Imagine what it is like to live in a country without a democracy Most in this country do not have the time, patience, or desire to read books written by professors, about history or political theories. Even then we do not have to consult experts and pundits to see what is happening before our very eyes and what we are experiencing.. though it takes some perspective, stepping back into history, and listening carefully to what is happening elsewhere. Most of those in this country have never known anything but our democracy as we have practiced it for 250 years and may live under the assumption that it will just continue in spite of those who want to change it. Most of us are too busy trying to make a dime just to go about our day-to-day lives. Its eternity is not a slam dunk.; It takes work to continue. Even Ben Franklin questioned our republic would last because we the people had to keep it.
Most of us have no concept of what living in an autocracy or a dictatorship is like, or even a banana republic, yet to most of us these are just abstract, political science terms. and even these alternatives can be attractive.. We see problems and changes that affect our lives, and want some strong leader to fix it, and blame democracy for making it difficult for some savior to ride in on a white horse and rule by edict. With a touch of a pen, the law is changed, the problem is removed, and the "trains run on time".and peace and prosperity come to the land. Be careful what you wish. The rest of us may not realize an alternative to democracy is gaining steam.
Imagine what it is like to live in a country without a democracy We have just had an election that unseated a president who tried to stay in power even though he lost the 2020 election by the same margin he won his election in 2016. Many of the strategies Donald Trump used failed this time. He used lies and touted theories that were never backed up with evidence, replacing agency leadership with yes people, fomenting a violent mob attack on the Capitol,, an attempt to force the military, and his own vice president to act contrary to the Constitution. He did not achieve his ultimate goal to overturn an election and stay in power for four more years..Nearly eight months later sixty-seven percent of his own party polled did not see these actions as a threat to democracy and continue to approve his actions, and 44% want Donald Trump to run again.. Per the same poll, 24% even long for an "autocrat" to run the country. They have turned a blind eye to the lessons of history and current events in other countries.. . 67% of GOP want Trump to stay in politics, 44% want him to run for president | Pew Research Center They will succeed unless the rest of us are alarmed enough to realize how these forces are attempting to turn the democracy we have known into the rule of a person. instead of rule by the people. as expressed freely. in fair elections. Sixty federal judges of all political stripes could find o evidence that the election was stolen by fraud. The GOP is trying hard to end fair and free elections in the future. They have a multi-state concerted strategy to make law changes designed to control and overturn popular vote outcomes they do not like by controlling who counts the vote and giving legislatures they control the right to pick electors they favor regardless of their state's popular vote. The GOP is flirting with an end of democracy as we have known it for 250 years, replacing it with a nation led by a wannabe autocrat who failed at his first attempt to be one.
Imagine what it would be like to live in an autocracy, a dictatorship. It is not hard for me to imagine. I am into my 80's and I have seen dictatorships and autocracies rise, fall, and survive and I have seen some of them first hand, on the ground, and in-country. I have personally experienced those run by a communist dictator opposed to capitalism and I have seen the remnants of one headed by a fascist dictator in cahoots with big capitalism. It should not be hard for those with their eyes wide open to imagine because it has happened in Russia, Hungary, Turkey in the western hemisphere since the end of the Cold War, and it is happening now Like the fascists of th 1930s. most current dictators and autocrats rose to power with the consent of a majority or near majority, and once there gained great control by abusing, ignoring, and manipulating existing laws to consolidate power. They can be there until some revolt,, velvet or bloody, brings them down. Absolute power does corrupt, and even once fellow travelers have no way to end the inevitable corruption as their country's leaders feather their privileged nests.
For those who hope for the autocracy of someone like Donald Trump, try to imagine what it would be like to live in a dictatorship in our modern era. We have three models to consider, all began with the consent of the governed and now have morphed into dictatorships, oppressing its challengers in various ways. They are not as extreme in control of your personal life as in North Korea, or even Fascist Germany or Stalinist communism. None the less they share some similarities. So imagine yourself living in Russia where Putin has almost asserted total governmental control, or in Erdogan's Turkey that is not far behind. Hungary under Viktor Orban is the newbie, an autocracy in process, where the opposition press has been destroyed and favors are handed out to loyalists, ensuring self-interested loyalty of backers of Orban. The majority of citizens in all three countries handed over their democratic freedoms out of fear of civil chaos, fear of violent extremists, or fear of the end of ethnic purity as middle east refugees knocked on their doors. Thanks to the internet, not all opposition has been left in the total darkness of what is happening in reality. Imagine a government in which whistleblowers have no public platform in media or branch of government to call out corruption,. The opposition press had been bought out or closed down. They may like their leaders' policies but are incensed with the corruption with no outlet for their anger. Whistleblowers and reporters get imprisoned or poisoned or "accidentally" fall out of a high rise, or are assassinated in broad daylight in a public square if their objections pose a threat to the leader. Imagine, the minority of those pledging allegiance to their leader is able to control the majority because, the majority takes away the ability of the minority to complain or to rally, even peacefully. Whoever holds all the levers of governmental power can benefit themselves since no body of government, legislature, or judiciary will block him. They are controlled by loyal appointees who swear allegiance to him instead of their sworn oaths to obey the Constitution. Imagine, the majority takes away the ability of a minority to complain or to rally,. That is how Putin, Orban, and Erdogan rose to power and still rule...It takes more than one term to reach this control level, but Donald Trump made a start of it especially in the few frantic months left in his term as he tried to overturn the election... . We, the non Trumpers, are ignorant fools if we let this happen here.
Oct. 22, 2021: Per the New York Times, Russia has installed "black boxes" to interfere with social media and sites they do not like. This is an attempt to shut down and control what their citizens have been able to access. It reminds me of the old iron curtain days when radio broadcasts from the west were jammed. This is the equivalent in current technology.
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Some personal memories of what was like to experience the most extreme forms of dictatorships, Stalinist type of rule. or know those who survived fascism...I have experienced those run by a communist dictator opposed to capitalism and I have seen the remnants of one headed by a fascist dictator in cahoots with big capitalism Their public policies and ideology may have differed, but the methods of gaining power and keeping power were similar. Some of their techniques have been adopted by current autocrats and dictators that are in power now. In most cases, both the Nazis and fascists in the 1930s and the dictators and autocrats emerging in the post-Cold War era came to power by abusing and using democracy, subverted it, and kept power to govern with iron fists.
. I attended a university in Berlin twelve years after the end of World War II. I was married to a refugee from a communist country for 53 years. As his native land moved from the practices of Stalin to a more relaxed communist rule, we were able to visit and spend time in Yugoslavia still while it was under the thumb of a dictator, Tito. They first permitted those who left without approval to return to visit, provided they had served in their military draft and posed no threat to the regime. When Dr. Mike Muftic became stateless in 1959, he had thought he would never see his mother again. In 1972, with three you children in tow, we spent the first of many visits over the years vacationing there and being with relatives.Those who may have objected to the regime were kept in tow by fear, fear of imprisonment, fear of loss of a better job, fear of not being able to get the perks that others got. We experienced how people lived in a country that tolerated no dissent and whose allegiance was to their president. Even 25 years into his rule, it was instructive of how he maintained his control. . Laws and constitution were window dressing or used as tools to keep in power the president and his compatriots. Radio broadcasts from the West were jammed and only approved newspapers were on the stands to be bought. Dissidents were already in jail or had fled the country. Yes, everyone had an equal opportunity to get a job, and all were equally poor. Critics of the regime who had not achieved a large following were not given privileges of the others, the ability to get promotions or even to pursue their professional dreams, even whispers of dissent were dangerous. There was every incentive to keep one's mouth shut, to speak nary a bad word about the leader. Instead, jokes we would call racist focused on the stupidity of certain ethnics that became code for disguising criticism of the regime. There were some really funny ones, but to put it into a similar context in the US, imagine the non PC vogue of ethnic jokes...such as how many of the hapless ethnic members did it take to screw in a lightbulb? One to hold a lightbulb and the other to turn the ladder around. Those were cloaked criticism of a stupid and inefficient government and everyone understood the allegories. . Substitute the leader's name for the hapless ethnic butt of the jokes, and forget the better job, the better apartment, or the free beach vacation of the privileged. There were spies loyal to the leader everywhere, on every block, and in every school. Foreign travel was only allowed on educational or government or professional business, and only if family members were kept at home, to make it less likely the brain drain would happen. Imagine, too, there was only one newspaper, one TV channel you could get what passed as "news", which was all good news about how well the regime was doing. News to the rules meant touting production of wheat figures, or what great recognition their glorious leader got from others in the world. There were no small businesses permitted until later years; farms were either owned by the government or enough land was left in the hands of small truck farmers who sold their extra produce in farmers' markets. Yugoslavia's permission of small farmers differed from Russia and the people ate well. There was no starvation. Yes, there was free education, but the curriculum and content were approved by the leader and had to be in conformity of the ideology, whether or not there was a scientific basis Try having to explain to professors in oral exams how dialectical materialism had anything to do with medical truths, as my medical student husband to be once had to explain in order to pass.
After a bloody civil war in the 1990s, Yugoslavia broke apart. The part Dr . Mke Muftic claimed as his original homeland became Croatia, now a modern, western state, a member of the EU and NATO. After the setbacks of the civil war, and years of weeding out the worst of corruption, Croatia is finding its way to prosperity and democracy that resembles ours. Its spectacular, unspoiled Adriatic coastline is now one of the hottest tourist venues in the world.
How the minority party can rule the majority: 3 stats show the deck is stacked against Democrats - The Washington Post
https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/jul/14/are-state-legislators-really-seeking-power-overrul/
The new Texas voting law includes these 7 major changes - CNNPolitics
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