Autocracy

[zoogs]

There are too many good and reasonable people in this country to allow things to get any where near as bad as some of you are predicting.

I'd like to focus on this point. First, I have a degree of optimism about this, as well as in the strength of American institutions. However, *we* are those good and reasonable people, all of us, and the path we go down depends on what we do -- and what we accept with a shrug.

 

Autocracy: rules for survival

 

The two points I think are most relevant are 2 and 3.

 

Don't be taken in by small signs of normality. This is plainly highly abnormal. It's our human nature to reason and rationalize and try to make sense of things in a way that lets us say, "this is fine." You all followed this campaign, though.

 

Institutions will not save you. It's curious that we place a lot of faith in our institutions. They're strong, yes, but we tend to assume they'll exist in their current state forever, with no amount of exertion on our part. History, and the example of other countries in the present day, does not bear this out. American institutions are explicitly under attack. The norms underpinning our civic structures have been shrugged off, and those who have done so -- now in power -- will find this offers tantalizing new openings.

 

I have no doubt that he will try to do what he can to maximize his approval ratings -- even if it means an extended national gaslighting in which criticism dies out or is shouted down, and reasonable people lose access to the ability to discern fact from fiction. Judging from his campaign, that is precisely the goal. Most scary of all, it's not completely clear to me that he knows it. But the men around him do.

 

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If you want to know how President Trump will respond to criticism, perhaps the first thing you should look at is his tweet: a conspiracy theory suggesting the protesters were phonies, regurgitated by the Fox News headline "...as doubts swirl about their spontaneity", and a declaration that this was unfair to him.

 

It may come to pass that nothing comes to pass. Trump may have none of the determination of Putin or Erdogan and do little more than flail about, leaving minor damage in his wake. Or he may learn from their template a little too well. For my part, I'll say there's more than enough reason to be on alert -- not that we should not, in any case, under any administration.

[Landlord]

Our country did actually go through a civil war one time. More powerful empires than America have come and gone. Of course it seems fanatical to think that will or could happen within the next 4 years, but from what I understand about history, people don't usually get a sense or premonition of, "Oh, our country is about to be destroyed" before it happens. If they did, it wouldn't happen, right? So maybe we're safe since half the country is convinced it's gonna be awful? Or maybe we're in real trouble since half the country is telling everyone to stop being dramatic because everything will be fine? Or maybe it will be half bad?

[JJ Husker]

Or maybe all this premature, unreasonable panic will set the wheels in motion for it to actually occur. If something along the lines of civil war is what you fear, seems the groundwork is being laid now and I'm not talking about the things some billionaire jackass has said.

 

And to zoogs post- The American people are not an institution. I agree our institutions may very well not save us but I have faith in my fellow countrymen even if they did nominate and vote for two pathetic people for President. If you view our country as something less than the cumulative efforts of our fellow man, you are selling the country short.

[zoogs]

The saving grace will be if Trump isn't interested in pursuing these things. If he's barely interested in living in the White House, it seems there's reason for optimism. Given the campaign he ran, I hope you can see why there's also reason for worry.

 

To your reply, I have equal faith in my countrymen if they don't stand idly by as an autocrat seizes power.

 

My faith in whether or not they will do that, you understand, has been fairly rattled. For starters, we just elected Trump. And now we're faced with a lot of calls to unite behind him and stop protesting.

 

Here's another article I wanted to share that perhaps summarizes my thoughts more eloquently.

 

Here’s what I am saying: You’ve said all along that you disagree with the ‘inelegant’ things Trump says about all kinds of groups of people. You’ve agreed that his statements about women are abhorrent. You say you like him because he gets stuff done, not because of the way he speaks. And I believe to my core that you agree that all people should be treated with decency.

 

So, now you get to prove it.

I want to have faith that people will not just go into acceptance/rationalization mode about Trump. Part of that is not accepting and rationalizing him.