What is yall's take on Chris Hedges, now that he'd predicting a "fall" of American democracy

[Bucky]

On the one hand, he was right on the money about the degrading effect of the Iraq War on the national character
On the other hand, he's snuggly with Russian state media and a Jill Stein supporter.
Do yall think he's only doom and gloom out of unclear thinking? Or is there substance to his predictions of national collapse?

[shanny]

1. don't you think American democracy

has already fallen when a) it selected dimson bush; b) "elected" dft; c) engages in voter suppression out in the open; d) engages in naked power grabs like NC, Wisc., Michigan?


Does that sound like a healthy democracy to you? I think we are WAY closer to the edge than many realize.

[Bucky]

5. There's always been vote suppression. Those are flaws, not mortality

There's always been rigging of laws to protect business interests by the legislatures. This isn't new.

I mean, I worry about these things too. Certainly they're problems. But "dead already" seems out of proportion to longstanding problems we've been dealing with for 225 years

[shanny]

8. So no biggie then?

The US government has not been responsive to the public for decades, the election of DFT was a primal scream, the outright lawlessness of the pukes--not hidden, not with dog whistles, just right out there in front of gawd and everybody--is new, and extreme, 8% of voters can stop any legislative fixes and oh, by the way, the planet is teetering on climate-related collapse but sure, nothing we haven't seen before. No worries.

"here we bless your simplicity but do not envy your folly" --Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War

[Garrett78]

2. Well, the principle of one person one vote is not applied in the US.

And the tyranny of the minority system is likely to get worse.

We definitely need some major systemic changes, but those changes are tough to make precisely because of the entrenched system.

[octoberlib]

3. There was an article in Politico a couple years ago, which I can't find, by a political scientist

saying he doesn't see our democracy lasting past 2025. Stuff like this was talked about during the Obama presidency due to the radicalization of the GOP and their not being willing to work with or compromise with Democrats. Also Citizens United etc.

I took an online course 3 years ago offered by a Stanford political scientist (he works with Madeleine Albright and advises Presidents) in Democratic Development and this was a big topic. He said our democracy was stable right then but if another big depression hits all bets are off.

The Kochs have been undermining democracy since they got into politics. Destroying both parties is their object and they're succeeding with the GOP.

[Power 2 the People]

4. American Democracy has been dying since 1980

The morbidly wealthy and the corporations have bought out most all of our democratic institutions. Like all Republicans, they only care about how these things impact them personally. As long as they are comfortable now,they don't give a shit about anybody else's plight or the distant future.

Trump summed it up recently while talking to his advisers about the national debt:

Trump has frequently "shrugged" off warnings from his advisers about the national debt, feeling it's a problem for a future president to deal with. During one meeting early in his presidency, Trump was reportedly shown various graphics illustrating how big of a problem the national debt is going to become in the future, to which he responded, "Yeah, but I won't be here."

That is Republicanism in a nutshell. The death knell for our Democracy.

[Hortensis]

6. I think he's a very unwise man, to put it nicely.

Does anyone really need an otoh on hearing he refused to take a stand to keep a mentally disordered and depraved authoritarian, who promised to hurt millions for gods sake, out of the oval office?

[Volaris]

7. Hrmmm...that's a tough one.

I've always liked Hedges, he's legit a socialist. He supports the popular body pokitic being MORE liberal than the peeps we elect, as he knows that holding office tempers that edge as a consequence of necessary deal-cutting.

He understands the underlying mechanisms that drove the Christian Right into the arms of not only the corporate oligharcs that otherwise disdain them, but into the politically insane candidates those oligharcs have bought And paid for.

He understands what Real Monsters are made of, and what it's gonna take to stop them.

THAT SAID: I do not support his promotion of a third party, as it's functionally un-viable in the American system as it exists today. If Bernie wants to run as a Democratic Candidate again, that's up to the Democratic Party and why we have Primaries, and that he didn't get his way so supported Jill was an error of judgement on his part that didn't help my overall opinion. I do not agree with his stance on NATO expansion into eastern Europe (he thinks it's a bad idea...I think it should be up to those people to vote on and decide for themselves). I think if evidence is brought to light that Russia actually fucked with our election, and not just in a way that utilized our own advertising structure--especially machine hacking and vote-flipping, he will take that into account in any future statements he would make publicly.

I found a clip on YouTube the other day, a lecture he gave where he tore into Trump like nothing I've ever seen...compared him to Slobadan and the worst of the Eastern Bloc dictators.

I think his voice is still valuable, in some ways BECAUSE I disagree with it. It forces me to reflect on things I wouldn't otherwise consider (especially Democratic Party mechanics) that I might otherwise ignore or reject out of hand, just out of voting habit.

YMMV, as will others'.

ON EDIT: If it were up to me, and I had to actually run this country as the Executive for 4 years, I would ask him to come onboard and advise me., as I would Maddow, Olbermann, Wolfe, Krugman, and Warren, and Schiff.
I consider his voice necessary to the kinds of structrual changes I would want to make, ESPECIALLY where the middle east is concerned.