Just some ramblings and meanderings on a Saturday morning...
While I am not surprised by where we are right now, watching our beloved country slide toward the pit of authoritarianism, it's still a little hard to grasp how rapidly we fell. I guess it says more about the essential weakness of our democracy as much as it does about the stupidity of our electorate. It was just a matter of time before someone like Trump emerged to take advantage.
The only solace that I can find is the knowledge that we had a really good run; the generations before us that enjoyed relative peace and prosperity, and the decades after the Civil Right Movement where we had some steady progress toward justice and equality.
We also have to take solace by looking back at history and seeing the horrific things that human beings have done to one another, and to know we aren't there (yet) in modern Fascist America. Even so, there is little doubt that one day soon the USA is poised to become the first advanced police state that will use modern technology to enslave it's citizens. China uses these methods but they do not have the military power that Trump has at his disposal.
I think everyone here realizes that every single citizen in this country has a digital dossier which contains everything about you, from your daily movements, your daily consumption, your political affiliations, your communications and your sexual behavior. A simple matter to track all of that for a mere 300 million people, it takes a tiny fraction of Federal government's computing capacity to do it.
Knowing where we are going now, looking back I am not sure that I would have brought children into this world. I completely understand that some of my kids have resolved to never procreate and I think we are going to see more and more of that. In the end a declining population may be the undoing of the modern police state. Maybe that's another reason why MAGA is pushing for the abolishment of birth control. Without proles, how can the oligarchy build wealth?
= new reply since forum marked as read
My uncle used to go on and on about Roosevelt. The 60's drained churches of their non-TV revenue, and racists be very well taught and reinforced.
Hate, racism, blaming someone else, and "owning others" instead of creating all be thiroughly ingrained in our culture, back centuries.
They work for hoodwinking people in order to use them. See this morning's post on farmers.
The fascist playbook
10 Small Steps: Executing the Fascist Playbook
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-small-steps-executing-the-fascist-playbook_b_585dfec2e4b04d7df167cfab
The Fascists’ Playbook
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/05/08/the-fascists-playbook/