This is how democracy dies -- in full view of a public that couldn't care less

[steve2470]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/15/this-is-how-democracy-dies-full-view-public-that-couldnt-care-less/

The French philosopher Montesquieu wrote in 1748: “The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.” We are seeing his warning vindicated. President Trump is increasingly acting as a tyrannical (and erratic) prince. And yet much of the public is so inured to his misconduct that his latest assaults on the rule of law are met with a collective shrug. Public passivity is Trump’s secret weapon as he pursues his authoritarian agenda. “I have the right to do whatever I want,” he says, and the lack of pushback seems to confirm it.

So much bad has happened since Trump was unjustly acquitted by the Senate of two articles of impeachment on Feb. 5 that it’s hard to keep it all straight.

Trump fired Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman for complying with a congressional subpoena and providing truthful testimony about Trump’s attempts to extort Ukraine into aiding him politically. Also ousted was Vindman’s brother, who did not testify. This sends a mob-like message: If you turn stool pigeon, your family gets it, too.

Trump’s ongoing quest for retribution has also claimed Jessie K. Liu, who was abruptly removed as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and replaced by a close aide to Attorney General William P. Barr after prosecuting Trump loyalists, including Michael Flynn and Roger Stone. Now Liu’s nomination to a senior Treasury Department position has been withdrawn. Next on the chopping block may be Elaine McCusker, the Pentagon official who tried to tell the Office of Management and Budget that Trump had no right to withhold aid to Ukraine. The New York Post reported that her nomination to be Pentagon comptroller will be withdrawn. (McCusker denies the report.)

[Moral Compass]

1. What has the author of this piece convinced that we are or ever have been a democracy?

Last edited Mon Feb 17, 2020, 02:26 PM - Edit history (1)

The quote from Montesquieu sounds very good and squarely places the blame on a disengaged citizenry. This is even a bit more ironic given how engaged the citizens of France became in 1781. But I digress.

The author wants to place the blame for the current tyrannical mess at the feet of a passive, apathetic public—implying that a democratic government is dying before our eyes while we do nothing. The implication is that we are allowing the birth of an oligarchy through our inaction.

Like all good organs of the oligarchy The Washington Post and the New York Times (full disclosure—I am an online subscriber to both—I feel it it is important to know what the bullshit du jour is…) work diligently to obscure why the general populace is apathetic.

When, of course, the real reason the populace is disengaged and apathetic is that America has always been an oligarchy. The game has always been rigged. Our very founding document, the constitution, has in it clauses and wording that created the original oligarchy. The 3/5s clause in and of itself tells you that the constitution was never a democratic document.

It is hard to read the History of the revolutionary war without seeing that the revolt was by the wealthy and for the wealthy. That is why the drama played out in Valley Forge where the common soldier was poorly clothed and poorly clothed while the officers ate well and we’re very comfortable. That Washington was such an orator that he was able to get his army to stay put even as they were dying of hypothermia is a testament to his oratorical skills. But his oratorical skills were very much a product of the upper class.

Once our country was founded only those who owned real property, were white, and were male were able to vote. This didn’t change for quite some time.

So, when reading this kind of revisionist nonsense please feel free to call bullshit. This is not our fault. This is the fault of a system that has suddenly gone from an implicit tyranny to an explicit tyranny.

Over the last 40 years the unthinkable has become normal. The Renquist court legalized extreme police violence without fear of retribution. The Roberts court has turned corporations into citizens and made money equivalent to speech.

This only enshrined into law what had already been enshrined into custom.

It is no wonder that the poor don’t vote. They are poor, but not stupid. They know the game is rigged and always has been.

[Nitram]

2. Everyone I know cares a great deal and is feeling a great deal of stress over the events of the last

year. The only part of the public that doesn't care are right wing Trumpist nuts. I take issue with the headline. Totally inaccurate.

[lees1975]

3. With the current political configuration in Congress

how does any more get done? We are seeing some of the weaknesses of oversight of an out of control president.

It means that Americans who are intelligent and perceptive enough to see what is going on have to go to a ballot box and vote out any politicians who have remotely enabled this dictatorial egocentric president. That's the problem. Yeah, there were 63 million people who were stupid enough, and lacked the perception and intelligence to see that this lifelong con artist had no business even being on the ballot, but there were about 10 million people who were just as stupid because they stayed home instead of voting, and another 80 million adults of voting age who aren't even registered. Maybe this is their wake up call. Or maybe, if they don't want to vote, they can go to Russia and experience what they want and leave us alone here to enjoy our democratic republic.