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Rather over the top but dangerous (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Jul 2022 OP
A series of coups are underway. Botany Jul 2022 #1
Monied special interests are behind this dlk Jul 2022 #2
$400 million funneled through Leonard Leo at last count dalton99a Jul 2022 #5
It is certainly paying off dlk Jul 2022 #7
Thank you. Midnight Writer Jul 2022 #6
Their goal is to become too powerful to regulate dlk Jul 2022 #8
Also half of the sitting members of congress were part of of the coup or knew about it. Irish_Dem Jul 2022 #3
Not over the top at all, I think he's right on target. But - intheflow Jul 2022 #4
Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't read the essay. NT mahatmakanejeeves Jul 2022 #9

Botany

(70,291 posts)
1. A series of coups are underway.
Mon Jul 4, 2022, 08:44 AM
Jul 2022

The correct way to understand what’s happening in —or rather, to — America is this. A series of coups are underway. Where and when one fails, the next one kicks into gear. As the Jan 6th Committee has revealed the inner workings of that fateful day — how the President, it seems, hoped to personally lead a violent attempt to stop the counting of electoral votes, replete with armed militants hunting down the Vice President and leader of the opposition — instead of stopping, another coup has simply begun.

This time, it’s judicial. It comes courtesy of what might be called a rogue Supreme Court. It’s been deliberately stacked with fanatics and lunatics. When I tell my European friends that a woman now sits on it who’s a member of a fundamentalist sect where women were literally called Handmaids and took vows of submission and obedience to men — their eyes nearly pop out of their heads. They’re lost for words. They laugh, as if I’m joking around. Then I tell them I’m not, and they shake their heads in disbelief.

snip

And it’s a judicial coup in the sense that instead of defending the basic inalienable rights the constitution guarantees to Americans, the Supreme Court is the very one ripping them away.

Here we have a major, major problem for a democracy. What do you do when the final guarantor of the constitution — the Supreme Court — is the very one who has decided to attack and undermine it? What do you when the last line of defence for the constitution is the very set of hands tearing it up?

snip

This is a deeply serious constitutional crisis precisely because it almost never happens. In most countries, politics never gets this broken. Even in hardcore failed states, the Supreme Court is usually the last line of defense. It still contains vaguely thoughtful people who are interested in preserving some last bastion of democracy and freedom. That’s because it’s usually hard to get to. It’s not like buying your way into a representative’s office — easy enough. It takes a lifetime of work to get a seat on it, even in failed states, and so it’s usually the last functioning institution left.

dlk

(11,432 posts)
2. Monied special interests are behind this
Mon Jul 4, 2022, 09:09 AM
Jul 2022

They’ve been planning this for years and have spent many millions of dollars.

dlk

(11,432 posts)
7. It is certainly paying off
Mon Jul 4, 2022, 01:31 PM
Jul 2022

More needs to be done to bring this pipeline to light. I don’t think most Americans are aware of it or the inroads the monied special interests have made. They’ve been scheming since Reagan was in office.

Midnight Writer

(21,546 posts)
6. Thank you.
Mon Jul 4, 2022, 12:26 PM
Jul 2022

This is a coordinated effort by people and corporations who have become too powerful and want to be even more powerful.

Heard on NPR from the head of The Federalist Society that they spent 250 million dollars to get their picks on the Supreme Court.
The Federalist Society used to be considered a bunch of loons, a bizzaro world version of The American Bar Association. Now, thanks to the oligarchs' money, they run our legal system.

dlk

(11,432 posts)
8. Their goal is to become too powerful to regulate
Mon Jul 4, 2022, 01:33 PM
Jul 2022

Sheldon Whitehouse has video on YouTube that breaks down their scheme. It’s massive.

Irish_Dem

(45,622 posts)
3. Also half of the sitting members of congress were part of of the coup or knew about it.
Mon Jul 4, 2022, 10:08 AM
Jul 2022

Three branches of the US government have been involved in a coup to overturn an election and impose minority rule on country.

intheflow

(28,406 posts)
4. Not over the top at all, I think he's right on target. But -
Mon Jul 4, 2022, 10:26 AM
Jul 2022

he keeps saying that the Constitution guarantees inalienable rights. This is wrong. It was the Declaration of Independence that said that (actually, unalienable), and it was that same document that said the bit about "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Confusing these two documents greatly undermines the reasoning behind the essay. It could have been argued using language in the Constitution, but this essayist couldn't be bothered to double-check (or even single-check) his sources.

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