The America We Thought We Knew Is Gone - damage cannot be reversed with a single election

[Demovictory9]

Read the full article here. It pretty much sums up the situation:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/supreme-court-is-now-trumps-and-so-we-grieve-for-america.html

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The result is that Trump, a man who has repeatedly said that he only responds to consequences, has faced none. His lies meet with no institutional resistance. Quite the contrary. His decision to say outrageous, incorrect, inflammatory things has paid off handsomely: His supporters believe them, and those in power will not acknowledge that he has said anything at all. The combined effect has rendered him immune to every standard we, as a country, once shared.

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The country we thought we shared is changing faster than anyone expected. I wrote last week about the cognitive mismatch I felt at the relative normalcy outside my window as our government punished parents by taking their children away—in many cases, permanently. One week later, I cannot unsee how much even my window has changed and will change. The party ruling our country has demonstrated there is no principle it will respect, no norm it will endure. My rights as a woman are in danger. Civil rights are in danger. And the republic is in danger.

I am sad, above all, because the damage being done now no longer feels like it can be stemmed—let alone reversed—with a single election. This will last decades. The downturns my generation has already weathered—the 2008 crisis that hinged on obscure derivatives traded by a privileged few, robbing wealth from millions—were only the beginning. Education is now a luxury. Pensions barely exist. Health care is under threat. Retirement is, to those my age, a cruel joke. We’ve been waiting. For recovery, for relief, for some semblance of an American dream we can access.

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Meanwhile, those in power will celebrate how much they deserve their wealth and how little anyone else deserves. And they will grab for more. You’d think they’d be happy: America now has the highest income inequality in the industrialized world. But even that is not enough. The greed is insatiable. And it is a greed not just for wealth but for domination—for permanent entitlement. What they want is to be served. At restaurants. On golf courses. In corporate offices. There is no form of protest they will respect: loud or silent, formal or spontaneous, civil or rude. Written petitions or marches on the streets. They don’t care. Those in power have been very clear about what they do care about. “We have more money and more brains and better houses and apartments and nicer boats,” Trump said Wednesday in a speech to his supporters, because he cannot help but say what he really means. “We are the elite.”

[RKP5637]

1. It's a broken country filled with broken people. GOTV! n/t

[DBoon]

2. "There is no form of protest they will respect"

They expect to rule

Any protest. no matter how civil, challenges this

[dalton99a]

4. Precisely - so fuck them

[Garrett78]

3. I read it yesterday. And I think it's excellent.

I do think Loofbourow is being overly generous with the following, however:

The country I believed in, which aspired to true equality of opportunity, and welcomed immigrants, and strove to make the American dream available to everyone, failed often. The ideal was never the reality, but at least there was an agreed-upon goal, one worth working toward in common. Even that is gone. The most vital trust that our government, as a whole, will protect the interests of the people has been violated.

It failed often because there have always been many people in power who did not aspire to those things. There have always been many for whom equality of opportunity and welcoming of immigrants was not an "agreed-upon goal."

[BigmanPigman]

5. I agree with this BUT I am still fighting it!

I am fortunate...I chose to not have kids and it was the best decision I ever made. I don't have to worry about the future for my child. That does NOT mean that I am not filled with passion to save MY COUNTRY! I am going to die in a few years and it is a silver lining to all the shit that is coming down the pike on a daily basis. Until I can no longer fight and resist I will be giving it 100% of my energy to the resistance. This is my country and I love it and I am willing to fight the GOP at every opportunity. When I call my reps I can barely contain my emotions as I go back and forth between tears and profanity. I know I can not do much but at least I am able to die knowing I did my best as a true patriot. The deplorables and corrupt GOP are NOT PATRIOTS, they ARE TRAITORS! RESIST! REMOVE! Peace.

[FiveGoodMen]

6. Beaten to death by hate radio, Fox news and Southern Baptist preachers

[RKP5637]

10. And Rupert Murdoch heads a lot of it. I never hear him questioned as to what his agenda is as

he works hard to propagandize and destroy this country. IMO he has done more to destroy the US than any other entity. He has filled the heads of millions of Americans with this Fox News crap and he gets away with it. If what he does is free speech, then we need to go back and define what free speech means. IMO hate speech, the style of Joseph Goebbels, is not free speech. We sit on the side lines as this country is turned into a fascist state!!!

[NurseJackie]

7. Is this what Sarandon had in mind with the "revolution" she wanted Trump to usher in?

[NurseJackie]

8. I remember many online saying that the "status quo" wasn't good enough...

I remember many online saying that the "status quo" wasn't good enough, and they were basically advocating a "destrory-it to rebuild-it" philosophy. You think THIS is what they had in mind? Are they happy now?

[luvallpeeps]

12. not quite yet.....evidently

Many people took the civility these closeted bigots displayed for granted. They just needed a mouthpiece to embolden them.Now they come crawling outta the woodwork like roaches. They are here, always have been, and always will be. They operate out of a place of fear. Fox plays the fear song 24/7. They're coming for your jobs, they're bring drugs and crime, etc. You know the tune. Ironically the singers of that song are the REAL criminals. We enjoyed some peaceful times here, but it looks like it's our time to put up or shut up. Does anyone think we're gonna get Trump out without a shitshow? I don't foresee any aces up any sleeves. Especially since so many are in on this travesty. But I digress.....the status quo? We will never get rid of bigots. But I'd love to put the cockroaches back in the dark where they belong. I think having one black president freaked their shit out.....then a WOMAN??? Oh hell-to-the-no. Someone threw a rock ate the bees nest now.

[smirkymonkey]

9. K&R

[FreepFryer]

11. You use a DU name like that and post defeatist crap like this? Ironic. (n/t)

[obnoxiousdrunk]

26. And manages to

get 27 recs ????

[luvallpeeps]

13. not with FOX fear machine

Spewing the hate daily and nightly. They are so good at the messaging. They pound the lies in until they are truths. It's daunting. Remember the Iraq war runup? The average American believed Iraq had something to do with 9/11. I think it's a combination of apathy and fatigue that causes the lack of participation in our democracy. Digging around for the truth takes time. We are told not to talk about politics or religion. Well how perfect for them. We can't even exchange ideas civilly. It is black or white. Period. Most people I talk to believe things that just aren't true. But when you can prove it, they hop onto another rock. One guy told me ultimately (after I sliced him in the nicest way) that he is a one issue voter. ABORTION! Fucking hell. As if people deliberately get pregnant and have one for the fun of it. Oh, and never mind the 14 year old carrying her uncle's baby. But this idiot thinks it's fine to mistreat a child whose parents crossed the border. It just boggles my mind. So at the end of the day, he really doesn't care about babies. He cares about himself. You know, his white male self.

[lame54]

14. Again - stupid thing to say right before an election...

That is the 2nd post I've seen suggesting it is pointless to vote

[Demovictory9]

31. article is not saying it's pointless to vote. pointing out that damage is extensive

will take many years of voting to repair.

[tecelote]

15. "America now has the highest income inequality in the industrialized world."

The land of the free and home of the brave has been owned. Everything the founding fathers hoped for has been dashed. We are no longer the beacon of hope. We are what the world feared we would become.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

17. And what was it when this country was founded?

The founding fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

They were pretty well to do, many of them

The slaves so many of them owned? Not so much.

Stop looking for perfection. You won't find it. Work with the resources you have.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. Well, I guess I'd better stay home, then, and not vote.

John Lewis: Well, peacefully walking across the William Pettus Bridge won't make any difference, so we've decided not to bother.

Eisenhower: Seriously, we can't oust the Nazis from the beaches at Normandy, so why bother?

NASA: Land a man on the moon and bring him back? Forget it.

You want a savior? LOOK IN THE MIRROR.

You're the savior.

You are.

[jmbar2]

18. Do NOT engage in despair!

For one, it emboldens evil people. They rejoice in causing others pain.

Even if the worst happens, we still have enough creative people, and historical examples of how to persevere until things get better. See the lessons learned from John Lewis above. It's just going to take longer than we thought.

I am reminded of a story I read right after the stolen election of 2004, where the supreme court crowned Bush over Gore. After many days of angst watching the goons and thugs run roughshod over democracy, the SC decision was so devastating that a young man committed suicide.

By doing so, he missed seeing the election of President Obama just FOUR years later.

I have often thought of that young man, and what a difference just four short years would have made in his life.

No matter how bad it gets, we ARE the resistance. And when things look bleak, we need to turn our energies towards creating solutions and alliances to fight again. We do not have the luxury of falling into despair.

[bdamomma]

22. nt

[TrollBuster9090]

19. I remember when Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown in the Philippines. A member of the new govt. said

After Marcos was overthrown by a popular uprising in the Philippines, a member of the new government said something like this:

"It's going to take at least a generation to fix the damage to our democracy. There are one or two generations of powerful people who got used to the corruption, rose inside the ranks of corruption, and actually prefer it over democracy, where their position is not as strong. Some of those people can be educated or inspired to change, but most of them will keep fighting to go back to the old corrupt ways. And we'll just have to keep fighting them for a generation, until enough of them either give up or die off."

Throwing these bums out is a start. But repairing the damage that REPUBLICANS have done to America SINCE THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION will take at least 20 years of constant effort.

Fortunately, it's the youngest generation that believes in democracy; and the aging boomers who don't. So, the demographics are headed in the right direction.

But some mechanical changes at the beginning will help! Structural changes!

1. Pass federal laws that say Congressional districts cannot be drawn by partisans!

2. Pass federal laws MANDATING PAPER BALLOTS. Paper ballots COUNTED BY PEOPLE, not f-king crooked Deibolt machines that are hacked by Republicans at the local level, and Russians at the national level.

3. Pass a federal law making ELECTION DAY a NATIONAL HOLIDAY! The people most likely to vote Democrat are the people LEAST likely to be able to take part of the day off to go and vote. Election day should be a national holiday!

4. Turn every LOCAL POST OFFICE into a polling office. Allow people to do advanced voting in the post office.

5. Allow everybody to apply for federally recognized ID at every POST OFFICE, thus circumventing stupid voter-id voter suppression efforts.

6. Pass federal laws putting a TAX on donations to elections by PACs, billionaires etc. Yes, I know the current gang of CROOKS on the Supreme Court has ruled that money is free speech, and corporations are people...so that's a dead end. However, it wouldn't be unconstitutional to put a TAX on election donations. And it would be POLITICALLY impossible to stop it if that tax is earmarked for improving the electoral system. The money would be used to hire more staff at the poling stations to count votes. Money to buy OPTICAL SCANNERS to count PAPER BALLOTS. No more five hour line ups to vote in poor districts. We know that Democratic districts are underfunded. If a-holes like David Koch and Sheldon Adleson know that every time they donate $500 million dollars to Republican campaigns, $50 million of it will go towards increasing voter access in poorer districts...THEY'LL STOP DONATING, because it will be a diminishing return situation. Just like when the FCC mandated cigarette companies to put anti-cigarette ads on TV. They stopped, because the more pro-smoking ads they bought, the more anti-smoking ads got aired. The more they spent, the more people quite smoking. Same situation.

[kimbutgar]

21. Great ideas

I would like to hear more ideas like this. If we could present this as platform we could get or country back on track and away from the insane greedy stupid people running it now.

[Moostache]

20. When we fire up the guillotines and I am pouring water on them to prevent fires...

I will remind every one of the greed monsters of your prophetic words. I will mock their greed and laugh at their decapitated bodies as the heads roll and the bastards get their just desserts...they had a chance to promote justice and establish meaning to being "an American" (instead of "a rich, white American" ), they have chosen a path that the end is known - see France circa 1789-1799.

[Initech]

23. This reminds me of a scene from Arrested Development:

Michael: How much damage could GOB do?
Narrator: In 3 hours, GOB had done $5,000 worth of damage.

Obama had built a good thing, and in 15 months, Trump and his cabal have done decades of irreparable damage. Fuck.

[H2O Man]

24. No thank you.

[EffieBlack]

25. "America never was America to me ..."

Let America Be America Again

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

—-Langston Hughes

[DonCoquixote]

30. damn

the most honest american poem

[EffieBlack]

32. From America's most honest poet...

[Chickensoup]

27. I love the fire and fury in the postings

on this thread.
Keep it up to keep hope alive and
as long as we believe we can move
mountains, together we will.

[secondwind]

28. Don't give up!! Never give up!!

We have been through this and worse.

RESIST!!!

[Eko]

29. Ive resigned not to fight to win because at this dark point it looks hopeless.

But to fight because it is right and at this point it is the only right thing to do.