but thats just a drop in the bucket. Prior to the US major powers used some version of royalty and everyone else was a peone. I see that ugly future lying ahead of us if the worlds population allows it. My hope is that is not what allows to happen but am less and less convinced lately. Are we doomed to fall back in time one or fwo thousand years? Its starting to feel like it. The money and power is becoming more and more concentrated as times on. Where will it end?
The really scary part is the US holds the majority of nuclear weapons which has everyone else in the work scared shitless. People with limited knowledge of history tend to shoot holes in any idea like this I might bring up, but really a few hundred years vs several thousand years of the known history of human civilization really ought to not ignore that people really havent changed all that much.
AlexSFCA
(6,139 posts)if we dont prevail, I highly doubt there will be a real 2020 election.
uponit7771
(90,411 posts)msongs
(67,739 posts)Afromania
(2,772 posts)This is the biggest debugging Democracy has ever been given. We are going to come out the other side of this and know exactly what needs fixing.
mainer
(12,050 posts)It turns out I would qualify.
I have never felt so despairing of the US's future. Or the rest of the world, for that matter. With climate change, Brexit, and the refugee crises around the world, it feels as if history is about to take an abrupt, catastrophic turn.
mnhtnbb
(31,500 posts)I am pretty sure my oldest son and his partner would qualify to immigrate to Canada. Then they could apply to sponsor me--as a parent--to come. I can't get there on my own as a retiree. BUT, here's the interesting thing. Canada CLOSED family sponsorships in February of this year because they'd already had their quota of 10,000. applications!
I am taking a serious look at France as an alternative. I'm also thinking of just getting as far away as possible--Hawaii--without leaving the US.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)Several countries have ancestry immigration/citizenship programs. Among them are Ireland, Hungary, Italy and Germany. See if you qualify.
Some like Italy allow you to claim citizenship without having to set foot in the country.
Hungary is run but a Trumpian madman but that citizenship opens up the doors to the rest of the EU, including France.
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)They are very serious about all French speaking French and do absolutely nothing to help those who do not.
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)The last 200 years of rising republics taking over monarchies could be an anomaly that is about to revert to the historic norm.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)it's perfectly possible for a country to have a democratic government without being a republic. (And if the colonists hadn't engaged in that revolt over paying taxes, independence would've come anyway, slavery would've ended sooner, and the early 19th century ethnic cleansing of eastern Native American tribes might not've happened; so in hindsight the American Revolution was probably a bad thing.)
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)which are really republics with a figurehead. I am talking about absolute monarchies. Up until a few hundred years ago, a heriditary king with absolute or near absolute power was assumed to be the natural form of government with few exceptions.
So who is crazy? The people who lived with the standard form of government for 5,000 years, or we with our messy votes and sharing of power that is barely 200 years old and can be subverted as soon as soon as people vote themselves a tyrant.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)Has been since the Glorious Revolution of 1688. So if you're talking about 18th century Britain, then you are in fact talking about a constitutional monarchy.
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)it was a constitutonal monarchy throughout the 18th century. The American Revolution didn't take place in the 1500's. (Although it was a limited monarchy constrained by Parliament for some time before that, and at least back to Magna Carta.)
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)Which is about the grand sweep of history, not just the past few hundred years.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)Presidential systems (like the US's) are inherently unstable and usually fail. The US is the oldest country with its particular form of government; it's been tried elsewhere, and usually failed much more quickly. See here: https://scholar.harvard.edu/levitsky/files/1.1linz.pdf
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)But there is a wave of authoritarian populism sweeping the world. It could sweep them away too. We don't know the answer yet.
struggle4progress
(118,566 posts)mn9driver
(4,450 posts)after November, then it is a real possibility.
lame54
(35,474 posts)0rganism
(24,071 posts)i'm cautiously optimistic that enough people will get their shit together and vote this November to stem the tide of fascism by returning the House and/or Senate to Democrats. otherwise, well, let's not do "otherwise" quite yet.