The absolutely crazy thing here is that in order to undo all this fuckery, the new Democratic president and majority in the house and senate are going to have to create new laws, because all existing laws were created based on the idea that nobody would be this openly corrupt and do this kind of crap. There's literally going to have to be a "This law undoes all the nonsense that Donald Trump and Bill Barr did when they were being so fucking corrupt right out in the open, oh my god" law passed....
Recep is ‘in like Flynn’ one might say, if one were so inclined, as he not only holds the keys to Trump Tower Istanbul - which he could nationalize in a heartbeat - but also, too, the original of the Khashoggi murder tape. Cheeto will undoubtedly invite him back, so his fucking goon squad can attack some more protestors on US turf...
Either Beavis or Butthead will be the one who rats out this whole crew of worthless grifters to save their own ass. They know they'd never survive in prison.
Democracy live or dies in the good ol' USA in the next 8 months. (If it isn't dead already. Paid for by Civil Servants Dismayed by Treasonous Presidents)
It's amazing to see how vulnerable a constitutional democracy is to a determined dismantling by a ruling party and it's fascinating to see how the take-down is engineered.
November 2020 will tell us if there is any way to walk it back and erect stronger defenses. If not, it's clear western Europe is next and we are entering a new dark age.
The only weakness of democracy is fear. And ignorance of the populace. The only two weaknessess are ignorance and fear. And power centralisation. The only three weaknesses are ignorance, fear, and power decentralisation.
In no particular order:
Ignorance is a general problem with humans, not specifically with democracy. If the populace understands what they are voting for these things don't happen but people are all dumb (Yes, that includes you and me, it can be hard to see how you yourself are being dumb but that is because everyone is dumb about knowing in what areas they are dumb. (See the Dunning-Kruger effect for details))Fear makes monkeys look for strong men to stand behind, because followers get attacked a lot less than the targets of said strong men. Terry Pratchett has a lot to say about that in Unseen Academicals, specifically the sections about Andy. (Who harrumphed? Not all wisdom has to be boring!)Power centralisation is a power multiplier, political power multipliers are bad in general but especially bad in dictatorships. A market monopoly is a power multiplier too. Recent examples can be seen in the food delivery services. First they outcompete everyone by using venture capital to lower their prices, when there are no more competitors they start raising prices to ridiculous levels.
The absolutely crazy thing here is that in order to undo all this fuckery, the new Democratic president and majority in the house and senate are going to have to create new laws, because all existing laws were created based on the idea that nobody would be this openly corrupt and do this kind of crap. There's literally going to have to be a "This law undoes all the nonsense that Donald Trump and Bill Barr did when they were being so fucking corrupt right out in the open, oh my god" law passed....
Are there two Trump towers in Manila? Not the usual one, but TWO?
Recep is ‘in like Flynn’ one might say, if one were so inclined, as he not only holds the keys to Trump Tower Istanbul - which he could nationalize in a heartbeat - but also, too, the original of the Khashoggi murder tape. Cheeto will undoubtedly invite him back, so his fucking goon squad can attack some more protestors on US turf...
I haven't checked on that, but offhand I think you're right.
The corruption! It burns!
Either Beavis or Butthead will be the one who rats out this whole crew of worthless grifters to save their own ass. They know they'd never survive in prison.
ok NOW i have that entire soundtrack in my head for like 24 hours.
thanks man.
i think the same thing about a recession. if we actually win, we're stuck with that shit.
again.
Ta, Liz.
I know! People tend to associate us with recessions, and Republicans with boom times, which is so unfair.
Democracy live or dies in the good ol' USA in the next 8 months. (If it isn't dead already. Paid for by Civil Servants Dismayed by Treasonous Presidents)
He's a member of Guys Specifically Qualified To Do This Kind of Shit. Not only a member, he's the president!
IIRC, Joss Whedon's Firefly is based on a world where the Chinese were/had been highly influential.
Yes!!! Two IS larger than one!
It's amazing to see how vulnerable a constitutional democracy is to a determined dismantling by a ruling party and it's fascinating to see how the take-down is engineered.
November 2020 will tell us if there is any way to walk it back and erect stronger defenses. If not, it's clear western Europe is next and we are entering a new dark age.
The only weakness of democracy is fear. And ignorance of the populace. The only two weaknessess are ignorance and fear. And power centralisation. The only three weaknesses are ignorance, fear, and power decentralisation.
In no particular order:
Ignorance is a general problem with humans, not specifically with democracy. If the populace understands what they are voting for these things don't happen but people are all dumb (Yes, that includes you and me, it can be hard to see how you yourself are being dumb but that is because everyone is dumb about knowing in what areas they are dumb. (See the Dunning-Kruger effect for details))Fear makes monkeys look for strong men to stand behind, because followers get attacked a lot less than the targets of said strong men. Terry Pratchett has a lot to say about that in Unseen Academicals, specifically the sections about Andy. (Who harrumphed? Not all wisdom has to be boring!)Power centralisation is a power multiplier, political power multipliers are bad in general but especially bad in dictatorships. A market monopoly is a power multiplier too. Recent examples can be seen in the food delivery services. First they outcompete everyone by using venture capital to lower their prices, when there are no more competitors they start raising prices to ridiculous levels.