I had dinner last night with a very progressive friend of mine.

[Hortensis]

109. :) Way overstated? We have enormous blessings to cherish and protect, but

most of them are far too deeply embedded in the American way of life for them to just take away. Like the revolutionary-left dreamers, far-right authoritarians need disasters to cover for and provide excuses people will accept for dismantling "the system." And our rights.

Note that they didn't dare cancel the duty to inform people in custody of their rights before interrogation (didn't even come close), and we probably won't be losing our constitutional right to create federal programs like Social Security or Medicare this year either (though I believe they intend to). I'm very unhappy that schools can use tax dollars to teach that I'm going to hell, but freedom of religion still stands.

Critically, note that despite 40 years of Republican attempts to undo the great expansion of rights and widespread prosperity created out of the previous New Deal era -- including the huge, accelerating devastations of their 2008 Great Recession and Republican pandemic, and tRumpism -- over 70% of Americans still say they're doing okay to fine.

Everyone needs to keep in mind what that last means. These are not end times. They are need-to-protect times. And what they do manage to take away temporarily, the people, left AND right, will restore even more comprehensively.