Please reference this Morning Shot to Sarah Longwell. This is precisely why the Democrats in one of her focus groups were so unenthusiastic. I believe that, like me, they’ve pretty much given up. How can anyone fight this insanity?
Since my days as a high school teacher of American Politics in the late-1970s/early 80s, I have been astonished by the indifference of American citizens toward voting and jury duty. I gave extra credit for a student who showed me a voter registration card.
I asked that if they learned anything in the class it was the importance of those actions.
Sadly, in post World War Two America, the highest percentage of those eligible who voted was 62.8% (1964), the lowest was 51.7% (1996), with an average over 70+ years at about 60%.
Years when less than 2/3rds voted is pathetic; when only a bit more than half of those eligible voted is heartbreaking.
I bring this info up to put in reality that if 1/3 of eligible adults don't even bother to vote, why in the world do we think that they would care that our democracy could be...(to paraphrase the GOP dingbat Grover Norquist). "The goal of the MAGA-Trumpist Cult is to shrivel democracy, to get it down to the size where they can drown it in the bathtub."
Add the 20% of ReTrumplican'ts to those indifferent citizens means that almost half of America wants or doesn't care if our democracy dies.
I am terrified at perhaps having to handle a weapon for the first time in 50 years after leaving Viet Nam. I see it only as a last resort, but at 70 years old, I may actually have a righteous cause to fight for this time.
I'm sure like most subscribers, I'm a huge news consumer. Given the firehose nature of news and opinions these days, though, I've spent the past two years practicing self-care to ensure I don't become like my mother, spending her last few years raging at talking heads on TV.
First, I don't watch TV news. Haven't for at least 2 decades. Not broadcast, not cable, not even local. I patch together my news consumption through a combination of national newspapers, nonprofit news sources, magazines, newsletters and radio. So that part is easy.
Second, I avoid Twitter and no longer engage in political discussions of any stripe on Facebook. Twitter, in particular, seems to be the source of so many of the battles I read about in Bulwark posts and elsewhere. I reserve Twitter for times of breaking news. Still pretty easy -- no bad habits to break.
Last, I'm limiting my exposure to opinion pieces. (This is harder, since opinion keeps intruding more and more into what I think are straight news stories.) I imagine that if I made a list of predictions over the course of the year from various writers I read regularly, it would be clear how often their prognostications are wrong. Some writers do that for us -- Russ Douthat regularly runs a January column that calls out things he got wrong the prior year.
Opinions are just that - opinions, and we all have them. They're influenced by our biases, by the news we choose to consume, and by process fouls (a wonderful column published on 1/2 from David French -- https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/the-places-where-truth-goes-to-die): "A process foul is any perceived breach of trust or decorum in the delivery of the message that distracts from the substance of the message...wrong messenger, wrong motives, wrong manner, wrong target." Very worth taking the time to read his entire piece.
The truly hard work is how to be an effective citizen and fight to preserve a democratic union. I wish I could say I've figured that out. Trump's election caused me to get deeply involved in making my own community a better place, and that has led to a deeper involvement in my city's politics. While trying to influence national directions and policies can be highly frustrating, I've learned that an involved person can make a big difference at the local level. And that's a start.
While I agree with you that most of TV is a pit, I do love Nicolle Wallace. She dedicates a LOT of time to the backsliding of American democracy every day, and our friends at the Bulwark get a ton of air time with her.
Fascism is what Conservatism is under the aegis of post-Revolutionary Modernity. Joseph de Maistre was a Fascist. The Revolution was fought to destroy Conservatism; Conservatism is nothing but the authoritarian throne-and-altar Ancien Regime of Agrarian civilization. Fascism, again, is just what this throne-and-altar authoritarianism comes to, after the Revolution.
It is NO coincidence that the hardest core of Trump's supporters are religious conservatives. These people are Fascists.
What we need to do is distinguish between Conservatives, and the RIGHT. The Right are *Liberals,* they are on the right side of the Left-Right political spectrum (this is the LIBERAL political spectrum, born with the fight against the Ancien Regime).
What happened to the GOP, is that with Trump, the party formally broke into its Right-liberal side, and its Conservative/Fascist side. Conservatives ARE Fascists, they are enemies of our Experiment. Liberals, Right and Left, can have varied and deep disagreements. But Liberals need to unite to defend liberal democracy. It makes me very hopeful that the real Liberals of the Right see the danger and are fighting it.
I like to define "hope" in this context as "grim determination".
In the Before Times, when you and I were in opposing tribes, I saw Barack Obama as embodying "grim determination". His re-election campaign against Mitt Romney was not the most happy yay-times "whee!" thing to endure. It was exhausting, occasionally demoralizing, and kinda dark.
Yet it was uplifting to see Obama, tired and less "hope"-like than he'd been in 2008, doggedly grind it out. I hope we all have that same grim determination, taking reward from the process of waking up every morning and working to preserve democracy.
The success of anti-democratic authoritarianism depends on our exhaustion.
As I’ve mentioned several times before, optimism and hope are not at all the same things. As the late Rabbi Sacks reminded us: “Optimism is the belief that things are going to get better. Hope is the belief that we can make things better. Optimism is a passive virtue, hope is an active one. It takes no courage to be an optimist, but it does need courage to hope.”
I am delighted to see this in print. Charlie is once again on point. And the side which will prevail will be the one which is able to marshal the energy to keep on struggling - energy born of faith and hope.
The crackpots and grifters are relying on bizarre conspiracy theories (e.g. the Q-Anon series, the Big Lie) to generate energy and hope. I would think that the complete vacuousness of these sources will make them unstable foundations. On the other hand, hope born of conviction and a willingness to sacrifice are very powerful tools, as they have proven over and over throughout history.
I think that we are rapidly approaching a breaking point. There is a pregnancy in the air - I have sensed it myself and heard this in the past 1-2 weeks from friends as diverse as a professor of history who has anarchist sympathies to a devout Evangelical who served in the Army, ANG & Army Reserve for years and made multiple deployments to Iraq & Afghanistan to two nurses that are on the frontlines of the health crisis caused by the pandemic.
We are on the cusp of something new, and now is the time to dig deep and come through. We can do it - we have been through a lot in the past two and a half centuries, and coming together to follow our better angels at the last minute is one of our signature moves. It just take the faith, courage, and integrity of a Washington, a Lincoln, or a Martin Luther King, Jr.
While listening to today's Bulwark podcast with Evan Osnos, I had a revelation while they were playing the clip from Dan Bongino's show: J Boone is Dan Bongino.
Many cultural groups, human-rights advocates, social activists, etc. do not have a choice to succumb to exhaustion. The struggle to survive and guarantee a viable existence must continue. Those of us who imagine that we can opt-out and attend to our own needs are dreaming. Injustice and oppression are boomerangs that will eventually strike everyone down. It may be enticing to embrace the desire to give up; that is the greater downfall. Abraham Lincoln aptly expressed the concern of those who need us to persevere: "My greatest concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure."
It is somehow reassuring to know that you are just as exhausted and disheartened as I am. I take some sustenance from this and a bit of will to fight on.
It is exhausting, but what is truly dispiriting and defeating is the realization that the map to authoritarianism goes straight through the US Constitution, and short of scrapping the document or amending it, the blueprint is known, we can see it coming, and there doesn't seem to be a damned thing we can do about it. Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act; getting everyone to the polls is not going to matter when state legislatures decide they're going to pick the winners instead. And the US Constitution not only doesn't prevent this, it positively states this is OK. People erroneously think the US Constitution is a democratic document; it is far from it, and scholars have argued it was created in part because of an excess of democracy floating around in the states that wealthy elites found distasteful.
There have been many indicators of the GOP's disdain for democracy, but I'll remind us all of this tactic they have used. In both Wisconsin and in North Carolina, state houses have been wildly Republican despite the rather moderate complexion of the overall electorate. When WI elected Scott Walker and when NC elected Pat McCrory, in both cases the state houses greatly enhanced the powers of the governor. When each lost reelection, and a Democrat was due to assume office, during the lame duck session before they lost their supermajorities they stripped the powers of the governor down to even less than they were before.
Methinks we're doomed. If it doesn't happen in 2024, it will still be a live possibility in 2028, and every four years after that; it's really not if, but when. We're only a democracy by norms, not by laws, and Republicans' guiding principle is not, "Should we?", it's "Why can't we?" The Constitution is flawed, the SCOTUS is 6-3, and there is no chance of amending the Constitution.
We have lived under a gentlemen's agreement that no one is going to push this nuclear button and blow up the whole thing. These rules were written in the days where this made sense.
What if is there is a massive natural disaster, or an inability to deliver the actual votes for certification? The state legislatures would take over to make sure that *a* vote is made.
That was in the pre-shame world, where everyone understood the consequences of doing the unthinkable. Republicans have pretty much decided that the system has run its course. They *want* to end it.
The U.S. Constitution does a good job of assuming the imperfectness of men, but the Founders never let their imagination go deep into the gutter, where we are.
Say it ain’t so, Charlie. The world, the political sphere, heck, the country cannot abide a tired Charlie Sykes and The Bulwark. Take Geritol, Vitamin E or even Vita-Veeta-Vegamin- anything to get your mojo back and keep bringing us SANITY, RATIONALITY and REALITY.
I 3rd this. I will contribute a Sleep Number Bed for physical rest (and a My Pillow? Nah, never mind.) And some probiotics for intestinal fortitude. And finally, legal cannabis for occasional mental vacations. Lol. Hang in there, Charlie!
I think a lot of people do understand what is going on and are not fatigued, but have no avenue to oppose. There is simply no democratic leader leading the charge. Comment sections won’t do anything. It’s just passive noise. Bodily opposition in the form of physical protest in the streets is where it has come to and better now then later. Half the voters taking to the streets would be a force. Unfortunately, there is zero leadership for this. The Democratic congress is silent. No messaging, no rallying, nothing. It’s almost like they are ok with it. Do Democratic politicians even know how to use social media. Go look at the Democratic FB page or Biden’s. Absolutely nothing about the threat to democracy and business as usual. This passivity lets these domestic terrorists and traitors to democracy believe it is ok. There are a handful of Republicans on the way out the door. Why aren’t they leading the charge. They are going to need to compromise with Dems to change the course. I could get behind one of them if they would step up. The media is complicit in pretending there are two democratic parties. It will be awkward AF if trump runs and US politics and media all pretend he and his followers are anything but anti-democratic and authoritarian. Are we truly going to even entertain a debate from these people. It makes me sick. This country disgusts me right now in its lack of integrity and leadership. Greed over country.
I grew up on Long Island during the 1960s when economic riots and burnings/lootings were rampant from Harlem & Newark, to Detroit and on to Watts (Los Angeles), not counting the 1968 Dem convention riots in Chicago.
While Americans were horrified, they mostly went about their life as if those situations were a movie. Except for the damage to the inner cities, most people didn't care.
If (when) the potential political riots come to suburbia, then people will wake up...too late.
"It’s also just so stupid, cynical, and dishonest."
"if I agree with his conclusion that the Republican Party is increasingly authoritarian?"
The lack of self-awareness in contradiction is so breathtaking that one can only suspect either a conspiracy to deliver mass propaganda, or some epidemic of mental health dysfunction.
I will ask this question again even though it never gets any qualified response. We consistently hear this Democrat and media meme of Republican/conservative authoritarianism (ironically from the left demonstrating overwhelming acts of authoritarianism in the name of a virus), and so what are the examples that prove the accuracy of this meme?
There is far too much authoritarianism on both the left and the right. Examples on the right are trade protectionism; breaking up Big Tech; separating families as a tool to deter illegal immigration; punishing blue states by withholding emergency aid and other federal assistance; bathroom bills, opposition to gay marriage, and other anti-gay and anti-transgender policies; minimizing or even supporting police and vigilante brutality against minorities; anti-CRT and similar controls on schools and universities.
Current authoritarianism is not my major concern with the GOP. There are political checks on right- wing authoritarianism. My major concerns with the GOP are nihilism and anti-democracy sentiments on the right, and the appeasement, or even outright support, by GOP politicians of those strains of thought. Nihilism and anti-democracy are pre-authoritarian, in that they would remove the political checks on authoritarianism.
Examples on the right are trade protectionism (there is debate within the right AND the left on this. It is simply policy choice with risks and benefits... not examples of any authoritarianism. And it comes from both Reps and Dems.)
breaking up Big Tech; (supported by the left too, debated within the right)
separating families as a tool to deter illegal immigration; (how is that authoritarianism? Since when did this definition apply to people outside the country that are not even governed by our laws and rules? Deterring illegal immigration has always been a goal shared by both parties, until the radicals turned old Joe into their puppet.)
punishing blue states by withholding emergency aid and other federal assistance; (Democrats do the same to red states… more often and with more punitive measures… yes, that is authoritarianism… especially when done in a partisan fashion)
bathroom bills, opposition to gay marriage, and other anti-gay and anti-transgender policies; (the progressive are pushing for progressive laws on these things and the GOP tends to oppose them for reasons of traditional Judea Christian values. That is no example of authoritarianism. The debate is healthy. Look at what has happened to girl’s athletics because the left authoritarians forced schools to allow trans people to compete in female sports.)
minimizing or even supporting police and vigilante brutality against minorities; (LOL. That is BS. Nobody supports police brutality. There is nothing authoritarian about the GOP on this. They leave it to the states and cities and just make sure the leaders of the states and cities are held responsible for how they handle their law enforcement. That is democracy not authoritarianism. Fucking Bill Clinton is the one that ran on being tough on crime and pushed the 3 strikes and added hundreds of thousands of police with federal spending. Kamala Harris used to bust the chops of young black men for stealing and doing drugs.)
anti-CRT and similar controls on schools and universities: (yeah, well the GOP rejects the teaching of Nazism too… which derives from Marxism…which is embedded in CRT. If that is authoritarianism I think it is great. But it is not. It is just protecting the country from the extreme left that would make it into another failed communist state. )
Current authoritarianism is not my major concern with the GOP. There are political checks on right- wing authoritarianism. LOL. Ok.
My major concerns with the GOP are nihilism and anti-democracy sentiments on the right, (Fuck you say… LOL. ALL the nihilism and anti-democracy sentiments are on the left. Go get yourself some collectivism in Venezuela and keep that crap out of here.)
and the appeasement, or even outright support, by GOP politicians of those strains of thought. Nihilism and anti-democracy are pre-authoritarian, in that they would remove the political checks on authoritarianism.
Giant fail. You seem to be projecting and making up shit in your head. You might want to actually look up the words:
Authoritarianism (like national vaccination mandates, shutdowns, shelter-in-place orders, CTR requirements in schools, etc.) Those are examples of it… government taking away freedoms in a complete partisan way. Canceling, censoring, that is authoritarianism. Taking away existing rights. That is authoritarianism. Conservatives are generally libertarians. They support leave me the fuck alone to pursue my own interests. The claim that the right is a risk of authoritarianism is just projection of the very sickness of the left.
Nihilism is the campus sickness being taught that is embedded in critical theory. The doctrine that nothing actually exists or that existence or values are meaningless. That there is no objective truth, only relative “feelings” of “victims” that take precedent. Tear the system down and Great Reset it to a new socialist collectivist Utopia. That is nihilism. Again… projecting left dogma as a right thing. It is not
You have not moved the needle here. California is a great example of a growing authoritarian regime. The fact that Biden was elected is 100% proof that Trump was never anything close to any risk of authoritarianism. His crime was trying to break up the American power cabal that seeks to control everything with an iron fist of authoritarianism.
Throughout your reply to me you make the error of citing nihilism and authoritarianism on the left as proof that that there is not a problem of nihilism and authoritarianism on the right, or on the other hand to assert that similar political discussions on the left regarding restricting freedoms mean the political discussions on the right regarding restricting freedoms are not authoritarian. That is simply a logical fallacy (if a, then b; then if not a, then not b). Nihilism and authoritarianism are a problem on the American left, but also on the American right.
Authoritarianism is government oppression or violation of personal freedoms on an arbitrary or partisan basis, generally without access to legal challenge. Let's take the examples I provided one by one.
Trade protectionism denies freedom of contract to some persons to advance the partisan interests of other persons. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are particularly enthusiastic authoritarian trade protectionists. Sherrod Brown and Peter Navarro also.
Big Tech companies have a first amendment right to publish, or not publish, whatever speech they want. Threatening breakups, regulation, or financial penalties to coerce the Big Tech companies to publish what you want, or not publish what you don't want, is authoritarian. Josh Hawley and Elizabeth Warren are particularly authoritarian in this regard.
Authoritarianism can be applied against any person within the government's jurisdiction, not just citizens. It was authoritarian of the Trump administration to separate immigrant families without due process rights or hearings on asylum claims.
Punishing or threatening to punish blue state citizens for their liberal political views is classic authoritarianism, as would be punishing citizens of red states for their conservative political views.
Regarding gay and transgender people, it is authoritarian to deny them rights recognized with heterosexuals and non-transgender. Opposition to marital equality is a classic example of authoritarianism, as was conservative opposition to interracial marriage during Jim Crow.
Conservative Republican support for Derek Chauvin and even Armaud Arbery's killers, are examples of support for authoritarian police and citizen vigilante practices. Denying the obvious problem of biased policing is support for authoritarianism.
Government promotion of anti-CRT curriculum and prohibition of CRT curriculum, including criminal penalties on teachers and administrators who express offending speech, is authoritarian. Threatening defunding universities for partisan reasons is authoritarian.
Biden's election is proof that Trump is a failed anti-democratic authoritarian, not proof that he is not authoritarian. Conservatism today is not true libertarianism, but rather a populist libertarianism of freedom for me but not for thee.
The American right is nihilistic in that they trash longstanding American norms, values, and institutions, including democracy itself. January 6, and the prelude and rationalizing and minimizing aftermath, is the definitive example.
You need to read up on CRT, or dig deep into some intellectual honesty to admit that you are in-deed projecting on others what are your actual interests and beliefs. CRT evolved from 1970s and a form of critical theory from three now dead French communists that were upset about the glaring failure of communism and committed to finding other excuses to defend their ideological bias. What they came up is similar to what Hitler came up with and is documented in Mein Kampf. Instead of a Jewish conspiracy to gain world domination, critical theory just shifts to blaming other groups. Critical Theory argues that social problems stem more from social structures and cultural assumptions than from individuals.
And this is completely anathema to the founding principles of western civilization where the individual is free and individual rights are divine and rein supreme. And individuals should be held responsible for their own behavior and choices.
Trump, as with Reagan and as do the fundamental principles of Republicanism, are in protecting the individual... individual rights and liberty... but for Americans... not for the immigrants of El Salvador that become reliable Democrat moocher voters in subsequent generations. And nothing about the Republican platform blames groups for any of the ills of modern society (except the group of corrupt politicians and their corporatist benefactors)... it blames individuals for their bad behavior and mistakes.
That is not fascism. Fascism in what we see in states like California where the state is controlled by one party and the Governor can do what the hell he pleases... including more actions to crack down on those that would oppose him. Fascism is identified in partisanship. The Democrats are fully committed to getting their way and cracking down on all that would oppose. They prop up their dictator through the abuse of power owning all the institutions of power. It is the people that are fighting that power structure... fighting fascism. They voted for Trump and will likely put him in power again in 2024 to finish what they started.
If you fight against that, you are in fact fighting FOR fascism.
Individual opinions are shaped to a degree by biases and preferences. One person may view a particular government action as authoritarian, while another person may view the same action as government doing what it is supposed to do. And one person's nihilism is another person's revolutionary justice.
I am familiar with CRT. I attended Harvard Law School while Derrick Bell was a professor there. CRT provides some interesting, and even profound, analysis of the presence and effects is systemic racism. It is worthwhile for academic study in undergraduate an graduate programs, but CRT would tend to be oppressive and racist if used as the foundation for public policy. Having said that, your throwing the word fascist around, and even comparing CRT to Mein Kampf, is silly.
Your celebrating Donald Trump as some protector of individual liberty is ridiculous. His extreme narcissism leaves no room for caring about other people's freedom, or otherwise. Trump cares only about feeding his ego and making money. And is quite willing to lead a pseudo cult of rubes to feed his ego and pocket book.
But the dangerous part for our country is Trump's willingness to destroy American democracy, because his ego can't stand losing to Joe Biden. Your statement that opposing Trump and his MAGA followers is supporting fascism may be the most idiotic thing I have heard from a Trump supporter. And that is saying something.
There does not appear to be much overlap in our respective viewpoints. Still, I enjoyed our conversation.
Harvard Law School explains a lot. It just goes to my experience that people with high academic achievement are myopic in their thought process. You cannot even spot the cognitive dissonance and lack of critical thinking in your response. You drift off in criticizing Trump's personality and project what he feels and cares about.
My experience with high academic types is that for all their academic gifts, they often lack emotional intelligence and suck at really reading people for who they are.
Trump destroying democracy? LOL That is rich given the destruction billionaire boys club puppet in the white house today.
I have never been a fan of Trump's personality. However, his platform was near Reaganesk and what the country needs. I don't get all wee weed up about a Tweet.
Please reference this Morning Shot to Sarah Longwell. This is precisely why the Democrats in one of her focus groups were so unenthusiastic. I believe that, like me, they’ve pretty much given up. How can anyone fight this insanity?
Since my days as a high school teacher of American Politics in the late-1970s/early 80s, I have been astonished by the indifference of American citizens toward voting and jury duty. I gave extra credit for a student who showed me a voter registration card.
I asked that if they learned anything in the class it was the importance of those actions.
Sadly, in post World War Two America, the highest percentage of those eligible who voted was 62.8% (1964), the lowest was 51.7% (1996), with an average over 70+ years at about 60%.
Years when less than 2/3rds voted is pathetic; when only a bit more than half of those eligible voted is heartbreaking.
I bring this info up to put in reality that if 1/3 of eligible adults don't even bother to vote, why in the world do we think that they would care that our democracy could be...(to paraphrase the GOP dingbat Grover Norquist). "The goal of the MAGA-Trumpist Cult is to shrivel democracy, to get it down to the size where they can drown it in the bathtub."
Add the 20% of ReTrumplican'ts to those indifferent citizens means that almost half of America wants or doesn't care if our democracy dies.
I am terrified at perhaps having to handle a weapon for the first time in 50 years after leaving Viet Nam. I see it only as a last resort, but at 70 years old, I may actually have a righteous cause to fight for this time.
America proves that good government requires careful husbandry. You can’t vaccinate against stoopid
I'm sure like most subscribers, I'm a huge news consumer. Given the firehose nature of news and opinions these days, though, I've spent the past two years practicing self-care to ensure I don't become like my mother, spending her last few years raging at talking heads on TV.
First, I don't watch TV news. Haven't for at least 2 decades. Not broadcast, not cable, not even local. I patch together my news consumption through a combination of national newspapers, nonprofit news sources, magazines, newsletters and radio. So that part is easy.
Second, I avoid Twitter and no longer engage in political discussions of any stripe on Facebook. Twitter, in particular, seems to be the source of so many of the battles I read about in Bulwark posts and elsewhere. I reserve Twitter for times of breaking news. Still pretty easy -- no bad habits to break.
Last, I'm limiting my exposure to opinion pieces. (This is harder, since opinion keeps intruding more and more into what I think are straight news stories.) I imagine that if I made a list of predictions over the course of the year from various writers I read regularly, it would be clear how often their prognostications are wrong. Some writers do that for us -- Russ Douthat regularly runs a January column that calls out things he got wrong the prior year.
Opinions are just that - opinions, and we all have them. They're influenced by our biases, by the news we choose to consume, and by process fouls (a wonderful column published on 1/2 from David French -- https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/the-places-where-truth-goes-to-die): "A process foul is any perceived breach of trust or decorum in the delivery of the message that distracts from the substance of the message...wrong messenger, wrong motives, wrong manner, wrong target." Very worth taking the time to read his entire piece.
The truly hard work is how to be an effective citizen and fight to preserve a democratic union. I wish I could say I've figured that out. Trump's election caused me to get deeply involved in making my own community a better place, and that has led to a deeper involvement in my city's politics. While trying to influence national directions and policies can be highly frustrating, I've learned that an involved person can make a big difference at the local level. And that's a start.
While I agree with you that most of TV is a pit, I do love Nicolle Wallace. She dedicates a LOT of time to the backsliding of American democracy every day, and our friends at the Bulwark get a ton of air time with her.
Fascism is what Conservatism is under the aegis of post-Revolutionary Modernity. Joseph de Maistre was a Fascist. The Revolution was fought to destroy Conservatism; Conservatism is nothing but the authoritarian throne-and-altar Ancien Regime of Agrarian civilization. Fascism, again, is just what this throne-and-altar authoritarianism comes to, after the Revolution.
It is NO coincidence that the hardest core of Trump's supporters are religious conservatives. These people are Fascists.
What we need to do is distinguish between Conservatives, and the RIGHT. The Right are *Liberals,* they are on the right side of the Left-Right political spectrum (this is the LIBERAL political spectrum, born with the fight against the Ancien Regime).
What happened to the GOP, is that with Trump, the party formally broke into its Right-liberal side, and its Conservative/Fascist side. Conservatives ARE Fascists, they are enemies of our Experiment. Liberals, Right and Left, can have varied and deep disagreements. But Liberals need to unite to defend liberal democracy. It makes me very hopeful that the real Liberals of the Right see the danger and are fighting it.
I like to define "hope" in this context as "grim determination".
In the Before Times, when you and I were in opposing tribes, I saw Barack Obama as embodying "grim determination". His re-election campaign against Mitt Romney was not the most happy yay-times "whee!" thing to endure. It was exhausting, occasionally demoralizing, and kinda dark.
Yet it was uplifting to see Obama, tired and less "hope"-like than he'd been in 2008, doggedly grind it out. I hope we all have that same grim determination, taking reward from the process of waking up every morning and working to preserve democracy.
But this is where we have to make a choice.
The success of anti-democratic authoritarianism depends on our exhaustion.
As I’ve mentioned several times before, optimism and hope are not at all the same things. As the late Rabbi Sacks reminded us: “Optimism is the belief that things are going to get better. Hope is the belief that we can make things better. Optimism is a passive virtue, hope is an active one. It takes no courage to be an optimist, but it does need courage to hope.”
I am delighted to see this in print. Charlie is once again on point. And the side which will prevail will be the one which is able to marshal the energy to keep on struggling - energy born of faith and hope.
The crackpots and grifters are relying on bizarre conspiracy theories (e.g. the Q-Anon series, the Big Lie) to generate energy and hope. I would think that the complete vacuousness of these sources will make them unstable foundations. On the other hand, hope born of conviction and a willingness to sacrifice are very powerful tools, as they have proven over and over throughout history.
I think that we are rapidly approaching a breaking point. There is a pregnancy in the air - I have sensed it myself and heard this in the past 1-2 weeks from friends as diverse as a professor of history who has anarchist sympathies to a devout Evangelical who served in the Army, ANG & Army Reserve for years and made multiple deployments to Iraq & Afghanistan to two nurses that are on the frontlines of the health crisis caused by the pandemic.
We are on the cusp of something new, and now is the time to dig deep and come through. We can do it - we have been through a lot in the past two and a half centuries, and coming together to follow our better angels at the last minute is one of our signature moves. It just take the faith, courage, and integrity of a Washington, a Lincoln, or a Martin Luther King, Jr.
While listening to today's Bulwark podcast with Evan Osnos, I had a revelation while they were playing the clip from Dan Bongino's show: J Boone is Dan Bongino.
Many cultural groups, human-rights advocates, social activists, etc. do not have a choice to succumb to exhaustion. The struggle to survive and guarantee a viable existence must continue. Those of us who imagine that we can opt-out and attend to our own needs are dreaming. Injustice and oppression are boomerangs that will eventually strike everyone down. It may be enticing to embrace the desire to give up; that is the greater downfall. Abraham Lincoln aptly expressed the concern of those who need us to persevere: "My greatest concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure."
It is somehow reassuring to know that you are just as exhausted and disheartened as I am. I take some sustenance from this and a bit of will to fight on.
It is exhausting, but what is truly dispiriting and defeating is the realization that the map to authoritarianism goes straight through the US Constitution, and short of scrapping the document or amending it, the blueprint is known, we can see it coming, and there doesn't seem to be a damned thing we can do about it. Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act; getting everyone to the polls is not going to matter when state legislatures decide they're going to pick the winners instead. And the US Constitution not only doesn't prevent this, it positively states this is OK. People erroneously think the US Constitution is a democratic document; it is far from it, and scholars have argued it was created in part because of an excess of democracy floating around in the states that wealthy elites found distasteful.
There have been many indicators of the GOP's disdain for democracy, but I'll remind us all of this tactic they have used. In both Wisconsin and in North Carolina, state houses have been wildly Republican despite the rather moderate complexion of the overall electorate. When WI elected Scott Walker and when NC elected Pat McCrory, in both cases the state houses greatly enhanced the powers of the governor. When each lost reelection, and a Democrat was due to assume office, during the lame duck session before they lost their supermajorities they stripped the powers of the governor down to even less than they were before.
Methinks we're doomed. If it doesn't happen in 2024, it will still be a live possibility in 2028, and every four years after that; it's really not if, but when. We're only a democracy by norms, not by laws, and Republicans' guiding principle is not, "Should we?", it's "Why can't we?" The Constitution is flawed, the SCOTUS is 6-3, and there is no chance of amending the Constitution.
We have lived under a gentlemen's agreement that no one is going to push this nuclear button and blow up the whole thing. These rules were written in the days where this made sense.
What if is there is a massive natural disaster, or an inability to deliver the actual votes for certification? The state legislatures would take over to make sure that *a* vote is made.
That was in the pre-shame world, where everyone understood the consequences of doing the unthinkable. Republicans have pretty much decided that the system has run its course. They *want* to end it.
The U.S. Constitution does a good job of assuming the imperfectness of men, but the Founders never let their imagination go deep into the gutter, where we are.
Say it ain’t so, Charlie. The world, the political sphere, heck, the country cannot abide a tired Charlie Sykes and The Bulwark. Take Geritol, Vitamin E or even Vita-Veeta-Vegamin- anything to get your mojo back and keep bringing us SANITY, RATIONALITY and REALITY.
I 3rd this. I will contribute a Sleep Number Bed for physical rest (and a My Pillow? Nah, never mind.) And some probiotics for intestinal fortitude. And finally, legal cannabis for occasional mental vacations. Lol. Hang in there, Charlie!
I was thinking that perhaps us Corner Men for Charlie should remind him that Morning Drinking is not the answer.
I second this....perhaps we need to pitch in and send Charlie a ten year supply of Macchiatos.
I think a lot of people do understand what is going on and are not fatigued, but have no avenue to oppose. There is simply no democratic leader leading the charge. Comment sections won’t do anything. It’s just passive noise. Bodily opposition in the form of physical protest in the streets is where it has come to and better now then later. Half the voters taking to the streets would be a force. Unfortunately, there is zero leadership for this. The Democratic congress is silent. No messaging, no rallying, nothing. It’s almost like they are ok with it. Do Democratic politicians even know how to use social media. Go look at the Democratic FB page or Biden’s. Absolutely nothing about the threat to democracy and business as usual. This passivity lets these domestic terrorists and traitors to democracy believe it is ok. There are a handful of Republicans on the way out the door. Why aren’t they leading the charge. They are going to need to compromise with Dems to change the course. I could get behind one of them if they would step up. The media is complicit in pretending there are two democratic parties. It will be awkward AF if trump runs and US politics and media all pretend he and his followers are anything but anti-democratic and authoritarian. Are we truly going to even entertain a debate from these people. It makes me sick. This country disgusts me right now in its lack of integrity and leadership. Greed over country.
If it was not for this comment section. My insanity would be lonely.
Amazing how you wrote exactly what I was feeling today Charlie.
I grew up on Long Island during the 1960s when economic riots and burnings/lootings were rampant from Harlem & Newark, to Detroit and on to Watts (Los Angeles), not counting the 1968 Dem convention riots in Chicago.
While Americans were horrified, they mostly went about their life as if those situations were a movie. Except for the damage to the inner cities, most people didn't care.
If (when) the potential political riots come to suburbia, then people will wake up...too late.
"It’s also just so stupid, cynical, and dishonest."
"if I agree with his conclusion that the Republican Party is increasingly authoritarian?"
The lack of self-awareness in contradiction is so breathtaking that one can only suspect either a conspiracy to deliver mass propaganda, or some epidemic of mental health dysfunction.
I will ask this question again even though it never gets any qualified response. We consistently hear this Democrat and media meme of Republican/conservative authoritarianism (ironically from the left demonstrating overwhelming acts of authoritarianism in the name of a virus), and so what are the examples that prove the accuracy of this meme?
I will wait.
Likely crickets will occur.
There is far too much authoritarianism on both the left and the right. Examples on the right are trade protectionism; breaking up Big Tech; separating families as a tool to deter illegal immigration; punishing blue states by withholding emergency aid and other federal assistance; bathroom bills, opposition to gay marriage, and other anti-gay and anti-transgender policies; minimizing or even supporting police and vigilante brutality against minorities; anti-CRT and similar controls on schools and universities.
Current authoritarianism is not my major concern with the GOP. There are political checks on right- wing authoritarianism. My major concerns with the GOP are nihilism and anti-democracy sentiments on the right, and the appeasement, or even outright support, by GOP politicians of those strains of thought. Nihilism and anti-democracy are pre-authoritarian, in that they would remove the political checks on authoritarianism.
Thanks for playing...
Examples on the right are trade protectionism (there is debate within the right AND the left on this. It is simply policy choice with risks and benefits... not examples of any authoritarianism. And it comes from both Reps and Dems.)
breaking up Big Tech; (supported by the left too, debated within the right)
separating families as a tool to deter illegal immigration; (how is that authoritarianism? Since when did this definition apply to people outside the country that are not even governed by our laws and rules? Deterring illegal immigration has always been a goal shared by both parties, until the radicals turned old Joe into their puppet.)
punishing blue states by withholding emergency aid and other federal assistance; (Democrats do the same to red states… more often and with more punitive measures… yes, that is authoritarianism… especially when done in a partisan fashion)
bathroom bills, opposition to gay marriage, and other anti-gay and anti-transgender policies; (the progressive are pushing for progressive laws on these things and the GOP tends to oppose them for reasons of traditional Judea Christian values. That is no example of authoritarianism. The debate is healthy. Look at what has happened to girl’s athletics because the left authoritarians forced schools to allow trans people to compete in female sports.)
minimizing or even supporting police and vigilante brutality against minorities; (LOL. That is BS. Nobody supports police brutality. There is nothing authoritarian about the GOP on this. They leave it to the states and cities and just make sure the leaders of the states and cities are held responsible for how they handle their law enforcement. That is democracy not authoritarianism. Fucking Bill Clinton is the one that ran on being tough on crime and pushed the 3 strikes and added hundreds of thousands of police with federal spending. Kamala Harris used to bust the chops of young black men for stealing and doing drugs.)
anti-CRT and similar controls on schools and universities: (yeah, well the GOP rejects the teaching of Nazism too… which derives from Marxism…which is embedded in CRT. If that is authoritarianism I think it is great. But it is not. It is just protecting the country from the extreme left that would make it into another failed communist state. )
Current authoritarianism is not my major concern with the GOP. There are political checks on right- wing authoritarianism. LOL. Ok.
My major concerns with the GOP are nihilism and anti-democracy sentiments on the right, (Fuck you say… LOL. ALL the nihilism and anti-democracy sentiments are on the left. Go get yourself some collectivism in Venezuela and keep that crap out of here.)
and the appeasement, or even outright support, by GOP politicians of those strains of thought. Nihilism and anti-democracy are pre-authoritarian, in that they would remove the political checks on authoritarianism.
Giant fail. You seem to be projecting and making up shit in your head. You might want to actually look up the words:
Authoritarianism (like national vaccination mandates, shutdowns, shelter-in-place orders, CTR requirements in schools, etc.) Those are examples of it… government taking away freedoms in a complete partisan way. Canceling, censoring, that is authoritarianism. Taking away existing rights. That is authoritarianism. Conservatives are generally libertarians. They support leave me the fuck alone to pursue my own interests. The claim that the right is a risk of authoritarianism is just projection of the very sickness of the left.
Nihilism is the campus sickness being taught that is embedded in critical theory. The doctrine that nothing actually exists or that existence or values are meaningless. That there is no objective truth, only relative “feelings” of “victims” that take precedent. Tear the system down and Great Reset it to a new socialist collectivist Utopia. That is nihilism. Again… projecting left dogma as a right thing. It is not
You have not moved the needle here. California is a great example of a growing authoritarian regime. The fact that Biden was elected is 100% proof that Trump was never anything close to any risk of authoritarianism. His crime was trying to break up the American power cabal that seeks to control everything with an iron fist of authoritarianism.
Throughout your reply to me you make the error of citing nihilism and authoritarianism on the left as proof that that there is not a problem of nihilism and authoritarianism on the right, or on the other hand to assert that similar political discussions on the left regarding restricting freedoms mean the political discussions on the right regarding restricting freedoms are not authoritarian. That is simply a logical fallacy (if a, then b; then if not a, then not b). Nihilism and authoritarianism are a problem on the American left, but also on the American right.
Authoritarianism is government oppression or violation of personal freedoms on an arbitrary or partisan basis, generally without access to legal challenge. Let's take the examples I provided one by one.
Trade protectionism denies freedom of contract to some persons to advance the partisan interests of other persons. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are particularly enthusiastic authoritarian trade protectionists. Sherrod Brown and Peter Navarro also.
Big Tech companies have a first amendment right to publish, or not publish, whatever speech they want. Threatening breakups, regulation, or financial penalties to coerce the Big Tech companies to publish what you want, or not publish what you don't want, is authoritarian. Josh Hawley and Elizabeth Warren are particularly authoritarian in this regard.
Authoritarianism can be applied against any person within the government's jurisdiction, not just citizens. It was authoritarian of the Trump administration to separate immigrant families without due process rights or hearings on asylum claims.
Punishing or threatening to punish blue state citizens for their liberal political views is classic authoritarianism, as would be punishing citizens of red states for their conservative political views.
Regarding gay and transgender people, it is authoritarian to deny them rights recognized with heterosexuals and non-transgender. Opposition to marital equality is a classic example of authoritarianism, as was conservative opposition to interracial marriage during Jim Crow.
Conservative Republican support for Derek Chauvin and even Armaud Arbery's killers, are examples of support for authoritarian police and citizen vigilante practices. Denying the obvious problem of biased policing is support for authoritarianism.
Government promotion of anti-CRT curriculum and prohibition of CRT curriculum, including criminal penalties on teachers and administrators who express offending speech, is authoritarian. Threatening defunding universities for partisan reasons is authoritarian.
Biden's election is proof that Trump is a failed anti-democratic authoritarian, not proof that he is not authoritarian. Conservatism today is not true libertarianism, but rather a populist libertarianism of freedom for me but not for thee.
The American right is nihilistic in that they trash longstanding American norms, values, and institutions, including democracy itself. January 6, and the prelude and rationalizing and minimizing aftermath, is the definitive example.
You need to read up on CRT, or dig deep into some intellectual honesty to admit that you are in-deed projecting on others what are your actual interests and beliefs. CRT evolved from 1970s and a form of critical theory from three now dead French communists that were upset about the glaring failure of communism and committed to finding other excuses to defend their ideological bias. What they came up is similar to what Hitler came up with and is documented in Mein Kampf. Instead of a Jewish conspiracy to gain world domination, critical theory just shifts to blaming other groups. Critical Theory argues that social problems stem more from social structures and cultural assumptions than from individuals.
And this is completely anathema to the founding principles of western civilization where the individual is free and individual rights are divine and rein supreme. And individuals should be held responsible for their own behavior and choices.
Trump, as with Reagan and as do the fundamental principles of Republicanism, are in protecting the individual... individual rights and liberty... but for Americans... not for the immigrants of El Salvador that become reliable Democrat moocher voters in subsequent generations. And nothing about the Republican platform blames groups for any of the ills of modern society (except the group of corrupt politicians and their corporatist benefactors)... it blames individuals for their bad behavior and mistakes.
That is not fascism. Fascism in what we see in states like California where the state is controlled by one party and the Governor can do what the hell he pleases... including more actions to crack down on those that would oppose him. Fascism is identified in partisanship. The Democrats are fully committed to getting their way and cracking down on all that would oppose. They prop up their dictator through the abuse of power owning all the institutions of power. It is the people that are fighting that power structure... fighting fascism. They voted for Trump and will likely put him in power again in 2024 to finish what they started.
If you fight against that, you are in fact fighting FOR fascism.
Individual opinions are shaped to a degree by biases and preferences. One person may view a particular government action as authoritarian, while another person may view the same action as government doing what it is supposed to do. And one person's nihilism is another person's revolutionary justice.
I am familiar with CRT. I attended Harvard Law School while Derrick Bell was a professor there. CRT provides some interesting, and even profound, analysis of the presence and effects is systemic racism. It is worthwhile for academic study in undergraduate an graduate programs, but CRT would tend to be oppressive and racist if used as the foundation for public policy. Having said that, your throwing the word fascist around, and even comparing CRT to Mein Kampf, is silly.
Your celebrating Donald Trump as some protector of individual liberty is ridiculous. His extreme narcissism leaves no room for caring about other people's freedom, or otherwise. Trump cares only about feeding his ego and making money. And is quite willing to lead a pseudo cult of rubes to feed his ego and pocket book.
But the dangerous part for our country is Trump's willingness to destroy American democracy, because his ego can't stand losing to Joe Biden. Your statement that opposing Trump and his MAGA followers is supporting fascism may be the most idiotic thing I have heard from a Trump supporter. And that is saying something.
There does not appear to be much overlap in our respective viewpoints. Still, I enjoyed our conversation.
Harvard Law School explains a lot. It just goes to my experience that people with high academic achievement are myopic in their thought process. You cannot even spot the cognitive dissonance and lack of critical thinking in your response. You drift off in criticizing Trump's personality and project what he feels and cares about.
My experience with high academic types is that for all their academic gifts, they often lack emotional intelligence and suck at really reading people for who they are.
Trump destroying democracy? LOL That is rich given the destruction billionaire boys club puppet in the white house today.
I have never been a fan of Trump's personality. However, his platform was near Reaganesk and what the country needs. I don't get all wee weed up about a Tweet.