The Atlantic: A WARNING FROM EUROPE: THE WORST IS YET TO COME

[CousinIT]

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/poland-polarization/568324/

. . .

Given the right conditions, any society can turn against democracy. Indeed, if history is anything to go by, all societies eventually will.

. . .

The decision to put a conspiracy theory at the heart of government policy was the source of the authoritarian actions that followed.

. . .

Polarization is normal. Skepticism about liberal democracy is normal. And the appeal of authoritarianism is eternal.

. . .

In truth, the argument about who gets to rule is never over, particularly in an era when people have rejected aristocracy, and no longer believe that leadership is inherited at birth or that the ruling class is endorsed by God. Some of us, in Europe and North America, have settled on the idea that various forms of democratic and economic competition are the fairest alternative to inherited or ordained power.

But we should not have been surprised—I should not have been surprised—when the principles of meritocracy and competition were challenged. Democracy and free markets can produce unsatisfying outcomes, after all, especially when badly regulated, or when nobody trusts the regulators, or when people are entering the contest from very different starting points. Sooner or later, the losers of the competition were always going to challenge the value of the competition itself.

More to the point, the principles of competition, even when they encourage talent and create upward mobility, don’t necessarily answer deeper questions about national identity, or satisfy the human desire to belong to a moral community. The authoritarian state, or even the semi-authoritarian state—the one-party state, the illiberal state—offers that promise: that the nation will be ruled by the best people, the deserving people, the members of the party, the believers in the Medium-Size Lie. It may be that democracy has to be bent or business corrupted or court systems wrecked in order to achieve that state. But if you believe that you are one of those deserving people, you will do it. . . .

[brush]

1. Cutting education and keeping people stupid will do it everytime.

[2naSalit]

5. +1

[UCmeNdc]

7. +2

[CrispyQ]

9. The right started focusing on filling Boards of Education across the country back in the 80s.

"As people do better, they start voting like Republicans - unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing." ~Karl Rove

[brush]

11. And Rove and his ilk are highly educated so what's it's really about...

to them is power, and keeping it. They only care about voters voting for them, not for the voters welfare.

[appalachiablue]

18. What a (rotten) gem, might have to borrow that

'The World is A Corporation' Scene from the movie Network, 1976.

'America the Illiterate,' Chris Hedges, 2010.

[czarjak]

26. John Birch Society

[StClone]

19. Con manipulators use "Elites" not to describe the toxic wealthy.

Con mouthpieces use it to describe those who take their K-12 years of study seriously, care about people, the environment, and have a broad ("liberal&quot education.

[LiberalLoner]

28. +1

[ancianita]

32. +1

[certainot]

33. not to mention the secret of authoritarian power- wrong handed masturbation

thousands of years of sexual repression keeps that sex on the wrong brain going.

authoritarianism and fascism as a heritable 'old world' masturbation problem:

SOWB VS Democracy

Democratic forms of organization can counter authoritarianism and other negative symptoms of sowb but are often thwarted before large scale implementation of the simple sex education lesson that can end large scale sex on the wrong brain.

Sex on the wrong brain offered survival benefits in times of scarcity and conflict and may explain right handed dominance in humans. Now, however, it threatens the planet with greed and authoritarianism.

[smirkymonkey]

2. K&R

[ShazamIam]

3. The poison embraces religion as its special tool, along with

cultural and race, differences. In atheist systems, personality cult, replaces religion with the same kinds of lies.

[Caliman73]

4. It is almost always about power...

I like parts of the following quote:

when badly regulated, or when nobody trusts the regulators, or when people are entering the contest from very different starting points. Sooner or later, the losers of the competition were always going to challenge the value of the competition itself.

The first part I agree with. I don't like the term "Loser" especially in a system where there are absolutely "different starting points" meaning that some people start 10 feet from the finish line, others from the middle of a relatively smooth track, and others from the beginning of the steeple chase course. How is it even a race or competition where "winners" and "losers" be considered when the terms and the rules of the race are made by those who just happen to be in the best position to win?

Also, we don't need a warning from Europe per se. We have plenty of evidence from our own history if we care to look at it CRITICALLY instead of believing the mythology that conservatives always want to push.

[empedocles]

6. Suggest the appeal of, hate-power-authoritarianism, is eternal

[KentuckyStiffRipple]

8. This is why it's so important that Trump and his cultists are prosecuted

Even more important than defending the right to vote individually is democracy defending its own legitimacy as a political philosophy.

That democracy is the proverbial "high road" does not mean that it's not allowed to defend itself- in fact, given the faith it places on collective responsibility in governance, democracies have a stronger moral imperative to push back against authoritarian challenges. This isn't just an inconsequential musical chairs of dictators, like might be seen in other societies.

And democracies need to clearly show that they believe in their own worthiness if they are to survive. If a government can't stand up on its own two feet and defend itself against trash like Trump, why should anyone else believe in it?

When someone threatens to take self-rule away from us, they need to be severely punished.

[Mr.Bill]

10. I've always found it interesting

that we think we live in a democracy where we elect people to represent our interests and desires, yet we go to a chuch and accept the rule of authority from someone ordained by a Diety, then we go to work which can be a Monarchy or just plain Authoritarianism where we have little to no say over how we spend one third of our day five days a week.

And we send our children to school where they are ruled by people we don't even know and didn't get to choose, in most cases.

I know I'm generalizing, so spare me the exceptions and the right to make changes to our personal situation. My point is how easily most accept the status quo and don't or in some cases can't change the situation.

[BannonsLiver]

16. It's not really that unusual

Your mistake is assuming that everyone wants what you want, which is to shake up the status quo. Many are perfectly happy living the life you describe, though I think characterizing public school teachers as “rulers” is a bit melodramatic.

[Nasruddin]

20. You must've missed out

Some of the teachers in schools I went to ... well at least the bells rang on time.

[BannonsLiver]

21. Yeah, I guess I did

I had a fairly normal experience. It happens.

[Mr.Bill]

22. Well, I did go to Catholic school.

But that's okay. That's where they turned me into an Atheist, something I am forever greatful for.

[wnylib]

29. Sounds like you would prefer no

authority anywhere, i.e. anarchy.

There will always be some type of authority among human beings. If you remove all authorities and rules, individuals and groups would still assert themselves and vie for the right to own and control their own territory or region. We do that now, even with authorities and rules. It would be more despotic without them, not more democratic.

In a democratic system, the people participate in choosing the rules, who will uphold them, and by what means the rules will be upheld. In a democracy the people can protest how things are being done and work to change them.

Democracy does not mean the absence of rules and people who uphold them. It means participating in deciding what the rules are and who will represent the people's interests. That's why it is such a big deal if those representatives use their position to look after only their own interests, at the expense of the people. That's why it's a big deal when some people are left out of the deciding process. That's why it is a big deal when people in authority abuse their authority.

[Mr.Bill]

34. I prefer authority

that I get to vote for.

[wnylib]

35. Isn't that the kind of authority that my post was about?

[Mr.Bill]

36. Sure, but I was just correcting

what you said about me wanting anarchy.

[SouthBayDem]

15. Shows that anti-intellectualism isn't limited to the right.

Watering down educational standards in the name of "equity" or "greater access" is the WRONG way of going about education!! This honestly is worse than creationism or "patriotic education"

[Harker]

13. "I love the poorly educated...

we're the smartest people, we're the most loyal people...(thhhhniiifff)" - Trumpsky

[bucolic_frolic]

17. Meritocracy embraced greed, opportunity became privilege, equality became hierarchy.

Spiritualism became materialism, goodness became metrics, differences became evil.

We will be in chains until the Overlords lose power.

[Kaleva]

23. Given the right conditions, society will turn against any form of government.

The citizens of Imperial Germany were well educated as a whole but the ravages of WWI caused the people to rise up and revolt. Prior to the war, Emperor Wilhelm II enjoyed broad support and was in no danger of losing his throne.

[andym]

24. Correction:"satisfy the human desire to belong to a community." Add: human tendency to think one is

doing good, even if such acts are demonstrably evil." Amazingly, even many war criminal Nazi's thought they were doing the right thing.
The desire for community is strong. The morality of such a community is much less compelling a driver, though as explained above there is an individual tendency to think one is right and good, no matter what.

[Initech]

25. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

January 6th should have been a wake up call. The people who the previous administration represented do not have America's best interests in mind. They have only their own interests in mind. And it's time to root out any treasonous assholes who supported the attempted takeover of our government on that day. No exceptions. They will be found out and prosecuted.

[uponit7771]

30. +1, People don't understand the US is enthralled in an insurrection against democracy RIGHT NOW!

The GQP is going as hard as they can against democracy even to the own peril brute forcing the ideals of democracy by throwing what they can against the wall and hoping 1% of these laws stick so they can win.

[colsohlibgal]

27. Could Be

The Republicans are dwindling in numbers just because of their rightward drift so they are going hard toward Autocracy. It’s a race to stop them in time.

[maxrandb]

31. I think it was Napoleon who said of organized religion

"Religion is what keeps the poor from eating the rich"