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In reply to the discussion: They are going to FUCK it UP which is GREAT news for us. [View all]Crunchy Frog
(26,883 posts)Last edited Sat Jan 7, 2017, 12:18 AM - Edit history (1)
I'm not sure there are any historical precedents for any of this. That is, a stable, long term democracy, that has maintained, more or less, democratic, constitutional rule for over 200 years, falling into fascism during a long term period of, for the most part, peace and prosperity. Maybe Rome's transformation from a republic into an empire.
We've maintained, even if imperfectly, democratic and constitutional government through a civil war, through two global wars, through a decades long Cold War, through assassinations and major social upheavals. We've pulled ourselves back from the brink during the McCarthy era, and after all of that, we're now walking right into fascism, peacefully and voluntarily.
I believe that we've been heading in this direction for the past few decades, with the groundwork being done by some very clever and extremely wealthy people who have funded think tanks and created a massive propaganda infrastucture, and gradually transformed what had been a conservative party, into a radical RW fascist one, and propagandized millions of people into followers; and they have done this mostly under the radar of people who should have been paying attention. And as I said, what they have achieved is historically unprecedented.
Where we go from here is anybody's guess. Maybe we slip into a totalitarian dystopia that lasts for decades. Maybe there will be a civil war, and the country will break apart. Maybe we'll end up having WWIII, and there will be nothing left but the cockroaches. Or maybe we'll be able to pull ourselves out of it before it becomes irreversible.
The fact that the "leader" is an overgrown infant, and the fascist party is tripping over their shoelaces in their overreaching power grabs, before he even gets inaugurated, is the one thing that gives me any hope that this country might manage to pull itself out. If we had gotten a more "reasonable" and sane looking R president, they would have been able to maintain the facade of normalcy until it was too late. So maybe Trump getting in is really a blessing in disguise.
I honestly wish I was reading about this in a history book, rather than living through it.
I apologize for posting my late night mental meanderings, but hope that it makes at least a little bit of sense to anyone other than myself.