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William C. Green's avatar

You’ve named it exactly. Rubble is not ruins.

We live in neither democracy nor autocracy.

It’s a liminal space. Fragile enough to collapse. Still porous to renewal.

To call it defeat is self-deception in reverse. To call it democracy is worse.

The fight is real. So is the possibility.

(Interregna, after all, are when futures get written.)

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Greg Surprenant's avatar

Understood, and I'm in total agreement. Can't slow it down or even fix it if we can't be honest about what's broken.

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Mike Brock's avatar

It's also not the first time the U.S. has devolved into oligarchy and then saw democratic regeneration. The Gilded Age and then the New Deal and then expanded democratic institutions in the Civil Rights-era.

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John Hardman's avatar

The Gilded Age of plutocracy ended with the economic Panic of 1890, triggered by the Tariff Act of 1890. President McKinley, at the time, was known as the "Napoleon of Tariffs" (sounds familiar).

This was followed by the Great Depression of 1929, which was preceded by the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which Trump's tariffs are often compared to. The economic depression that followed was finally stopped by the advent of the two World Wars, causing a violent reset of world markets.

Mike, you are correct in the need for acknowledgment of the need for change, but we also have to gird ourselves for the economic hardships usually linked to socio-economic revolutions. Fasten your seatbelts, we're heading into some major turbulence buffeting our global economic house of cards.

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Charley Ice's avatar

We're in similar boats. Many places are still functioning properly, but the federal government is side-tracked and corrosive. The People are becoming aware of our own necessary agency, and it's up to all of us to grasp the agency to expose the depths of the sedition permeating the powerful and the wealthy. The mainstream media are happy being clickbait, comfortable with acquiescence.

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Skian Dew's avatar

The trouble is that the Clown Show (formerly known as the "Supreme Court") is captured and is pro-Trump. It is no longer a legal institution or backstop, but the post-legislative arm of the Republican party.

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Lori's avatar

What happened to the circus. You guys need to come back on air.

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Bertila Damas's avatar

Exactly

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Aug 16
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Lori's avatar

I agree and still have lingering doubts about 2024 since Elon involvement. Do we go back to hand ballots only with scanned ballots. How can we safeguard elections in this age? Air gap systems only at polls? White hackers to track firmware and software updates? Technology exists but who is in control?

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