I have been watching our political system for decades and always saw some chance for a more representative government that was until 1980 and the election of Reagan wedge issues started sneaking into the discourse…..then in 1992 and the election of a corporate stooge made the slide more easily achieved…..and then 2010 arrived and the rise of the wedge issue dominance…and the slide gained momentum…..and here we are today…..a system in chaos.
Some ask why has this been allowed to flourish…..
Political inaction is the key to this devastation of our political system….
Speaking to Salon’s Chauncy de Vega about how the United States is mired in a crisis of democracy that shows parallels with Germany’s descent into Nazism during the 1930s, Norman Ornstein recently noted that “Most people don’t pay close attention, day to day, to what’s going on” in the political sphere.
Speaking just anecdotally, my guess is that Ornstein is correct. In my experience, most people I talk to outside of my pre-existing left circles have only the foggiest notion about the specifics and meaning of current events. “The news” holds little real interest and significance for everyday Americans. And the notion of doing the work to “pay close attention, day to day,” is simply beyond the pale of imaginable life activity for most ordinary citizens in the nation that absurdly claims to be the world’s greatest democracy.
This is a problem – at least it is a problem for those who would like to live in a polity rooted in popular sovereignty and a society committed to the common good. It is an appropriate longstanding truism that democracy is impossible without an informed citizenry paying informed attention to political developments. Public knowledge is a matter of life and death, like when people learn on the radio or television that they must evacuate because a major hurricane. The political hurricane of white nationalist authoritarianism – fascism, American-style – is bearing down on the United States today (anyone who thinks it has gone away because Joe Biden is president is living in denial.)
On Mass Political Inattention
Militant ignorance is our biggest answer….
With apologies to Paul Simon, and despite all of the information available to the mortal man, there are still millions of Americans who currently believe they’re gliding down the highway when in fact they’re slip slidin’ away.
It is the root cause of our problems with China. It’s why some people don’t want to get vaccinated. It’s why some people still gleefully follow Donald Trump. It explains why Congress can’t get together in a bipartisan fashion to deal with infrastructure, health care and gun control. It’s why we have problems understanding climate change. It explains voter suppression. It’s why “critical race theory” has become controversial, why elements of our population on the left and right are at war with each other and why some believe the earth is flat and the Holocaust didn’t occur. It’s why some of us believe we’re still the “No. 1” nation in the world when — other than having the largest military — we clearly lag behind other major nations in many critical factors. More than anything else it explains why we fail.
Until the voter backs away from Facebook and Twitter this slide will continue until there is nothing left of this country but division and hatred….and we are well on the way today.
Is this the future you want?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
In Saner Thought 
I think the term ‘Militant ignorance’ sums it up perfectly. I see the same thing here, with racists and anti-vaxxers deliberately choosing to ignore plain truths to the extent that they are ‘proud not to know the facts’. That is a slippery slope for society indeed.
Best wishes, Pete.
Our slide will be damn near complete come 2022 and then 2024. chuq
Hail the re election of President Trump.
To Govern is to Lie
The culture among Western Goyim civilizations, the Government rules. Rulership, defined as people within the land exist as subjects not citizens. Foreign Policy stands upon the foundation of deception. The culture among Western Goyim civilizations, Foreign Policy takes precedence and priority over domestic policy and issues. How much more so then that the “subjects” within the Homeland must passively sit like a poodle on the lap. Domestic turmoil show anarchy and chaos to Foreign Governments.
The culture among Western Goyim civilizations, Foreign Policy takes precedence and priority over domestic ruled subjects. As deception serves as the foundation of Foreign Policy … how much more so deception rules the policy of the Ruling Government unto its poodle subjects.
Consequently, the outcome of this union which prioritizes Foreign Policy over Domestic a servant poodle population. The culture among Western Goyim civilizations, to impose crushing taxes upon the servant poodle population. Govern Foreign Policy has almost zero accountability. Government bureaucrats rule with impunity. Laws coast through Congress, written by Corporate Lobbies. All domestic poodle society dominated by the products which the Corporate Monopolies control the market places, from News, entertainment, food, movies, television, and most important Government.
A man stood before an American court and got acquitted of killing two and injuring one US Citizen. This abortion of justice, the ruled domestic poodle accepts this horrid abuse and still wags its little fluff ball tail. Illegal aliens enjoy the “identical” Bill of Rights part of the US Constitution as do subject domestic poodle populations. Guns kill. No guilty criminals, except when US Courts place millions of Blacks into commercial profit prison gulags.
The purpose of Government to keep the seal lid upon the domestic pressure cooker so that the lid does not fly off and the Government burnt script. Government bureaucrats as the top of the ponzi scheme pyramid their job: to do what ever required to pacify social unrest. Justice: the compensation to persons who suffer damages, either intentionally or accidentally inflicted, that the person guilty for causing the damages has to pay fair restitution to the victim(s). Justice means nothing to non elected bureaucrats who have no public accountability even though the enforce police power over the governed poodle populations.
Left\Right, Liberal\Conservative, Democrat\Republic labels have no substance. Both Democrat and Republican Presidents carried out the illegal invasion of Vietnam by the United States. The interests of the State, as determined by the Government. Democracy exists as a lie. The Founding Fathers established a Republic NOT a Democracy. The Electoral College determines who rules the White House, NOT the electorate majority. America has existed as a Republic throughout its history as an Independent Nation. The Founding Fathers permitted only White land owners the Right to Vote.
I dfo not need a political history but thanx anyway. chuq
You mean the Holocaust DIDN’T really happen??
What? NO one said that…..go back to the bong. chuq
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Current American reality!! … “this slide will continue until there is nothing left of this country but division and hatred … and we are well on the way today.”
Thanx…our slide will be complete by 2024 chuq
😔
THe perfect storm of “militant ignorance”, wedge issues, and election rigging is catching upon to us. The corporate powers know they are gaining almost total control and we allow it to happen. What we need is a restoration of voting rights, proportional representation, all elections set to the sane timetable (federal, state, and local), automatic voter registration and main-in voting. Those are a few “radical” ideas that night help stem the tide of fascism and Nazism that we are sinking into here.
All great ideas…..the problem is that half the country sees the need for these stupid ideas on the Right. Have a great day chuq