"It takes willful blindness not to see the parallels between the rise of fascism"

[bigtree]

Joy Reid ‏@JoyAnnReid 3h3 hours ago
"It takes willful blindness not to see the parallels between the rise of fascism & our current political nightmare." http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/opinion/how-republics-end.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Here’s what I learned: Republican institutions don’t protect against tyranny when powerful people start defying political norms. And tyranny, when it comes, can flourish even while maintaining a republican facade.

On the first point: Roman politics involved fierce competition among ambitious men. But for centuries that competition was constrained by some seemingly unbreakable rules. Here’s what Adrian Goldsworthy’s “In the Name of Rome” says: “However important it was for an individual to win fame and add to his and his family’s reputation, this should always be subordinated to the good of the Republic … no disappointed Roman politician sought the aid of a foreign power.”

America used to be like that, with prominent senators declaring that we must stop “partisan politics at the water’s edge.” But now we have a president-elect who openly asked Russia to help smear his opponent, and all indications are that the bulk of his party was and is just fine with that. (A new poll shows that Republican approval of Vladimir Putin has surged even though — or, more likely, precisely because — it has become clear that Russian intervention played an important role in the U.S. election.) Winning domestic political struggles is all that matters, the good of the republic be damned.

And what happens to the republic as a result? Famously, on paper the transformation of Rome from republic to empire never happened. Officially, imperial Rome was still ruled by a Senate that just happened to defer to the emperor, whose title originally just meant “commander,” on everything that mattered. We may not go down exactly the same route — although are we even sure of that? — but the process of destroying democratic substance while preserving forms is already underway...


read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/opinion/how-republics-end.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

[Angry Dragon]

1. Long live Emperor Don

[AlexSFCA]

2. history of fascism

And just like in Germany, we're gonna have to let history play itself out. We can all speculate that Hitler could have been prevented but history had its own plans. The unfortunate thing about humanity is that we repeat our history cyclically. About 2-3 generations between cycles. We can fight all we want but the history is happening in front of our eyes regardless. None of our efforts so far to stop trump were succesful. More fights to come and they can also backfire. Eventually, trump presidency will backfire but perhaps not until countless lives are meaninglessly ruined...

[Initech]

15. To me it's not the rise of Trump that's scary.

To me what's scary is that Americans have embraced the Dark Side. All the hate, white supremacism, and Nazism that came out of everybody - things that were once taboo and forbidden to talk about, are now common place. The Trump administration is scary enough don't get me wrong, but Trump has brought out the absolute worst in people. It's going to take a long time to close that Pandora's box.

[Mustellus]

3. And Athen's Democracy fell when....

.. a gentleman named Alcibiades persuaded that what was necessary to Make Athens Great Again was to invade Syracuse.

The Athenian fleet.. the greatest in the world at the time, set sail for Syracuse, and their army formed up on the plains above the beach.

The Syracusians confronted the Athenians... while another group ran down to the beach and burned the Athenian ships, stranding their army.

And the Spartans waltzed in without significant opposition.


Its how democracies die.

[geretogo]

4. We have been on this road to Fascism for over 36 years now . I still remember those words ,

" The problem with government is government " . We are now a Corporate State with a corrupt CEO
as head of it . Do you know of any democratic corporation ? They are dictatorships .

[lastlib]

5. Been thinking lately about Hayek's book....

The Road To Serfdom (1944). In it he argued that essentially the welfare state was a prelude to Communism. With the post-Reagan rise of corporatism, I've been thinking about a sequel (maybe The Superhighway To Serfdom?) to show that corporatism is a prelude to fascist dictatorship in America. I may be too late, though.

[Missn-Hitch]

10. Nice - but yes, too late.

[elmac]

6. The news agencies

,the same ones that gave us sniffles, now want us to stop using the word fascism, oh, you betcha!

[turbinetree]

7. Every time, when I will call my fascist right wing Congressman Andy Harris, I will ask for the

head fascist in charge!!!!!!!!!

Its' only appropriate

[Skittles]

8. shame on Trump voters who cannot see this

it's not like that fascist bastard HID anything

[Mc Mike]

9. Yup. Thanks, Ms. Reid and bigtree. rec, nt.

[Missn-Hitch]

11. Willful blindness? Water is wet. Nothing new here!

[pbmus]

12. Or willful ignorance... I vote ignorance over blindness, maybe blind ignorance..

Yep, it's blind ignorance..

[MountCleaners]

13. That's because it's taboo in the media to insult a large % of the American public

And frankly, probably about 25% of the population would welcome fascism. Look at polls, that's how many believe in theocracy, loathe immigrants, have racist views, don't believe in freedom of speech, etc.

[smirkymonkey]

14. I just can't believe how stupid and gullible people are in this country.

I feel like there is no way to fight it. Logic and reason don't work. Facts are useless. I feel like there is this unstoppable tidal wave headed for us and there is nothing we can do but wait for complete destruction.

[MissKat]

16. This is what happens when you allow free dumb

All of us have seen the decline of education, whether it's looking at how the US fares in test scores against other nations or just considering how the English language has been simplified. Bigly.

By allowing public education to falter we have Trumplandia.

By allowing people to be stupid we allow them to elect a man so unqualified to be president that the world is sickened.

By allowing people to be stupid they seem joyful to vote against their own self interests.

Unless this nation is willing to make it's citizens learn its history, its constitution, its literature and arts-- we are doomed.

Now we have people who think being rich is being smart and being smart is being stupid. (Why should I spend money on education?)

Yet we are facing a technological transformation that is coming at us like an avalanche. What will truck drivers do when trucks can be driven by robots? What will fast food workers do when their shops turn into mechanical distribution centers?

See, this is the looking glass of reality. These people can see the changes daily. I wonder how many of them even know what a tweet is.
But they know something is going on and they aren't part of it, nor will they ever be. That's where the anger comes from.

These are people who have most likely given up going to church, but I'll bet they call themselves Christian. And that gives them a reason to hate Muslims. (And soon Jews).

Just like Rome, we are about to fall. We have leaders who care more about money than the country. We have religious leaders who ride in golden chariots and go home to castles as they tell poor people to send what they can and god will bless them.

This has been going on for a long time. We just had an eight year vacation. But that's over now.

Trump has crossed the Potomac with his tribe of idiots and they are going to destroy all in their path. Gleefully.