#democracy in danger

[alwaysbewoke]

christian fascism is here. don't let anyone tell you or try to convince you that voting democrat is the wrong choice. what little democracy we have left is on the ballot. before we can help anyone outside the united states, there must be democracy in america. without it, we are of no use to anyone anywhere.

#christian fascism #voting democrat #democracy at stake #defend democracy #save democracy #democratic values #election2024 #democratic party #political activism #united states politics #democracy matters #democracy in danger #voting rights #democracy first #progressive values #anti-fascism #democratic principles #election integrity #political engagement #vote for democracy #fascism #Dictatorship

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[Kevin Kallaugher]  :: The Baltimore Sun

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 21, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAY 22, 2023

The list of 500 banned Americans that Russian president Vladimir Putin released on Friday makes it clear that Putin is openly aligning himself with Trump and today’s MAGA Republicans. The people on the list are not necessarily involved with U.S. policy toward Russia; they are Americans who are standing in the way of the Trump movement’s takeover of our country.

Notably, one of the names on the list is Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who refused to “find” the 11,780 votes Trump needed to win Georgia in 2020 and thus take the state’s electoral votes from Democratic winner Joe Biden. Also on the list was Michael Byrd, the Capitol Police officer who killed Ashli Babbitt as she attempted to break into the chamber of the House of Representatives, where more than 60 representatives and staffers were holed up, on January 6, 2021. Others made the “500 list,” according to the statement, for being part of “power or law-enforcement structures directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the wake of the so-called ‘storm of the Capitol.’”

Since Trump’s attempt to overthrow the will of the voters on January 6, 2021, his supporters have imitated the language and the laws that enabled Putin to destroy representative democracy in Russia and Viktor Orbán to undermine liberal democracy in Hungary.

Attempting to set a new kind of imperial Russia up as a challenger to the liberal democracies that have held the majority of global power since World War II, Putin in 2019 declared liberal democracy “obsolete.” At a time when his own economic and social troubles at home threatened his continuing hold on power, he lashed out at democracy’s emphasis on equality before the law, saying that immigrant rights, gay rights, and women’s rights undermine “the culture, traditions and traditional family values of millions of people making up the core population.”

Like Putin, Orbán cemented power with attacks on immigrants, LGBTQ people, and abortion rights while claiming to be shoring up traditional religion. Not surprisingly, both Putin and Orbán have praised Trump, with the overlap between the former U.S. president and the autocratic leaders becoming more pronounced as Trump’s followers work to undermine U.S. support for Ukraine in its fight to push back Russia’s invasion and in the Conservative Political Action Conference’s decision to hold a second meeting in Budapest, Hungary, this month.

That overlap is also visible in the anti-immigrant, anti-LBGTQ, and antiabortion legislation spreading through U.S. states dominated by Trump loyalists.

When Trump was in the White House, his team worked hard to put loyal supporters into power in state Republican parties before the 2020 election, possibly aware that he was likely to lose the vote and would have to turn to loyalists to steal it for him. (Recall that on October 31, 2020, Trump ally Stephen Bannon told an audience that the plan was simply to say he had won, and now, in a lawsuit filed last week against Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Noelle Dunphy alleges Giuliani told her of the scheme on February 7, 2019.) Packing the state parties with loyalists did indeed pay off: according to a study by Nick Corasaniti, Karen Yourish, and Keith Collins of the New York Times, at least 357 sitting Republican legislators in battleground states used their official positions either to discredit or to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Radicalizing the state parties has continued since Trump left office, strengthening his base in state legislatures. Those legislators are now advancing the illiberal Christian democracy embraced by Putin and Orbán, using the same language and politics of fear to pass laws that explicitly reject the principle of a nation based in the idea that is central to democracy: that everyone is equal before the law.

The attempt to demonize immigrants has been central to the Trump base since he announced his presidential campaign with the statement that “the U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems” and went on to say that Mexican immigrants are “bringing drugs…bringing crime. They’re rapists.” (In fact, undocumented immigrants are less than half as likely as native-born Americans to be arrested for violent crimes or drug offenses.)

Republicans have refused to consider bipartisan legislation that would fund immigration courts and border security, and instead have hammered on the idea that immigrants are “flooding” our borders. They fought to keep the pandemic-related Title 42 in place, insisting that its end would create, as Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) put it, an “Imminent Invasion.” When, in fact, the end of Title 42 led to a 60% decrease in unauthorized crossings, Greene still pushed forward, calling for Biden’s impeachment for his handling of immigration issues.

This same antidemocratic extremism explains the anti-trans, anti-drag, and anti-LGBTQ legislation, all of which are an attack on equality before the law. A March 8 article in Mother Jones by Madison Pauly exposed how the wave of anti-trans legislation passing through Republican-dominated state legislatures is written and pushed by well-funded Christian activists and organizations who argue, like Orbán, that they are protecting children (although 86% of trans or nonbinary young people have reported the attacks on them are affecting their mental health, and nearly half have seriously considered suicide).

Advocates for those laws inaccurately claim that they are protecting children from genital mutilation, but as Nancy Goldstein of the Texas Observer pointed out, the American Academy of Pediatrics stands behind gender-affirming care. Dr. Joshua Safer, the executive director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York City, explains: No other countries “are reconsidering the use of hormones and surgeries as first-line treatment for transgender children because hormones and surgeries are not first-line treatment for transgender children…. First-line interventions include mental health intakes and social adjustments…. Puberty blockers sometimes follow.” Those treatments are reversible if a patient changes their mind.

Nonetheless, the rhetoric of demonization is working: Brian Tyler Cohen reports (with video) that “Christian” pastor Jason Graber recently called for the execution of all LGBTQ people as well as the parents of transgender people: “They just need to be shot in the back of the head and then we can string them up above a bridge.”

Goldstein points out that the language of demonization Republicans are using mimics that of the “southern strategy,” by which Republican leaders from President Richard Nixon onward solidified their base by creating the idea that Black Americans threatened the well-being of white people. That strategy, too, is ongoing in the Republican Party. On Monday, May 15, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that defunds any state college or university with a diversity, equity, and inclusion program and that bans courses that “distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics,” a reference to courses that acknowledge racism or sexism. Texas, Tennessee, North Dakota, Iowa, and Ohio are considering similar legislation.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), a Latino civil rights organization; Equality Florida, a gay rights advocacy group; and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) have all issued advisories warning against travel to Florida. “Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals,” the NAACP said. “Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color.”

With its antiabortion legislation, the MAGA movement is also signaling its abandonment of the idea that everyone should be equal before the law. Since the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision last June, fifteen states have banned or severely restricted abortion rights. On Tuesday a supermajority of the North Carolina legislature, established when Tricia Cotham, a Democrat who ran on abortion rights, switched parties, overrode the veto of the Democratic governor Roy Cooper to ban virtually all abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

In Sumner County, Tennessee, these antidemocratic Republicans have taken over the county government and, as Christina A. Cassidy wrote today in the Associated Press, promptly changed the county’s official documents to say that operations would be “most importantly reflective of the Judeo-Christian values inherent in the nation’s founding.” They are trying to shape the county, including election rules, according to their ideology.

It is these same MAGA Republicans who are threatening to force the United States to default on its debt for the first time in our history, with catastrophic consequences, unless the Democrats agree to protect all tax cuts and slash the domestic spending that protects ordinary Americans. It’s important to remember that the global autocratic movement is not solely about creating a traditional religious society; it is about destroying democracy to concentrate wealth and power in a small group of men, usually white men, who will dominate the rest of us.

For all the talk of House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) negotiating over a budget that Republicans will then approve before they are willing to raise the debt ceiling, he has never had the votes of the extremists that he needs to make that happen. They are demanding that the Democrats dismantle the government programs that protect ordinary Americans in exchange for agreeing not to blow up the world economy.

And so, the battle over democracy has come down to the debt ceiling.

Today, Biden told reporters that he would not agree to the extremists’ demands. “We put forward a proposal that cuts spending by more than a trillion dollars, and on top of the nearly $3 trillion in deficit reduction that I previously proposed through the combination of spending cuts and new revenues,” he said.

“Let me be clear,” he said. “I’m not going to agree to a deal that protects, for example, a $30 billion tax break for the oil industry, which made $200 billion last year—they don’t need an incentive of another $30 billion—while putting healthcare of 21 million Americans at risk by going after Medicaid.

“I’m not going to agree to a deal that protects $200 billion in excess payments for pharmaceutical industries and refusing to count that while cutting over 100,000 schoolteachers and…assistants’ jobs, 30,000 law enforcement officers’ jobs cut across…the entire United States of America.

“And I’m not going to agree to a deal that protects wealthy tax cheats and crypto traders while putting food assistance at risk for nearly… 1 million Americans.

“And it’s time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely—solely—on their partisan terms. They have to move as well.

“All four congressional leaders agree with me that…default is not—let me say it again—default is not an option. And I expect each of…these leaders…to live up to that commitment.

“America has never defaulted—never defaulted on our debt, and it never will.”

—

[FROM COMMENTS]

Michael Bales

We have difficulty seeing reality when it's beyond our experience and coming into view ever so slowly. But what's happening to our country is clearer tonight thanks to Heather. It's a slow-moving government takeover — governments of all size and type.

Republicans have been nibbling away for so long but now are taking bigger and bigger bites, gobbling up democracy. Is anyone at this point doubting they indeed seek to kill the federal government and create conditions ripe for authoritarian rule?

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Kevin Kallaugher #The Baltimore Sun #MAGA agenda #Debt Ceiling #Trump tax cuts for billionaires #Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #Radical Right Wing Agenda #Gilded age #Authoritarianism #Russia #Hungary #Democracy in Danger #gerrymandering #Slow moving government takeover

[sloth-hallo-hier-bin-ich]

Democracy in danger? Prof. Dr. Herfried Münkler

#fight for democracy #democracy in danger #Youtube

[mizelaneus]

#democracy in danger

[trmpt]

Nightmare

#trump goon gym jordan #trump cult #democracy in danger #gog and magog

[sher-ee]

This is how he signals violence to his base of supporters. A former President and current Republican candidate is posting this on Truth Social.

He will use his base to do the unthinkable just as he did on January 6th 2021. While he is free they are in prison.

#donald trump #monster #criminal minds #dangerous #sociopathy #vote blue #we must stay focused #we must vote them out #politics #republicans #democrats #democracy #america #joe biden

[tomorrowusa]

Mike Godwin is an internet legend. He was the first known person to use the word meme in its internet context. He's also the originator of what's become known as "Godwin's Law".

In a recent interview, Mr. Godwin stated that comparisons of Donald Trump to Hitler or Nazis are fair and appropriate.

So to be clear — do you think comparing Trump’s rhetoric to Hitler or Nazi ideology is fair? I would go further than that. I think that it would be fair to say that Trump knows what he’s doing. I think he chose that rhetoric on purpose. But yeah, there are some real similarities. If you’ve read Hitler’s own writing — which I don’t recommend to anyone, by the way — you see a dehumanizing dimension throughout, but the speeches are an even more interesting case. What we have of Hitler’s speeches are mostly recorded, and they’re not always particularly coherent. What you see in efforts to compile his speeches are scholars trying to piece together what they sounded like. So, it’s a little bit like going to watch a standup comedian who’s hitting all of his great lines. You see again and again Hitler repeating himself. He’ll repeat the same lines or the same sentiment on different occasions. With Trump, whatever else you might say about him, he knows what kinds of lines generate the kinds of reactions that he wants. The purpose of the rallies is to have applause lines, because that creates good media, that creates video. And if he repeats his lines again and again, it increases the likelihood that a particular line will be repeated in media reporting. So that’s right out of the playbook. You could say the ‘vermin’ remark or the ‘poisoning the blood’ remark, maybe one of them would be a coincidence. But both of them pretty much makes it clear that there’s something thematic going on, and I can’t believe it’s accidental. The question is why do it on purpose. Well, my opinion is that Trump believes, for whatever reason, that there is some part of his base that really wants to hear this message said that way, and he’s catering to them. He finds it both rewarding personally for himself and he believes it’s necessary to motivate people to help him get elected again.

He adds this cautionary comment about the state of American democracy...

When I was growing up and being taught the American system of government, we would always be taught that the U.S. government has checks and balances in its design, so you can’t take it over with a sentiment of the moment. But I think what we’ve learned is that the institutions that protect us are fragile. History suggests that all democracies are fragile. So we have to be on the alert for political movements that want to undermine democratic institutions, because the purpose of democratic institutions is not to put the best people in power, it’s to maintain democracy even when the worst people are in power. That’s a big lift.

#mike godwin #godwin's law #donald trump #nazis #adolph hitler #republicans #extremism #danger to democracy #internet history #internet culture #election 2024

[gay-impressionist]

macron just. bypassed the french parliament YET AGAIN to pass the law adding two years to the minimum age for retirement.

it's a thing that happened.

#FUCK HIM #FUCK THIS GOVERNMENT #for real the parliament should vote a motion of no confidence and make the government resign #bc what the fuck #how is this a democracy #he uses the 49.3 loophole way too much to even pretend not to be authoritarian #he bypassed the parliament about a dozen times if not more #whereas previous presidents almost never used the 49.3 #also what's the point of having a constitutionnal right to demonstrate and strike if the government never takes notice of it #the country could be on fire and macron still would not care #this is not normal #i am BEGGING members of parliament of all sides to come together and show they're not puppets that can be silenced at the president's will #if they don't revoke the government for *this* it's setting a very dangerous precedent #all presidents will be able to bypass parliament as they please knowing that they will be no consequences #it's not even about whether you agree with his policies or not tbh #it's about the president overstepping his role #upthebaguette

[this-acuteneurosis]

so funny thing with your dont look back thing, nearly all the political allies of Leia and folks, generally like VERY few that we know are actually directly democratic. like Padme former job could count sorta, but how democratic MONARCHY would work.... although Darsana could be a mostly democratic on via his Senatorship. found it funny cause Bail is like assigned by the queen and padme is hers as well, which fair, Senator is a really bad term for what they are, diplomat would be the better term.

I mean, I've thought a lot about how the Senate is ostensibly a democratic body when actually there is no planetary regulation to how they "elect" their senators.

I've ultimately decided to not go down this specific route for the fic, but arguably, the Republic is...not a government. They don't have anyone to enforce their "laws." The GFFA is huge. Like, I cannot stress this enough, taking the loose shapes of government for countries and slapping it down as a framework for how tens of thousands of planets are "ruled" by a "democracy" was always, at its core, bullshit. The Empire, with it's huge military and aggressive enforcement couldn't prevent the Alliance from camping out on abandoned planets, which, we know as residents of this good earth, is more than enough space to develop multiple entire civilizations. Frankly, as horrifying as it was, the Death Star was about the only logical conclusion space fascists could come to for a total control endgame. (That or implanting chips like the clones had but whoops, the past won't exist until 15 years after the future, so...)

That isn't to say that the Republic, or something like it, wouldn't exist and serve a purpose. Having a forum where people in disparate governments agree to things like trade rules and enforce them by, say, refusing to trade with people not in the group, or at worse rates, could definitely explain a Republic sized coalition of planets/planetary systems. They could even develop things like anti-slavery agreements, taxes dues, a group of negotiators loyal to the "Republic" instead of to individual planets or systems for theoretically unbiased diplomacy.

But yeah, if you notice that Leia's views on democracy don't match Padmé's assertions from AotC and RotS(released post 9/11 guys, Anakin's character was not the only casualty of that time), it is 100% because she was going to be the hereditary ruler of a planet and had no problem with that.

Keep in mind that democracy, in many ways, is more effective the more direct it is, because even self-interested politicians have to give you what you as a majority want if they have to win each of your individual votes. But that is incredibly hard to organize and maintain. Especially because the elected officials figure out really quickly they don't want to be beholden to so many contradictory interests.

And the more indirect a democracy becomes, the more your welfare relies on the innate charity/sense of responsibility of your representatives. Yes, as people who weren't voted into office, Padmé and Bail don't actually answer directly to their people. Padmé's on a bit thinner of ice because she's appointed by a directly elected queen, so Jamillia has motive to oust Padmé if she threatens Jamillia's re-election. But Bail? Our favorite, made it through most of the Empire, stuck to his guns, initiated the Rebellion, raised his baby girl right? Yeah, no, he's a nepotism boy, and everyone would have been screwed if he didn't have the moral and ethical fortitude of mountains.

#Don't Look Back #politics #Padmé Amidala #Bail Organa #democracy #this isn't just true for DLB #the structure of the Senate 100% allowed for the kind of corruption that enabled Palpatine's takeover #he didn't need to convince the galaxy to make him Emperor #just a bunch of scared senators who didn't want to lose their jobs #and were happy to war monger because the Confederacy was very dangerous competition #in theory #if they hadn't also been controlled by the Sith

[disco-cola]

just saw a video a 23 year old israeli girl made about her arrest after attending a protest for palestine in haifa and she said while freedom of speech was always limited in israel that if you now speak out against the war as a jewish israeli citizen you’re called a traitor and have to fear for your safety and freedom (so much for the safest place in the world for jews?! again yeah ONLY if you comply with that dangerous nationalist ideology that comes from zionism) and she said during her arrest when she was held in jail she heard police officers sing a song about returning gush katif (the former israeli settlements in gaza) and how they want gaza to be killed off and the policemen also called her and other women who were arrested at the protest »sluts«

#and she said of course it’s now even more dangerous for palestinians with Israeli citizenship #but yeah ✨the only democracy in the Middle East✨ #also heard another female israeli activist say that she can’t call for a ceasefire but her colleagues at work can openly say slurs

[worthless95]

Black and gay people cause most crimes in the US.

...

Okay, now that i got your attention:

For anyone who currently lives in the U.S.A:

Vote for ANY BLUE🔵 candidate like your life depends on it. Encourage others to do so too.

The enemy has made itself known.

The early stages of genocide are showing, it is clear they want to wipe the LGBTQ, the black, the hispanic, the asian, and anyone who opposes them REDS🔴.

Please educate yourself on the dangerous PROJECT 2025 and Trump's vile rhetoric that clearly echoes that of Mussolini and even Hitler.

Now GO out there and VOTE BLUE like your life depends on it.

Cuz it does. This might even hurt people across the globe, so i suggest EVERYONE spreads the word.

You do not have to vote for Biden.

Simply voting for anyone who is from the Democrat party is enough. There should be even more candidates for the party comming soon hopefully, which can and will prevent the country from spiraling into a dictatorial disaster.

Everyone should be aware of the clear and present danger by now, but unfortunately, the people who are supposed to wont do the messaging, so we have to.

Please reblog this and spread the word.

The lives of good-hearted immigrants, blacks and the lgbtq are at stake.

History has shown us that religion-based government and supremacy lead to HORRENDOUS events.

The American Dream is on life support, but we can save it.

Spread. The. Word.

#project 2025 #democracy #republicans #immigration #lgbtq #gen z #important #dangerous #usa #liberals #conservatives #blacks

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

PAG BAGLEY

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 28, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

SEP 29, 2023

In Tempe, Arizona, today, President Joe Biden spoke at the dedication ceremony for a new library, named for the late Arizona senator John McCain, who died in 2018. Biden used the opportunity not only to honor his friend, but to emphasize the themes of democracy and to call out those who are threatening to overturn it. While Biden has made the defense of American democracy central to his presidency, he has never been clearer or more impassioned than he was today. 

Biden recalled that when McCain was dying, he wrote a farewell letter to the nation that he had served in both war and peace. “We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil,” McCain wrote. “Americans never quit…. We never hide from history. We make history.”

Biden reiterated the point he makes often: that the United States is the only nation founded on an idea, articulated in the Declaration of Independence, that we are all created equal and have the right to be treated equally before the law. While “[w]e’ve never fully lived up to that idea,” he said, “we’ve never walked away from it.” Now, though, our faith in that principle is in doubt. 

“[H]istory has brought us to a new time of testing,” Biden said. “[A]ll of us are being asked right now: What will we do to maintain our democracy? Will we, as John wrote, never quit? Will we not hide from history, but make history? Will we put partisanship aside and put country first? I say we must and we will. We will. But it’s not easy.”

Biden laid out exactly what democracy means: “Democracy means rule of the people, not rule of monarchs, not rule of the monied, not rule of the mighty. Regardless of party, that means respecting free and fair elections; accepting the outcome, win or lose. It means you can’t love your country only when you win.”

“Democracy means rejecting and repudiating political violence,” he said. “Regardless of party, such violence is never, never, never acceptable in America. It’s undemocratic, and it must never be normalized to advance political power.”

“Today,” he warned, “democracy is…at risk.” Our political institutions, our Constitution, and “the very character of our nation” are threatened. “Democracy is maintained by adhering to the Constitution and the march to perfecting our union…by protecting and expanding rights with each successive generation.” “For centuries, the American Constitution has been a model for the world,” but in the past few years, he noted, the institutions of our democracy—the judiciary, the legislature, the executive” have been damaged in the eyes of the American people, and even the eyes of the world, by attacks from within.

“I’m here to tell you,” Biden said: “We lose these institutions of our government at our own peril…. Democracy is not a partisan issue. It’s an American issue.”

“[T]here is something dangerous happening in America now,” Biden said. “There is an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy: the MAGA Movement.” After high praise for his Republican friend McCain, and recollections of working with Republicans to pass bipartisan legislation throughout his career, Biden made it clear that he does not believe “every Republican,” or even “a majority of Republicans” adheres to the MAGA extremist ideology. But, he said:

“[T]here is no question that today’s Republican Party is driven and intimidated by MAGA Republican extremists. Their extreme agenda, if carried out, would fundamentally alter the institutions of American democracy as we know it.”

The MAGA Republicans, Biden said, are openly “attacking the free press as the enemy of the people, attacking the rule of law as an impediment, fomenting voter suppression and election subversion.” They are “banning books and burying history.” “Extremists in Congress [are] more determined to shut down the government, to burn the place down than to let the people’s business be done.” They are attacking the military—the strongest military in the history of the world—as being “weak and ‘woke’.”

They are “pushing a notion the defeated former President expressed when he was in office and believes applies only to him: This president is above the law, with no limits on power. Trump says the Constitution gave him…’the right to do whatever he wants as President.’ I’ve never even heard a president say that in jest. Not guided by the Constitution or by common service and decency toward our fellow Americans but by vengeance and vindictiveness.”

Biden accurately recounted the plans Trump has announced for a second term: expand presidential power, put federal agencies under the president’s thumb, get rid of the nonpartisan civil service and fill positions with loyalists. Biden quoted MAGA Republicans: “I am your retribution,” “slitting throats” of civil servants, “We must destroy the FBI,” calling the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a “traitor” and suggesting he should be executed. These extremists, he said, are “the controlling element of the House Republican Party.”

“This is the United States of America,” Biden said. “Did you ever think you’d hear leaders of political parties in the United States of America speak like that? Seizing power, concentrating power, attempting to abuse power, purging and packing key institutions, spewing conspiracy theories, spreading lies for profit and power to divide America in every way, inciting violence against those who risk their lives to keep America safe, weaponizing against the very soul of who we are as Americans.”

“The MAGA extremists across the country have made it clear where they stand,” Biden said. “So, the challenge for the rest of America—for the majority of Americans—is to make clear where we stand. Do we still believe in the Constitution? Do we believe in…basic decency and respect? The whole country should honestly ask itself…what it wants and understand the threats to our democracy.”

Biden knew his own answers: 

“I believe very strongly that the defining feature of our democracy is our Constitution.

“I believe in the separation of powers and checks and balances, that debate and disagreement do not lead to disunion.

“I believe in free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power.

“I believe there is no place in America…for political violence. We have to denounce hate, not embolden it.

“Across the aisle, across the country, I see fellow Americans, not mortal enemies. We’re a great nation because we’re a good people who believe in honor, decency, and respect.”

Pointing to the fact that the majority of the money appropriated for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has gone to Republican-dominated states, he added: “I believe every president should be a president for all Americans” and should “use the Office of the President to unite the nation.”

The job of a president, he said, is to “deliver light, not heat; to make sure democracy delivers for everyone; to know we’re a nation of unlimited possibilities, of wisdom and decency—a nation focused on the future.”

“We’ve faced some tough times in recent years, and I am proud of the progress we made as a country,” Biden said, “But the real credit doesn’t go to me and my administration…. The real heroes of the story are you, the American people.” Now, he said, “I’m asking you that regardless whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, or independent, put the preservation of our democracy before everything else. Put our country first…. We can’t take democracy for granted.” 

“Democracies don’t have to die at the end of a rifle,” Biden said. “They can die when people are silent, when they fail to stand up or condemn the threats to democracy, when people are willing to give away that which is most precious to them because they feel frustrated, disillusioned, tired, alienated.” 

“I get it,” Biden said. But “[f]or all its faults…, American democracy remains the best…[path] forward to prosperity, possibilities, progress, fair play, equality.” He urged people not to sit on the sidelines, but “to build coalitions and community, to remind ourselves there is a clear majority of us who believe in our democracy and are ready to protect it.”

“So,” he said, “let’s never quit. Let’s never hide from history. Let’s make history.” If we do that, he said, “[w]e’ll have proved, through all its imperfections, America is still a place of possibilities, a beacon for the world, a promise realized—where the power forever resides with ‘We the People.’”

“That’s our soul. That’s who we truly are. That’s who we must always be.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #the path ahead #Democracy #The Big Lie #The danger of MAGA Republicanism #equality #the national soul #Pat Bagley

[orc-apologist]

it's funny how when you'll give actual explanations as to why people are racist or transphobic or something similar, like how that happens and why it's happening now out of all times, that go beyond "white people/cishet people evil" so many people will instantly attack you for "apologia"

I think it kinda comes from this idea that identity politics has pushed that people of the unmarked categories like male white and cishet can't possibly struggle with things in life. but economic crises, which we have been in for 16 years now, affect everyone that's not part of the ruling class. prolonged economic instability alienates people from the status quo, from established parties, rhetoric and such. they begin to look elsewhere for solutions. the powers that be know to counteract this with reactionary politics. using scapegoating they'll promise the return to an (often imaginary) better yesterday, the very definition of reactionary politics.

these ideas sound plausible and actionable. things used to be better after all. those scapegoats used to not be there (as visibly) after all.

the way of solving this isn't to go "waaahh people are evil and fascism is back, woe is me" but to a) point out that these reactionary politics are not going to solve the problem because they are not the cause b) point out the actual cause of the problem (capitalism) c) offer actual alternatives (organizing, strikes, expropriating the bourgeoisie, and eventually total labor democracy)

#and no fascism isn't back and it's not going to be back in most of the western world #there's a difference between a military or police dictatorship which is what the US might degenerate into under trump #and actual fascism #most of the things everyone points to as fascist aren't actually fascist they're just reactionary #even genocide isn't unique to fascism. israel for example is a liberal democracy and it's still committing genocide. #all you need for genocide is a class society. its political manifestation is irrelevant tho some forms are certainly easier to do a genocid #in #it's important to understand that so you have no illusions in liberal democracy which is a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie #fascism isn't this generally evil society that we are constantly at the brink of falling back into #it was a very specific historical phenomenon #in which the petty bourgeoisie were used by totalitarian reactionaries as a battering ram against the working class #to violently suppress labor organization strikes and the potential downfall of capitalism and the rise of socialism #that was its role in germany italy and spain #it wouldn't work anymore today in the western world because the petty bourgeoisie has dwindled in numbers #as they are doomed to in the monopolization process of capitalist market anarchy #they are no longer a significant percentage of the population and no longer have the numbers to suppress the working class like that #because that's what differentiates fascism from a military dictatorship for example #a military dictatorship is a small group of people violently wrangling control of the state from its current holders #and abusing ALL of society for their personal gain. including the ruling class. marxists call this bonapartism #because napoleon bonaparte was the first to do so under capitalism #most importantly this means a military dictatorship does not have a mass base and relies on ruling by the sword #which makes it highly unstable and turns all of society against it #fascism was so dangerous because it DID have a mass base! the petty bourgeoisie! #vast amounts of them were in total support of fascist rule and actively pursued it. it wasn't just a small group of people. #this made the systems a lot more stable and a lot more powerful because they had large parts of society at their bidding #that sort of power and stability can no longer occur because their social base has mostly disappeared #they can whip up enough reactionary anger in the working class to perhaps GET to power #but as soon as a fascist politician starts going after unions strikes wages #launching the incredibly direct attacks against the working class that fascism always did #that voter base is going to turn against them very quickly

[tomorrowusa]

A MAGA think tank (sort of an oxymoron) published a document with the official title Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise but is widely known as Project 2025 after the name of the group inside the Heritage Foundation which compiled it. Whatever you call it, it is a bloodcurdling blueprint of the shape a second Trump administration would take.

Carlos Lozada of the New York Times read 887 pages of it so we don't have to.

[W]hat is most striking about the book is not the specific policy agenda it outlines but how far the authors are willing to go in pursuit of that agenda and how reckless their assumptions are about law, power and public service. “Mandate for Leadership,” which was edited by Paul Dans and Steven Groves of the Heritage Foundation, is not about anything as simplistic as being dictator for a day but about consolidating authority and eroding accountability for the long haul. It calls for a relentless politicizing of the federal government, with presidential appointees overpowering career officials at every turn and agencies and offices abolished on overtly ideological grounds. Though it assures readers that the president and his or her subordinates “must be committed to the Constitution and the rule of law,” it portrays the president as the personal embodiment of popular will and treats the law as an impediment to conservative governance. It elevates the role of religious beliefs in government affairs and regards the powers of Congress and the judiciary with dismissiveness. And for all the book’s rhetoric about the need to “dismantle the administrative state,” it soon becomes clear that vanquishing the federal bureaucracy is not the document’s animating ambition. There may be plenty worth jettisoning from the executive branch, but “Mandate for Leadership” is about capturing the administrative state, not unmaking it. The main conservative promise here is to wield the state as a tool for concentrating power and entrenching ideology.

We hear a lot of far right rhetoric about destroying "the deep state" or "the administrative state" – particularly from the odious Steve Bannon. But what's clear from Project 2025 is that what MAGA really intends is an unfriendly takeover of "the administrative state".

Executing a conservative president’s agenda “requires a well-conceived, coordinated, unified plan and a trained and committed cadre of personnel to implement it,” the document says on its opening page. The phrasing quickly grows militaristic: The authors wish to “assemble an army of aligned, vetted, trained and prepared conservatives to go to work on Day 1 to deconstruct the administrative state.” That deconstruction can be blunt. Portions of “Mandate for Leadership” read as though the authors did a Control-F search of the executive branch for any terms they deemed suspect and then deleted the offending programs or offices. The White House’s Gender Policy Council must go, along with its Office of Domestic Climate Policy. The Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations is a no-no. The E.P.A. can do without its Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration should be dismantled because it constitutes “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”

Making the US safe for fossil fuel companies is a HŪGE Trump priority which gets too little attention. Remember "drill drill drill" from Trump's dictator interview? If there's any hope of reversing climate change, you can kiss it goodbye if Republicans win in November.

Of course abortion is a target of Project 2025. Christian nationalism would become the semi-official ideology.

If “Mandate for Leadership” has its way, the next conservative administration will also target the data gathering and analysis that undergirds public policy. Every U.S. state should be required by Health and Human Services to report “exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence and by what method.” By contrast, the government should prohibit the collection of employment statistics based on race or ethnicity, and the Centers for Disease Control should discontinue gathering data on gender identity, on the grounds that such collection “encourages the phenomenon of ever-multiplying subjective identities.” (Why the executive branch might concern itself with the subjective identities of American citizens becomes clearer some 25 pages later, when the document affirms that the government should “maintain a biblically based, social-science-reinforced definition of marriage and family.”)

A far right army of ideological zealots is to be recruited to replace anybody in the federal government not sufficiently pro-Trump.

One of the “pillars” of Project 2025 is the creation of a personnel database — a sort of “right-wing LinkedIn,” The Times has reported, seeking to attract some 20,000 potential administration officials. “Mandate for Leadership” maintains that “empowering political appointees across the administration is crucial to a president’s success,” and virtually every chapter calls for additional appointees to wrest power from longtime career staff members in their respective departments.

In short... (emphasis added)

This book does not call for an effort to depoliticize the administrative state. It simply wishes to politicize it in favor of a new side. Everybody does it; now it’s our turn. Get over it.

The book is hardly a secret. The far right is quite open about its intent.

Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise (PDF)

As with Mein Kampf, we know ahead of time what the bad guys will do if they hold power. We need to take the danger more seriously than Germany of the early 1930s.

What's needed to defeat Trump is a pro-democracy mobilization of the United States. That means putting aside ideological quibbles with other anti-Trump groupings and becoming more politically active in real life.

EDIT: Tumblr is telling me that the link to Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise isn't working and refuses to let me post it. But I just checked it twice and it's fine. Until this peculiar glitch gets fixed, go to this Substack article and click "Mandate for Leadership" in the middle of the first paragraph.

#donald trump #the gop #danger to democracy #outline for dictatorship #project 2025 #mandate for leadership: the conservative promise #christian nationalism #abortion #fossil fuels #climate change #republicans #maga think tank #the heritage foundation #carlos lozada #election 2024 #vote blue no matter who #help save democracy