'The Last Time Oligarchs Tried to Take Over America It Led to Civil War' Thom Hartmann

[Joinfortmill]

Last edited Fri May 17, 2024, 02:24 PM - Edit history (2)

https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-last-time-oligarchs-tried-to-f57

My words: You need to read this, people. I posted the entire article. (Please note: I combined some of the paragraphs togethter.) My words update: Folks, I thought Thom gave us permission to post his articles in their entirety, but it seems I may be mistaken. I've been asked to reduce this post. I do hope you will take the time to click on the link and read it.


'Is America in the final stage of the 40-year transition from a forward-looking & still-evolving democratic republic into a white supremacist ethnostate ruled by a small group of fascist oligarchs?' "The headline in this week’s Fortune reads: “Billionaire investor Ray Dalio warns U.S. is ‘on the brink’ and estimates a more than 1 in 3 chance of civil war” Billionaires and civil war? A billionaire-funded Supreme Court Justice flew the American flag upside down outside his house after January 6th in apparent support of Donald Trump‘s attempt to overthrow our government. Back in the day, the late Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis warned us: “We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.” The number one movie in America last month was Civil War. Rightwing militias are on the march. More than half of Republicans say they are “expecting” a civil war. How did we get here? And what does oligarchy have to do with civil war?

The clear result of five corrupt Republicans on the 1978 and 2010 Supreme Courts legalizing political bribery of politicians (and Supreme Court justices) by both corporations and the morbidly rich is that America is now well past the halfway mark of a fatal-to-democracy slide into oligarchy and the strongman autocracy typically associated with it. And the conflict that can follow that. You can see the consequence in any contemporary survey. The majority of people want things, from a strengthened social safety net to a cleaner, safer environment to quality, free education, that Congress refuses to do anything about because it is in thrall to great wealth.

And now, for a second time in American history, we’re confronted with a near-complete takeover of about half of our nation by America’s oligarchs. And with it has come not just the threat of political violence, but the reality, from the death of Heather Heyer to the George Floyd protests to January 6th and the assault on Paul Pelosi. All driven by oligarchs determined to pit us against each other so we won’t recognize how they’re robbing us blind. Unless and until our tax laws are changed and the Supreme Court’s legalization of political bribery is reversed, we’ll continue this disintegrative slide into fascism and the danger of domestic armed conflict.

This fall we’ll have the opportunity to elect politicians who actively oppose oligarchy and fascism while embracing the true spirit of American egalitarianism. President Biden is the first president in 80 years to actually raise taxes on rich people and corporations. That political bravery has brought him powerful enemies: this fall’s election will be hard fought. Make sure everybody you know is registered to vote, and if you live in a Republican-controlled state double-check your voter registration every month at vote.org. America’s future — and the integrity of our history — depend on it."

[cilla4progress]

1. Excellent historical review - thanks.

Bookmarked.

[crazylikafox]

2. Wow. Thank you for posting

[republianmushroom]

3. Very good posting.

Thank you

[lark]

4. This is one of my greatest fears, that a civil war will be started by the fascists when he loses the election.

Last election we had no issues up here in this purple trending blue county, but death sentence might have noticed us after we elected a Democratic mayor and send in his goons this time.

If tsf wins - we are sunk and done as a democracy, social security and Medicare will be gone along with contraception and free public school
If Biden wins narrowly - I think there will be chaos and things could get really violent and it could end with a civil war and a lot of police and military back the fascists
If Biden wins big - think they will still try to cause chaos but most will go home and lick their wounds and not fight with the winners.

[JustAnotherGen]

6. A narrow win is a win

Even if it is only narrow in the Electoral College.

If Biden/Harris win the EC and a have a Majority of Votes - I want every single one of us to act like winners. Bad winners. Winners who gloat because they have a mandate from the people.

We as a party haven't been good at that outside of reliably blue states.

Mandate Example - My governor (Phil Murphy) took down the Mississippi State Flag from Liberty State Park in 2019. That is a state funded park that is the gateway to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. He could have cared less what people outside of New Jersey thought. He didn't care if it hurt peoples' heritage feelings.

[Joinfortmill]

7. Yes, I think the Biden Admin is ready for a close race.

[JustAnotherGen]

5. I disagree with this conclusion

Over the course of more than 400 meticulously researched pages, McDonald goes back to original historical records and reveals who was promoting and who was opposing the new Constitution, and why. So far as I can tell, he is the first and only historian to do this type of original-source research, and his conclusions are startling. McDonald notes that a quarter of all the delegates to the Constitutional Convention had voted in their own state legislatures for laws that would have helped debtors and the poor and thus harmed the interests of the rich.

“These [debt relief laws] were the very kinds of laws which, according to Beard’s hypothesis, the delegates had convened to prevent,” says McDonald. He adds: “Another fourth of the delegates had important economic interests that were adversely affected, directly and immediately, by the Constitution they helped write.” While Beard theorizes that the Framers were largely drawn from the class of wealthy bankers and businessmen, McDonald shows that wasn’t true at all:

“The most common and by far the most important property holdings of the delegates were not, as Beard has asserted, mercantile, manufacturing, and public security investments, but agricultural property.” Most were farmers or plantation owners and, as noted earlier, owning a lot of land did not always make one rich in those days, particularly compared to the bankers and mercantilists of New York and Boston.

• Where were those plantation owners?
  What was the compromise required to ensure they would ratify the constitution?
  Why did Ben Franklin - who abhored slavery - swallowed hard to ensure American became a Constitutional Democracy?
  Why was there a push of the founding fathers to treat the original Senators as the House of Lords?
  How did the author of the book address 'egalitarian' as it related to those in bondage being viewed as Property and yet at the same time - the property which was not viewed as truly Human - was allowed to be counted for House Representation?

It's 2024 - and jmho - no discussions about the Founding Father's intentions based up on their TANGIBLE actions / recorded history / creation of the Constitution - can be discussed without addressing the inflicted horror of slavery on black bodies.

Descendant of a Great, Great, Great, Great, Grandfather 'sold down the river' from VA to Alabama in 1832.