It’s the present, too.
America isn’t a democracy; it’s a plutocracy masquerading as a democracy, and the masquerade is increasingly being abandoned for overt fascism.
Yes, voter suppression works. Yes, partisan gerrymandering is an anti-democratic horrorshow. But those aren’t things that are going to happen; those are things that have already happened.
Until this election, the neo-Confederate lockdown of the American electoral system was not absolute; there was still a chance to overwhelm it via turnout. But turnout requires a positive campaign and an inspiring candidate, and that isn’t what the Dem establishment chose to go with.
Now…it’s probably game over on the electoral front. The Trumpsters are going to turn the volume to eleven on disenfranchisement, so all of the states that are currently under GOP control are probably irrecoverable for the forseeable future.
The US constitution was progressive for its day, but that day was four hundred years ago. Since then, it’s been hacked. The slave power is back, and they’ve worked out how to neutralise checks and balances.
