Well, it’s good for them that the Democrats are doing fuckall about it.
3 Likes
The Dems are trying to negotiate. The problem, as usual, is that they won’t or can’t acknowledge that the counterparty is operating in bad faith.
10 Likes
As usual, bringing a copy of Robert’s Rules of Order to a back alley machete fight.
Then hoping that “taking the high road” and whining about how their hands are tied will make us forget that they’re being paid by the same people.
4 Likes
The problem is more the duopoly system that both parties are deeply invested in. No-one wants to upset that sweet racket.
6 Likes
Ah, the Littlefinger approach to gaining political power.
We can only hope that it ultimately ends badly for them as it did for him.
7 Likes
It will, but that’s because it’s going to end badly for all of us…
5 Likes
I think given that members of their own party are like “we should nominate Hitler because this is just like Weimar,” then it is safe to say destroying the economy is their goal because overthrowing the US and installing a dictator is their goal.
5 Likes
4 Likes
i honestly think snopes would have been better off fact checking the statements they featured her saying. it gives the false statements they quoted ( like “crime is out of control” - it is not ) - the patina of truth.
they could have put the focus on her statements, while still calling out the biden campaign. it seems a not great choice to avoid the statements doing the most damage
i’m very curious what will happen if the mccarthy team winds up with a bill that the gop doesn’t support. 18 rounds ( or whatever it was ) to try to pass it?
8 Likes
But GATTO! Both sides are BAD! /s
10 Likes
This. They win either way. Whichever way it goes, the only people in public companies getting hurt are the workers.
7 Likes
It is just like Weimar. That’s the problem. Economy creates enough pressure people start looking for someone to take it out on. People who are getting their needs met and feel like they have some control over their own lives tend not to join fascist causes.
Of course the Democrats are happy to address the symptoms, but as long as they’re funded by the same people as the Republicans, they won’t do a fucking thing about the underlying cause, meaning nothing gets fixed ever.
1 Like
“It is just like Weimar”
It is though? I think it resonates but it isn’t just like it except insofar as people are taking inspiration from it for… whatever reasons.
After all the US right now is also unlike Weimar in many ways.
7 Likes
Except for all the rich and wealthy people who embrace fascism? What’s their excuse?
I’d argue that there are some parallels we can think about, but rarely is something that is happening in the present “just like” the past… I fear that some people miss the notion the history should be studied, not because it can be “predictive”, but because we can use it to understand what is possible and what can be avoided… But the context of events actually matters and should be paid attention to, rather than just flattened as “just like” some other time…
11 Likes
The “economic anxiety” explanation doesn’t fly as the primary motivator of the fascist followers then or now. At the same time that there was an on-going economic crisis in Germany in the 1930s, there was one in the U.S. The latter country’s electorate and political influencers made a very different choice than the former’s, despite it being a more fundamentally bigoted society and despite its conservative establishment being just as if not more focused on preserving the prerogatives of the ultra-wealthy.
The difference, in part, comes down to the strength of liberal-democratic institutions and public trust in them. And let’s not both-sides it, even in our broken and compromised duopoly system only one party has spent more than four decades actively undermining both.
Yep. It’s not like the major shareholders in Krupp and I.G. Farben were suffering during the Weimar period and more than ultra-wealthy Americans who support the MAGAt GOP are now. And yet…
5 Likes
one might include anxiety, but not the sort of pressure from being marginalized
The average age of the arrestees we studied is 40. Two-thirds are 35 or older, and 40 percent are business owners or hold white-collar jobs. Unlike the stereotypical extremist, many of the alleged participants in the Capitol riot have a lot to lose. They work as CEOs, shop owners, doctors, lawyers, IT specialists, and accountants. Strikingly, court documents indicate that only 9 percent are unemployed.
these are the sorts who are doing well. well enough to take time off from work, fly to the capital, get a hotel in dc, etc.
Fourth, most of the insurrectionists do not come from deep-red strongholds… of those arrested for their role in the Capitol riot, more than half came from counties that Biden won; one-sixth came from counties that Trump won with less than 60 percent of the vote.
it’s easiest i think to read it as anxiety about losing power as white, cis, het people than anything about economics or putting food on their table
after all, proud boys aren’t out there standing with the writer’s guild. they’re trying to shut down libraries and attacking the lgbt community
(source)
13 Likes
Show me a country that went fascist when their economy was doing well.
1 Like
Their founder Gavin McInnes certainly never benefitted economically by going off the alt-right deep end—on the contrary it seemed to destroy his previously successful career in apolitical entertainment journalism
5 Likes
and here i thought we were talking about why fascists have been gaining traction in the us
eta: in the us i think itd be easy to argue the wealth disparity is being grown by those with fascists tendencies, rather than fascism arising out of wealth disparities.
go back to when this push started, and you’ll see it’s rooted in the backlash to civil rights for black americans. and note: the most disadvantaged groups in america are opposing facism, while those with the most advantage are supporting it.
we don’t need any deep cross referenced research to see what’s happening. it’s all out in the open
9 Likes
I mean, sure there’s an observable pattern across a bunch of historical precedents, but sure. We’re special.
Well, I mean it started a hell of a lot earlier, but sure. Look at the state of civil rights in the 60s- measure the progress, pushback, and general acceptance. Compare that to the 70s. 80s. 90s. Seems to me that things were getting slowly but steadily better since then and then… This. Gay rights too. I mean, I remember Reagan and AIDS. Tom Hanks in Philadelphia. Decriminalization. Marriage equality. And now… Do you honestly not see things getting progressively better and then taking a noticeable downturn? How does that square up against any major economic indicators?
In order to… ?
1 Like
