Wounded Bear
Wounded Bear's JournalIn the good old days, both R's and D's had some diversity in them...
While there was definitely a "leaning" left or right of the parties, there were once liberal R's and conservative D's in America.
Both parties also had moderates, who could actually vote across party lines based on a range of issues, both economic and social.
Since Nixon, and especially Reagan, the Repub party has been systematically radicalizing, purging their ranks of liberals and even moderates. We like to point at the Tea Party bullshit of the Obama Era as some kind of turning point, but in reality it was just an intensifying of an ongoing trend. Citing economic motives while spewing racist hatred is a conservative tradition nowadays. I mean, Reagan made his candidacy announcement in the Mississippi town where KKK assholes were lionized for killing civil rights workers.
Repubs have been trying for decades to decouple Wall Street from Main Street, and they have finally seemed to have succeeded. Trump's economy has favored the wealthy and the executive class, just like Repubs love to do, while job and wage growth have been stagnant for workers.
Unfortunately, while there are no moderate R's left, there are plenty of conservadems, at least economically. Some Repub pols like to talk a moderate game, but still tend to vote the party line.
Courage, and who has it...
Back in 2009, Dems enacted the ACA with no Repub help or support. Many of them paid by losing their seat. Now, I have always felt that they screwed themselves when they refused to really support what they did in the 2010 elections. But it is what is is. They did the right thing, regardless of personal risk.
This is another moment that requires courage. Yeah, they're afraid of losing their jobs, but we're seeing them line up to push the investigations and further an impeachment movement that might just bear fruit.
Repubs are in counterattack mode, and it will get brutal TBS, but we're seeing people lining up to do the right thing, again.
We are certainly not immune to fascism...
Some advantages we have/had over 1920s Germany:
We are older and have stronger and more well established institutions in place. The Weimar Republic was very new. Germany had a legislative body that had been in place since establishment in the 1870's. But the Kaiser still had significant real political power until the end of WWI. The Wermacht also had immense power and supported Hitler and the Nazis as RW power brokers. Germany also had the prototypical modern Military Industrial Complex.
Repubs have been eroding the institutions supporting our democracy for decades, as you have noticed. They deride it as the Deep State. The thing is, that deep state might be the only thing that can save us. How's that for irony?
I have no faith in Christianity. We do hear reports of more liberal minded Christians being on our side, but the more vocal ones are the authoritarians. With the exception of the Soviets, RW authoritarian regimes love their religions. The sheep look to the church for guidance and political leaders exploit that.
I personally know of no instance in history where a nation overcomes deep fascism from within and returns to real democracy. Fascist Spain survived until Franco died. His brand of fascism was perhaps slightly less brutal than Hitler, but not much. Generally, those countries have to be rescued from without. So we'd be looking at a Red Dawn scenario, I guess.
I still have hope, but it is fading.
Trump and the Repubs WANT Dems to act emotionally and rashly...
That inflates their base. They can say that we're just a reflection of their hate for all things Dems. The could use the old "they're just like us" and discourage more of the both-siders out there from going out and voting.
People misunderstand the meaning of the "turn the other cheek" lesson of Bible fame. Certainly, Trump has never done that. But the bigger lesson is to not react the way they want us to react. It is not about ignoring transgressions, it is about controlling one's own actions. The important thing to do is to react smartly, to not just stoop to their level and respond with violence. That is what they want. It would justify their actions. Bullies always want their victims to react violently. They know that they will win more often than not if you engage them on their turf.
We need to "turn the other cheek" to Trump and overcome him with the full and righteous force of law and legislative power. That would be the biggest defeat of his sad, sick, bloated life, that he could not manipulate the legal system to his advantage.
Will we win? I certainly hope so, but I don't want to "win" by turning into a leftist version of the Trumplodytes. That would be a loss.
The number that I remember was 30%...
...in that about 1/3 of the population was for the revolution, about 1/3 was decidedly against it, and the other 1/3 were basically don't care, leave me the hell alone types.
The current 3 way split is not new in any sense. It's always been there. What has changed is that the 1/3 who just want to be left alone no longer have the frontier to flee to. The polarization we see, really isn't a 50/50 split and never has been. That narrative sells more papers and generates more clicks.
As for the citizenship test? The number of non recent immigrants who could pass it is pathetically small. It should be a requirement to get a High School diploma that students pass that. It's a pretty easy test for anyone who didn't sleep through American history.
The fact is that immigrants are usually the most patriotic in a truer sense because they chose to come here and work to become citizens. Far too many who were born here are infected with the malaise about it all you describe. What we end up with are political rallies that are about as substantive as local High School pep rallies before this weekend's game.
