Not with a bang but a whimper

[Cyrano]

Through gerrymandering, voter suppression, and laws in some states that let state Republican legislatures decide who "won" an election, we're going to lose the House next year. And that will make it a lot easier for the thugs to steal the Senate and the presidency in 2024. It seems to me, and many, many others, including Rachel who is terrified, that this scenario is coming at us like a freight train. And if you disagree, I'd like to hear your reasoning.

The next paragraph may well get this post locked. But it really needs to be said ... and HEARD.

I'm beyond pissed at our party leaders and our president. Our country is being brazenly raped and murdered, in broad daylight, by malignant barbarians, and they're doing ... either nothing, or not much. Maybe Merrick Garland is doing stuff behind the scenes. Who knows?

By the way, the headline to this OP is the last line of T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Hollow Men."

[blueinredohio]

1. I'm with you all the way,Cyrano.

[HAB911]

2. Agree completely

[poli-junkie]

3. Yes, everything is completely rigged for one party rule 2022 and beyond.

Voting rights lawyer Marc Elias has been sounding the alarm about this. Where's the sense of urgency from the Democratic party?

[DLevine]

4. I hear you. I feel the same way. nt

[leftstreet]

5. I'm sure there's a plan in the works to stop this

surely

[dhol82]

25. Don't count on it.

[Skittles]

36. um....no

is there ever?

[LiberatedUSA]

6. I believe we are witnessing what we only read about in school history.

It’s happening. The only way to stop it is for 2 of our senators to work with us. If they do not, this feels like checkmate.

[FoxNewsSucks]

7. couldn't agree more

We are almost certainly fucked, hopelessly fucked.

[andym]

8. This is the way the world ends/ Not with a bang but a whimper.

A great conclusion to a great poem.
The USA has always been a work in progress. Will we choose progress or regress?

Regression at the hands of people with access to powerful mass propaganda technologies, seems to be in the cards. A democratic republic needs the participation of educated citizens who seek out truth and facts. There is room for large disagreements over politics, but not over facts and science.

[bullwinkle428]

9. George Packer's piece at The Atlantic is the most terrifying thing you'll read

all week. Even more so than the Barton Gellman piece.

The usual scenarios are unconvincing. The country is not going to split into two hostile sections and fight a war of secession. No dictator will send his secret police to round up dissidents in the dead of night. Analogies like these bring the comfort of at least being familiar. Nothing has aided Donald Trump more than Americans’ failure of imagination. It’s essential to picture an unprecedented future so that what may seem impossible doesn’t become inevitable.

If the end comes, it will come through democracy itself. Here’s one way I imagine it could happen: In 2024, disputed election results in several states lead to tangled proceedings in courtrooms and legislatures. The Republican Party’s long campaign of undermining faith in elections leaves voters on both sides deeply skeptical of any outcome they don’t like. When the next president is finally chosen by the Supreme Court or Congress, half the country explodes in rage. Protests soon turn violent, and the crowds are met with lethal force by the state, while instigators firebomb government buildings. Neighborhoods organize self-defense groups, and law-enforcement officers take sides or go home. Predominantly red or blue counties turn on political minorities. A family with a biden-harris sign has to abandon home on a rural road and flee to the nearest town. A blue militia sacks Trump National Golf Club Bedminster; a red militia storms Oberlin College. The new president takes power in a state of siege.

Another, likelier scenario is widespread cynicism. Following the election crisis, protests burn out. Americans lapse into acquiescence, believing that all leaders lie, all voting is rigged, all media are bought, corruption is normal, and any appeal to higher values such as freedom and equality is either fraudulent or naive. The loss of democracy turns out not to matter all that much. The hollowed core of civic life brings a kind of relief. Citizens indulge themselves in self-care and the metaverse, where politics turns into a private game and algorithms drive Americans into ever more extreme views that have little relation to reality or relevance to those in power. There’s enough wealth to keep the population content. America’s transformation into Russia is complete.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/imagine-death-american-democracy-trump-insurrection/620841/

[Cyrano]

11. Whether this scenario is accurate or not,

we certainly seem to be heading into a dystopian future created by a collection of maniacs.

And we, -- the sane people, -- our side, -- our leadership, is doing ... ???

[shanti]

13. Yes, like Rachel says

it's terrifying. Not the way I planned my senior years.

[traitorsgalore]

37. I think it'll be a peaceful split, like California saying it'll be an abortion safe state

A lot of blue states will follow with other such guidelines.

Red states will be murderous states full of gun nuts, racists, disease-ridden covidiots, hate speech media, bounties on women, and other such guidelines.

I hope a few red states secede, like Texas. The U.S. government will finally get things done.

[CousinIT]

38. Version without paywall

https://archive.ph/AgoIp

[brush]

10. You need to stop this. Try being pissed at the filibuster, the GQP...

McTurtle and McCarthy, FOX and the rest of the right wing media. the Electoral College, and I'm going to got there...the flawed Constitution and the founders for making it so hard to amend.

What do you propose Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer do when the filibuster is the major, major roadblock there is to fixing all the things you're complaining about.

Affix the blame where it properly belongs. And I'll also add Manchin and Sinema to the above list of those at fault.

[Cyrano]

12. At the very least, there's the "Bully Pulpit."

It's not being used.

[brush]

14. Stop blaming Democrats for right wing republican actions.

The bully pulpit is a myth. It doesn't get past the filibuster int the Senate. Again,that is the major, major roadblock to all Dem/progressive legislation.

And you know that. I don't have to tell you that.

[Cyrano]

15. Okay, you've fixed the blame where it belongs.

You win. The vast majority and democracy loses.

[brush]

16. We haven't lost yet. Work on Dem campaigns. Donate, do voter reg...

data input, phone banking and canvassing when the time comes. There's more to being a progressive than blaming Dem leadership on a message board.

[Wild blueberry]

17. This times a million!

We know the GQP are a pack of assholes, stupid and violent.
Where is our resistance? Why aren't all Dems fighting like we're at the end of democracy?
We need organized reclamation of our democracy, in all fifty states.
We're doing our part in our small town of making sure the elections are safe, fair, and transparent.
It's All Hands on Deck time!
Thanks for the post, Cyrano.

[Sogo]

18. Because I've donated to Dem races in the past,

I get texts every day, sometimes three times a day, with all kinds of urgency about the Rs having raised so much money at this point, and shouldn't that motivate me to give more and more and more, today and tomorrow and beyond????

I've had it. If you want support from me, pass voting rights legislation. Period.

[moondust]

19. In theory,

some of those opposed to corruption and in a position to do something about it may lose their spines if they, too, stand to benefit personally from said corruption.

[librechik]

20. We have to bring the base to the polls. Something Dems failed to do in Virginia last Nov.

Apparently. WE have to work harder and not be intimidated by Republican games.

Anyway, it's the only chance we have. We still outnumber them physically. Theoretically.

[question everything]

21. This is why it is important to approach rural Americans as much as many here

loathed the idea.

This is why it is important to remember that moderates were behind flipping the House in 2018 while the growing perception that socialism, “defunding the police” and the Squad were the face of the party in 2020.

[housecat]

22. Maybe we need to be less predictable, less polite, and start breaking a few rules-- rules that

will be useless anyway if Democracy dies. This war will not be fought with primitive weapons like guns, because it will be cyberwar, and, God forbid, biological. If the last four years aren't a wakeup call, we're seriously doomed. We need to be prepared for anything, and we must learn to be together.

[Cyrano]

27. Evidently, our Dem leaders don't know how to break rules,

which ones to break, and what to do then. Our side just doesn't know how to deal with fascists. And I fear that is leading us into a living hell.

I know how negative this sounds. But we're dealing with malignant gangsters who will do anything to kill democracy. And they're succeeding.

[housecat]

31. My thoughts exactly. The thing I can't wrap my head around is how one group (Dems) has

most of the talent, brains, and humanity, and yet they allow a group with no talent, brains, or humanity to succeed. They might look human, but I suspect they are not, and we're just not equipped to deal with a different species that exists in a different universe.

[orleans]

23. agree. k&r. and not locked yet. nt

[DENVERPOPS]

24. This commentary says it all. And Perfectly.......Thank you

So do all the comments.

If DU clobbers you for any of this, it will be the last day I will read or comment on DU.

WASF

[housecat]

32. DU should chill. I got clobbered, but I am still here causing trouble.

[dixiechiken1]

26. Agree 100%

This is a "hair on fire" moment in our country and it feels like we're the only ones who see it.

[Cyrano]

28. I think millions see it, dixiechiken1

The problem is we are virtually helpless to do anything about it. (GOTV isn't enough to defeat this threat.) It's up to our leadership to lead us in the fight that must be fought. Yet, I fear we'll still be waiting while the fascists take hold of all the levers of power.

You're absolutely correct about this being a "hair on fire" moment. But the fire dept. is nowhere in sight.

[housecat]

34. We are not helpless. We only think that we are, because we play on their turf and

play fair. It's time to change that.

[Xoan]

29. FWIW ..

I think That's what Republicans are counting on.

[Cyrano]

30. You bet! We won't have "lost." We'll have given it away.

[housecat]

33. That's how it's been. Look at Gore handing it all to Bush.

[Cyrano]

35. Yep. The SCOTUS appointed a president.

And what did we do about it? Nothing. And at this critical moment, we are doing a replay of that horrible moment in recent history.

[CrispyQ]

39. I'm willing to wait until after the New Year before I go into full panic mode.

But we better start seeing some kernels pop soon.

[Texaswitchy]

40. That is why are we are leaving the country.

It will get bad here for awhile.

Until the far right eats each other up.

Playing king of the hill.

Just think of the war between the churches.