Say Goodbye to Our Democracy and Freedoms

Given that the newest REPUBLICAN-PLACED "Supreme Court" (???) "justices" (???) that the Federalist Society wedged into that formerly respectable body have given their one-sided, pre-determined blessing to more and more restrictive election laws ................ we have now LOST, to a large degree, what the Voting Rights Act long ago guaranteed. The 6 to 3 ruling (ALL 6 were REPUBLICAN-PLACED "justices") gutted most of what the VRA was safeguarding for ALL voters.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY has established the framework of an autocratic dictatorship / one ruling party ............. just like Russia, China, Syria, North Korea, Iran, and several other countries around the world. They have carefully placed extreme right-wing people in positions of judges (to make whatever they - THE REPUBLICAN PARTY do - "legal") by their predetermined rubber-stamp votes. They have also gerrymandered - and continue to do so - voting districts nationwide so it's almost impossible for anyone other than a REPUBLICAN to win in elections. So they have effectively secured lifelong power and control over EVERYTHING. You have NO SAY ANYMORE in who you want as leaders in this country.

Name a country anywhere on earth that has been LOCKED into such a political system where the avg. citizen thrived and flourished. Go ahead .......... I'll wait ............................................................................................

ANY dissenting person or opposing voices are either thrown in prison or executed / murdered. What happens in Russia, China, North Korea, Syria, & Iran if some brave person dares to stand up to or speak out against the autocratic dictator??? They're thrown in prison or killed. Look at how many brave souls Putin has killed or poisoned - even in other countries!!! Look how many thousands of Chinese citizens were slaughtered when they dared to speak up (Tiannenmin [sp?]Square against the Communist Dictator there. How many in Syria have been slaughtered by Bashir Al-Assad because they disagreed with his autocratic, dictatorial rule?? One-party rule DOES NOT work!!!!!! The ruler always secures the military to protect him by bribing them and giving them nice houses, food, etc. It's history repeating itself ................ HERE!!!!!! Workers in such countries are treated poorly and have their rights taken away (much like THE REPUBLICAN PARTY has been busy doing to American workers by weakening OSHA, and stripping workers' rights to organize and form unions, negotiate as a group for good pay & benefits, safe workplaces, etc.) If you think I'm joking about anti-worker moves by THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ........... In Iowa, a politician was just tossed out (by REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS) because the "business community" didn't like that the person spoke FOR workers' rights after they were injured at work.

This is what we're leaving for our kids and grandkids. A future that looks just like Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, and other autocratic dictatorships. They don't want to consolidate ALL POWER to share it with the citizens who may choose to vote them out. They RIG THE SYTEM so they can't lose ............. and place "justices" in courts who put their "rubber stamp of approval" on all their political power-grabbing.

Say goodbye to the U.S.A as we have known it. I give the U.S maybe 20 more years to survive - if we aren't attacked by Russia or China before that. (note all the military muscle-flexing by Russia and China worldwide??) All the U.S lives lost fighting for freedom in our military ......... to leave THIS shithole autocratic system for the future????????????

 

Name a country or empire where a one-party / one ruler system shared power and decision-making with all it's citizens???????

This is what THE REPUBLICAN PARTY is doing here in the U.S.A. - despite .................. ironically ................. "claiming" to adhere to our Constitution - which was set up to PREVENT such one-party / one person autocratic rule !!!!!!!!!!!! It's the VERY REASON our country was founded !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One party / one person rule by ANY side is not smart, because human nature tends to want to set oneself up for permanent power, riches, and luxury ....................... no matter the cost to others.

Why can about half our U.S. citizens not see this??????????

 

I just read a scary article on MSN news concerning voting rights and the influence of HUGE MONEY that can't be traced. Here's the link below - and I hope in the interest of freedom, the mods allow it to remain.

www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-revenge-of-john-roberts/ar-AALVK6k?li=BBorjTa

For those who can't see the forest for the trees (recognize) the destruction of democracy ............. this should dispel any thoughts of, " ........ of - that'll never happen here." It's ALREADY HAPPENING, right here in the U.S.A.

 

Agree with you completely erofant. It's been a damn decent ride for most of us old folks, being white , being tall , being reasonable looking , and having a manageable grasp of american english. Just speaking for myself, of course on some of that. Others have had their own experiences of course. I did just about whatever I wanted , when I wanted and said WHAT I wanted. That's probably going to end.

 

I agree, Scratcho. The way things are going today, anyone who doesn't drink the (modern-day) REPUBLICAN KOOL- ADE will be outcasts, attacked with violence, and possibly thrown in prison (or executed as T**** wants for those who disagree with today's REPUBLICAN FASCIST PROPAGANDA) for not submitting to "the Party's rule."

The thing that scares the hell out of me is the fact that soooooo many Americans CANNOT see what's happening here. T**** wouldn't give any of them the sweat off his n*t sac, but they bought his lies that he'd bring back good-paying jobs to the U.S, give them "the best healthcare" and make everyone's lives "all better again." NOW the REPUBLICAN PARTY has welded itself to T**** and his FASCIST dreams .......... with "the base" skipping right along to the T**** / REPUBLICAN racist, fascist tune.

Being white (I'm white also) doesn't make you a saint or even a good person - just by your skin color. It's what's INSIDE that counts. I know a good number of GREAT black people & Latino people - of various ages. Being non-white DOES NOT make a person automatically bad or untrustworthy. Way too many get painted (wrongly) with a broad brush.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand." - Jesus.

How "united" are we today??

 

Big money in Politics + Citizens United +Trump's Supreme Court Judges + MAGA + GOP = THE END OF EQUALITY, DEMOCRACY, THE CONSTITUTION , THE RULE OF LAW AND PROSPERITY....

VOTE BLUE IN 2024 !!!!

 

Yea, like we really need any more of THIS?

 

I am sorry but the US is hardly a one party state. Some localaites are. Overreach gets checked.

Just look at what happened to the Jan 6th rioters.

 

Republicans have evolved into a group that seeks power by LCS…Lie, Cheat and Steal

1. We have a Supreme Court that exists as is because a R Senator denied Obama s legitimate nomination.

2. Congressional and State house elections In Wisconsin, North Carolina, Louisiana etc systematically deny minority and urban representation by using gerrymandered maps…and the R s want to keep doing it.

3. Corporations are “people”…..and money can be dumped into the elective process by any means possible.

4. They use a captive media stable and propaganda to grossly distort reality.

5. They use religious bigotry instead of science.

6. Banning books and restrictions on education are second nature.

7. Their response to the 2020 election is just plain obscene.

8. And in the face of withering mass murder events the response is “more guns”

Democracy…Hah. It’s not populism, its page by page from the fascist manifesto. And it’s going to take all the energy we can muster to effect a true renaissance of democracy and responsibility in a civil nation.

 

It certainly feels like the world is changing to a communist dictatorship under one rule. We all know that fails horribly!

 

Seems like your Orange Messiah is about to be prosecuted ....
Coach, you are living in a Mass Psychosis

 

Well, the GOP has gone Fascist and anti America and the Dems are the only rational Pro American party.
Face it, you don't have the numbers to win in a fair election.

 

Exactly, the GOP no longer have the numbers to win in a fair Elections.

 

They have no other way to win. If Biden doesn't learn to play dirty we are well land truly screwed. No that Citizens United didn't effectively change the USA to an oligarchy anyway. Time to move to that equatorial warm island

 

Not even communist, it's fascism pure and simple

 

Yes, fascists don't wanna share their spoils.
Only motivated by greed and power.

 

Slavery, carpet baggers, Manifest Destiny, cattle barons, native American treaties, Jim Crow laws and, now, you tell we lost something called "democracy". Testing their fucking dna is the most reliable way to determine how any votes.

Get Over It Already! Democracy has now become synonymous with Animal Husbandry, so I'm working on Social Darwinism, for Chickens!

The idiots no longer have a clue as to what reality means, and will flat out tell you their votes no longer matter, then suggest the solution is to vote the bums out of office.

Trust me, their teachers are to blame, so I'm working on automating them all out a job.

 

How can I answer this without making it long-winded and complicated? I dunno, but here goes.

The notion that the U.S. is a "republic" and not a democracy has been an article of faith among right-wing Republicans going back at least as far as the the John Birch Society in the 1950s--the radical right group that told us President Eisenhower was a commie. What it seems to mean to them is a system of government that gives lots of influence to states and counties instead of people, so that the sparsely populated rural ones have more influence than they otherwise would and a handful of swing states control presidential elections, as they do now. You may hear complaints in Wyoming about the populous states having more clout than the underpopulated ones, but folks in New York and Wyoming complain the opposite about your state and mine (Oklahoma). Wyoming has a population of less than 600K, and gets the same number of Senators as those populous ones--and should feel lucky getting three electors. New York City alone has nearly 9 million residents, in a state of nearly 20 million people. The Birchers think undemocratic republics would work to the advantage of the well-to-do minority, such as Birch founder and candy mogul Robert Welch. The Washington state Republican convention voted to add to their party platform a statement that explicitly calls for repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment allowing people to elect their Senators. That would take us back to before 1913, when the state legislatures picked the senators. Back to the Future! Maybe it was the way the Framers wanted it, but they gave us the means of amending their Constitution and we did!

If you look up the word "republic" in the dictionary, it will usually tell you it means "1. a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president'; 2. a political unit (such as a nation) having such a form of government. Definition of REPUBLIC Or "A state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy." Oxford English Dictionary Or “a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.”“Democracy” vs. “Republic”: Is There A Difference? The term is derived from the Latin res publica, which means "a thing of the people". Lincoln used the phrase "of the people, by the people, for the people". But by then the Framers were long dead, and Lincoln was being rhetorical. Note that nothing in these definitions say anything about majority rule. Our Framers intended to give "the people" a direct role in electing the House of Representatives, but an indirect role in electing the President and Senate. The state legislators would pick the senators for their state, and the electors who would pick the President. They thought this would lead to good government, since the state legislators would likely chose men a cut above the ordinary for the job. Boy were they wrong! Before the eighteenth century was over, a two party system had developed.The electors and the senators were chosen by the state legislatures on a partisan basis. Now, of course, the Senators are directly elected, and the electors are put up by the party and either automatically assigned to the candidate who gets the most popular votes in the state or. in the case of four states, do it by party caucus.

Yes, it's true that the Framers of our Constitution weren't keen on democracy, which they associated with the direct kind of ancient Athens where citizens voted referendum style on all legislation, and with mob rule. They preferred a Roman-style republic in which the plebs (commoners)elected a tribune with veto power over consuls and magistrates, while the Senate represented the patricians (aristocracy). The concept of "representative (indirect) democracy" hadn't come into vogue yet, although people later said that's what the Framers gave us. In the early 1820s, the English utilitarian philosophers James Mill, Jeremy Bentham, and John Stuart Mill argued that the best way to achieve the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people would be to give the people the power to elect their rulers. It caught on. Today, we don't think it's at all contradictory to say that the U.S. is a both a republic and a representative democracy, but one doesn't necessarily follow from the other.

Would the U.S. be better off going back to the good ol' days and having less democracy? I don't think so. Ironically, I think it would mean more power for the elites in this country who are powerful enough, and losing rights we've grown accustomed to having and hold dear, like the power to elect our Senators. Reversing fifty years of precedent on abortion was bad enough, but losing over a century of rights would be far worse. Next they'll be having us wear powdered wigs.

As for the electoral college, its major function today is to prevent third parties from getting anywhere, since electors go on a "winner take all" basis, and it's difficult for a third party to make enough of a showing to win an entire state of significant population. This used to be praised as the secret of U.S.stability, but lately it seems to be causing problems (See Bush v. Gore).Getting it abolished in the face of opposition from both parties would require a constitutional amendment, which would be quite a challenge. But it's really the "winner take all" feature that's the problem. That's up to the states, and two states, Nebraska and Maine, apportion the electors among the parties on a semi-proportional basis accoring to the partiws' share of the vote.. Maybe others could be persuaded to go along.

 

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