AOC Fears US Could Cease To Be A Democracy 10 Years From Now: 'Return To Jim Crow'

[appalachiablue]

- AlterNet, Feb. 14, 2022. Ed.

During her three years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York City has seen first-hand how ugly American politics can be — from death threats to the January 6, 2021 insurrection. The progressive congresswoman and Bernie Sanders ally hasn’t been intimidated, however; she isn’t shy about using Twitter to mercilessly troll far-right MAGA Republicans.

Ocasio-Cortez discussed the state of U.S. politics during an interview with the New Yorker that was conducted on February 1 and published on February 14. And she warned that the assault on democracy from the far right is relentless. When asked what she sees “in the room” as a member of Congress, AOC responded, “Honestly, it is a shit show. It’s scandalizing, every single day. What is surprising to me is how it never stops being scandalizing.

Some folks perhaps get used to it, or desensitized to the many different things that may be broken, but there is so much reliance on this idea that there are adults in the room, and, in some respect, there are. But sometimes, to be in a room with some of the most powerful people in the country and see the ways that they make decisions — sometimes, they’re just susceptible to groupthink, susceptible to self-delusion.”

During the interview, Ocasio-Cortez expressed fears that the U.S. may not be a democracy ten years from now.

The congresswoman told The New Yorker, “What we risk is having a government that perhaps postures as a democracy, & may try to pretend that it is, but isn’t.. We’re never beyond hope, but we’ve already seen the opening salvos of this, where you have a very targeted, specific attack on the right to vote across the U.S.- particularly in areas where Republican power is threatened by changing electorates & demographics. You have White nationalist, reactionary politics starting to grow into a critical mass. What we have is the continued sophisticated takeover of our democratic systems in order to turn them into undemocratic systems, all in order to overturn results that a party in power may not like.”...

More, https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/a-return-to-jim-crow-aoc-fears-the-us-will-cease-to-be-a-democracy/
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https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/aryanization

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryanization

[the_sly_pig]

1. Only in sh**hole states. N/T

[zipplewrath]

2. 70%

By 2040, the 30% of the population that live in 35 states will control the senate, and have an out sized influence over the EC and the SC. Yes, "only in", but none the less enough to warp any concept of democracy out of any recognizable idea. Democracy is often described as the minority agreeing to be governed by the majority. I have no idea how to define a democracy where 30% of the population "governs" the other 70%.

[the_sly_pig]

9. I find most people to be reasonable

which is at least 60%. The fringe right doesn't have enough people to control the country, weapons or not. It's a matter of time for the uber-rich. Things just haven't gotten bad enough. Give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves. The haters and the christo-fascists will reveal themselves as they always do.

Additionally, the rest of the world will not tolerate a rogue USA. So It might get messy, but the result will be the same as the last civil war. This is my take. The Chinese need us. The Russians need Europe.

[ificandream]

3. She's not alone.

[Rebl2]

4. Sadly

have to agree with her.

[Missn-Hitch]

5. 10 years?!

Just think about a traitor-controlled congress and a traitor in the WH. A competent tRump - like Cotton or Desantis or Hawley. I give us 3-5 years.

[Lonestarblue]

7. I agree.

If we do not hold on to the House majority and add a net gain of two senators so these voter nullification laws can be undone, Republicans will install their 2024 nominee as president, and we have a Supreme Court that will aid them. At that point we become the same as Russia, with federal elections in red states having predetermined winners.

[Missn-Hitch]

8. Amen brother.

[Hortensis]

6. All RW and LW populist insurgencies, religious and secular, are intrinsically anti-democratic.

Populist movements are formed by harnessing aggressive resentments against the voting majorities who prevail in democracies. They all claim to be patriotic with noble ideologies, but to win they have to somehow overcome the will of the majority. And that means defeating the Democratic Party that protects it.

They all use "big lie techniques, including that Democrats are corrupt and steal elections and it's their right to overset our corrupt elections, and of course big divide-and-conquer lies against every demographic to destroy their abilities to represent their interests adequately.

Their joint successes so far have been devastating. Of course, after the collapse, would come the scramble for power.

* Religious popuilsts plan a theocratic-dominated authoritarian state with themselves in charge.
* "Susan Sarandon" types still hope that tRump's election will have been so destructive that it'll lead to
collapse and replacement of capitalilsm with socialism.
* tRump wants a nightmare fascistic dictatorship for himself.
* Kleptocracy and lack of controls for depraved RW billionaires.
* A white male-dominated authoritarian state for that sizable hard-core conservative male demographic.

* And of course for Russia, a former superpower too busy scrambling for survival to be able to protect itself.

Btw, this "Jim Crow" stuff? Let's just keep in mind that losing the power of the vote would mean almost everyone suffering "Jim Crow" depowerment, mostly helpless against institutionalized police power and oppression and exploitation by the few. Reality is that in authoritarian states virtually everyone colludes with the state just to get along. See someone beaten by the police? Don't see, or else. Can't survive on what you make? Strictly your problem.