Gotta hold onto something. Some of it is just a desire to believe in a better future, but some of it is rooted in a fascination with history. Everyone always thinks they’re living in the last days - if not in religious terms, in political ones. Every polity is on the cusp of dissolution in every era - but actual dissolution is comparatively rare.
We survived the early crises of 1790s, the oligarchic 1800s and 1810s, the struggle for democracy* (BIG asterisk) and against regionalism in the 1820s and 1830s, the anti-immigrant fevers of the 1840s and 1850s, the literal civil war and a Southern sympathizer in the role as president during the 1860s, the corruption and heightened partisan activity of the 1870s, the robber barons of the 1880s and 1890s, the labor upheavals of the 1900s, the free market fetishism of the 1920s, the depression and rise of fascism in the 1930s, WW2 in the 40s, the Civil Rights movement in the 50s and 60s, the Christofascist threat starting in the 80s, the militia movements of the 90s, the creeping security state of the 2000s and 2010s…
All great upheavals with the potential to tear the country apart, for better or worse (most of them with considerable overlap). All of them we’ve survived. And many countries alive today have similar stories.
It’s up to us, the Americans of our age, to ensure that the 2020s are remembered as a time of struggle against entrenched elites and the pushback inherent to that.
Well said. I hope time proves you correct, and will be there to support such efforts in the event they address the root problem: greed elevated to and conflated with virtue.
Yeah. It’s an ugly fight, and I don’t mean to say that we’re going to be linking arms with prominent Dems (at least not of the kind that predominates now) and sing-songing our way to socialism. But I think there’s hope in this country yet. I don’t think it’s dead.
And I think Biden, an unimaginative career politician concerned with his ‘legacy’, is much less of an obstacle to that hope than fascism.
When I think of the political changes in most of those eras, I think of a lot of fighting and bloodshed. I’m not here to tell you who to vote for or even whether you should vote at all, but what I will say is that fascism/not-fascism is never going to be decided at the ballot-box. It is decided in the streets, on the campuses, and in the workplaces. Vote if that’s what you want to do, but for fuck’s sake do not think that this election determines whether the US crosses the fascism binary.
but what I will say is that fascism/not-fascism is never going to be decided at the ballot-box.
I will tell you that fascism/not-fascism is very often decided at the ballot-box. Most fascists win some elections before taking power totally. The thing is that “Fascism vs. not-fascism” is a pretty fucking miserable thing to have to decide at the ballot-box, even if the correct choice is obvious - we must work elsewhere than the ballot box so that the next election we have is “Not-fascism vs. Not-fascism”
Vote if that’s what you want to do, but for fuck’s sake do not think that this election determines whether the US crosses the fascism binary.
I’m saying the elections follow, they don’t lead. If you’re in a political environment where roughly half the electorate is clamoring for naked fascism, you’ve already been boiling the proverbial frog for awhile. Electing the “lesser fascist” is not going to change the zeitgeist. Sorry if I was too obtuse previously, but we already in fascism. Yes, things can (and will) get worse, but this election will have minimal relative effect on that.
Gotta hold onto something. Some of it is just a desire to believe in a better future, but some of it is rooted in a fascination with history. Everyone always thinks they’re living in the last days - if not in religious terms, in political ones. Every polity is on the cusp of dissolution in every era - but actual dissolution is comparatively rare.
We survived the early crises of 1790s, the oligarchic 1800s and 1810s, the struggle for democracy* (BIG asterisk) and against regionalism in the 1820s and 1830s, the anti-immigrant fevers of the 1840s and 1850s, the literal civil war and a Southern sympathizer in the role as president during the 1860s, the corruption and heightened partisan activity of the 1870s, the robber barons of the 1880s and 1890s, the labor upheavals of the 1900s, the free market fetishism of the 1920s, the depression and rise of fascism in the 1930s, WW2 in the 40s, the Civil Rights movement in the 50s and 60s, the Christofascist threat starting in the 80s, the militia movements of the 90s, the creeping security state of the 2000s and 2010s…
All great upheavals with the potential to tear the country apart, for better or worse (most of them with considerable overlap). All of them we’ve survived. And many countries alive today have similar stories.
It’s up to us, the Americans of our age, to ensure that the 2020s are remembered as a time of struggle against entrenched elites and the pushback inherent to that.
Well said. I hope time proves you correct, and will be there to support such efforts in the event they address the root problem: greed elevated to and conflated with virtue.
Yeah. It’s an ugly fight, and I don’t mean to say that we’re going to be linking arms with prominent Dems (at least not of the kind that predominates now) and sing-songing our way to socialism. But I think there’s hope in this country yet. I don’t think it’s dead.
And I think Biden, an unimaginative career politician concerned with his ‘legacy’, is much less of an obstacle to that hope than fascism.
Hear, hear!
When I think of the political changes in most of those eras, I think of a lot of fighting and bloodshed. I’m not here to tell you who to vote for or even whether you should vote at all, but what I will say is that fascism/not-fascism is never going to be decided at the ballot-box. It is decided in the streets, on the campuses, and in the workplaces. Vote if that’s what you want to do, but for fuck’s sake do not think that this election determines whether the US crosses the fascism binary.
I will tell you that fascism/not-fascism is very often decided at the ballot-box. Most fascists win some elections before taking power totally. The thing is that “Fascism vs. not-fascism” is a pretty fucking miserable thing to have to decide at the ballot-box, even if the correct choice is obvious - we must work elsewhere than the ballot box so that the next election we have is “Not-fascism vs. Not-fascism”
Fucking what.
I’m saying the elections follow, they don’t lead. If you’re in a political environment where roughly half the electorate is clamoring for naked fascism, you’ve already been boiling the proverbial frog for awhile. Electing the “lesser fascist” is not going to change the zeitgeist. Sorry if I was too obtuse previously, but we already in fascism. Yes, things can (and will) get worse, but this election will have minimal relative effect on that.
Jesus Christ.
Fucking A, look around you.
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