It seems bad that the most powerful nation that has ever existed seems likely to

[In It to Win It]

Ian Millhiser
@imillhiser

It seems bad that the most powerful nation that has ever existed seems likely to voluntarily choose authoritarianism because gas prices are high.

Link to tweet

[dalton99a]

1. Authoritarianism is the only way to perpetuate minority rule.

[NQAS]

2. And gas prices are artificially high because. . .

this a corporate "operation" to make Biden a one-term president.

[Rebl2]

15. Yep

[Walleye]

3. And Putin is betting his whole empire on that. He might be right

[Irish_Dem]

5. He spent decades and a great deal of money to bring down the US.

And it has paid off for him.

[Walleye]

7. Exactly.It is clear as day.I'm amazed and appalled at how many Americans don't know that he hates us

[Irish_Dem]

8. Right it was the crime of the century.

Like taking candy from a baby.

The US has been divided by rampant hatred and fear. Democracy ended.

And people are clueless.

We even have elected officials who applaud Putin, they want what he has.
Total permanent power and access to all US financial assets.

[Irish_Dem]

4. Yes people in a democracy voting to end the democracy.

And go with a fascist christian male ruling system

I never thought I would see it happen, but here it is.

[milestogo]

6. We have a lot of really stupid people.

[FakeNoose]

9. We've been made to believe that if we can't have "A"

... then we must have "B" because there are no other choices.

That's where the error lies.

[SergeStorms]

10. Their plans started long before high gas prices.

This has been brewing since the Kennedy administration. Authoritarianism has been in the works since Kennedy defeated Nixon, and the GOP dirty tricks department was founded.

As far as "the most powerful nation that has ever existed", I think that's debatable. Adjusted for age/time and world domination, I think the Roman Empire would beat the U.S. hands down.

I'm not arguing with the post's premise, just the facts.

[Hekate]

11. Rome was once a republic. Rome was once the most powerful nation ever. Rome decayed...

…and one sign of that was surely deciding that Caesar was a god.

[gulliver]

12. That's just one of the tipping point issues

When you run an engine close to the edge of its engineered tolerance, any small problem can be catastrophic. That's why it's not a great idea to fill a boat to capacity to take a river trip where the weather is the worst the boat can take, then take the boat up to its maximum speed with a crew that just passed the minimum certification needed to crew the vessel.

[Model35mech]

13. Leaning into authority is a trait of conservatively motivated thinking...

That isn't my opinion

But rather the finding of a metanalysis of psychological affiliations of conservatism.

If you haven't read it you should.

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315175867-5/political-conservatism-motivated-social-cognition-john-jost-jack-glaser-frank-sulloway-arie-kruglanski

[Traildogbob]

14. Corporations

Are retaliating against the surge in fast food salaries and other service jobs that have almost doubled since 2020. They want a piece of that, knowing working people have a little more to spend. plus when they pay higher salaries the precious profits shrink. They also do not want to pay any taxes, so gauging, while their profits are off the charts, allows them to destroy Democratic leaders that want to raise their taxes. All egged on by Media, whose CEO’s are anti tax the CEO’s as well. It’s all Win Win Win for them while We The People suffer, and lots of those “We” vote for it.
RightWhite wing Media push the “all Biden’s Fought” to their ignorant cult.

[dameatball]

16. The problem isn't gas prices. The problem is that average Americans live week to week and do not

accumulate wealth in a system that is defined by corporate bottom lines, not employee success.

[LW1977]

17. Thread trashed