It’s time to get really serious.
Somewhere out there in America right now, he’s watching. He’s watching the Facebook groups, and the reddit threads, and the private newsletters, and the small town Middle America newspaper editorials. He’s watching the political process as it responds to the pressures from the Alt-Right and Nazis and Nationalists and Hillary haters, the embittered and cheated left, the Bernie Bros, and the Jill Stein fans, and the Green Party and Antifa, and all the others who flipped to Trump as a repercussion administered to the DNC and Hillary for their bald-faced ripoff of an ACTUAL left wing movement within the “Democratic” party….he’s watching the media frenzy about the acknowledged outright CRAZINESS of the things that Trump is saying and doing, (all the while no one acts, there are NO repercussions), the apparent disregard for ANY common sense at all, as long as what he does results in the tearing down of something that Obama built up, as if the ONLY reason he is there in the White House is to personally damage Obama….he’s watching the Congress essentially hand the keys of government over to the very rich (what I like to call the #TyrantClass), and throw most of the entire US population under the bus in the mad rush to please those masters, and he thinks he understands what the next move is.
He’s always been very smart, he’s always been charismatic and motivated to the purpose of each day, and charming with strangers, even persuasive in that way that some people just seem to be born with, able to connect with people within a few words and a smile, a shake of the hand….people like him right away, feel like he’d be someone they’d like to know.
But he’s also a sociopath, possibly even a psychopath, who has only lacked a focal point, a sense of his true calling, in order to give shape to what he knows is a greater purpose, the thing he’s been waiting for but didn’t know what it was….and now he thinks he may know……and he doesn’t care what the cost, he wants it.
Weirdly, America thinks it’s somehow beyond the bounds of human experience, the lessons of history don’t apply to us, we’re somehow above that mundane kind of “human” predictability, we’re “different”, a special case. So when we see the Will to Power begin to lift up the kinds of people we are currently putting into powerful places in our society, (and I don’t ONLY mean government), we’re relatively unconcerned, we think it will pass, or that someone in the right spot to fix it, WILL fix it, but definitely the fundamental specialness of US will hold, and we will not suffer the consequences of true and rapid change. Not like all those other “places” out there, places we’ve dehumanized and pushed away in our minds as places where things like “that” happen, we’re certain that “that” could never happen here.
He knows that’s an opportunity, a weakness, and he knows he has strengths.
He knows he can count on help from those who can be manipulated into helping him, those who can be shaped into a political spear aimed at the heart of our system, our society. Those angry, scared, racist, nationalist, forgotten, unheard, and dismissed objects of popular contempt that make up a HUGE number of the people in this country, and NOT just in the South and center of the country…..he knows they’re everywhere in our society, just as we all know or have met some of them no matter where we are, and those are just the ones you know about. He knows because the Trump election proved it, and from what he sees watching all these different movements burbling away just beneath the surface, and he knows he could consolidate that group into a much more focused movement that would truly be huge…..
He also knows the money machine is ready for him, is looking for him, wants to get behind him. It’s used Trump to get to this place, but it needs someone like him; smart, dedicated, charming, capable, and most of all, filled with the will to power, filled with a desire for change, truly drastic change that will change the course of this country for what he knows will be a better future….especially for him.
I think he exists, and I think he’s right.
Trump had a good bead on what it would take to get himself elected, a kind of weird reality TV construct of how to manipulate his targets into doing what they did, but the truth is he’s not smart enough to have thought about what to do with it once he succeeded, he may even have been surprised himself that it worked so well. All he REALLY wanted was to tear down the House Obama Built, every last stick of it, possibly for the simple small reason of the public dressing down Obama gave him at a press dinner several years ago, that filled him with hate and anger and a need for revenge that was so powerful it took him to the White House.
In any case, once he got there and began the destruction, it quickly became clear to everyone far and wide that he has no skills, no ability to lead a functional government, and may even be literally unhinged and losing his faculties. He’s becoming a liability, a danger to the safety of the Nation and even the World, and he’s likely to be taken down once the Congress has used him and his base to serve the country up on a platter to the #TyrantClass they serve.
That will be the moment for the man observing to rise, to pull the Mantle of Power onto his shoulders, to gather the movement that has taken shape into his arms and tell them he will bring them with him, if only they will catapult him high, high enough to be their instrument of change, even as they will be his spear of retribution and destruction.
It seems bizarre even to me writing this, that this kind of thing could happen here. But I’m very pragmatic in some ways, and one of them is that I’ve never felt that any of us are that “Special”. We’re all living in the constraints of our humanity, and we share all that with every other human on the planet so……we’re NOT special, and we WON’T escape the bonds of history nor the punishment that is ALWAYS exacted upon those who think they will, because they’re “special”.
Why do we think Fascism and Authoritarianism can’t happen here, that history can’t smash us the same as hundreds of past societies were smashed by the Will To Power? How can we be so arrogant and tunnel-visioned as to think our “specialness” will protect us, will automatically keep us “safe”? Do you REALLY think it can’t happen here, REALLY?!?! And if so, did you think 5 years ago that we could be in the spot we’re in right now? Think back and be honest, I’d guess you never truly thought this kind of current situation was remotely in the cards, yet here we are, and bad as it is, it can get a whole SHIT-TON worse, and it likely will, especially if we keep thinking we’re above it.
I saw this post earlier today, and it really got me thinking again about what’s coming, what has already come to pass, and how scary it is to me, especially when I think of my daughter growing up in the place that our country is already becoming, much less what it will be if that someone really DOES get power.
I think it’s time we get very serious about this. I wonder if we’ve already missed our chance, and how we will look back on these times and wonder how we could have let it happen, and how badly we will wish we had seen the obvious signs, had done something, had committed, had become serious.
I’m scared about this, I wish I could make more people scared too.
TrumpDumpsterDrumpf
Bernie-type “Socialism”
This is in response to Garry Kasporov saying this –
Since I believe we are talking about Bernie Sanders and what he would do, a coupla things…
There’s more breakdowns than just the two types of “socialism” that we’re talking about, and yes, I’ll admit that I’m using Bernie’s own tag, but more on that below.
First some clearer definitions-
“Democratic socialism is distinguished from both the Soviet model of centralized socialism and from social democracy, where “social democracy” refers to support for political democracy, regulation of the capitalist economy, and a welfare state.[2]
The distinction with the former is made on the basis of the authoritarian form of government and centralized economic system that emerged in the Soviet Union during the 20th century,[3] while the distinction with the latter is made on the basis that democratic socialism is committed to systemic transformation of the economy while social democracy is not.[4]
That is, whereas social democrats only seek to “humanize” capitalism through state intervention, democratic socialists see capitalism as inherently incompatible with the democratic values of liberty, equality and solidarity; and believe that the issues inherent to capitalism can only be solved by superseding private ownership with some form of social ownership. Ultimately democratic socialists believe that reforms aimed at addressing the economic contradictions of capitalism will only cause more problems to emerge elsewhere in the economy, that capitalism can never be sufficiently “humanized”, and that it must therefore ultimately be replaced with socialism.[5][6]”
Clearly Kasporov is talking about the authoritarian form of socialism, which is the type he lived under, and a type that I don’t think anyone rational is saying Bernie espouses or aspires to.
And so using the above template, here’s what Bernie says about himself and what he thinks he is, which sounds very much like “social democracy” as defined above.
“So let me define for you, simply and straightforwardly, what democratic socialism means to me. It builds on what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said when he fought for guaranteed economic rights for all Americans. And it builds on what Martin Luther King, Jr. said in 1968 when he stated that; “This country has socialism for the rich, and rugged individualism for the poor.” It builds on the success of many other countries around the world that have done a far better job than we have in protecting the needs of their working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor.
Democratic socialism means that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy.
Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system in America today which is not only grossly unfair but, in many respects, corrupt.
It is a system, for example, which during the 1990s allowed Wall Street to spend $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions to get deregulated. Then, ten years later, after the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior of Wall Street led to their collapse, it is a system which provided trillions in government aid to bail them out. Wall Street used their wealth and power to get Congress to do their bidding for deregulation and then, when their greed caused their collapse, they used their wealth and power to get Congress to bail them out. Quite a system!
And, then, to add insult to injury, we were told that not only were the banks too big to fail, the bankers were too big to jail. Kids who get caught possessing marijuana get police records. Wall Street CEOs who help destroy the economy get raises in their salaries. This is what Martin Luther King, Jr. meant by socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for everyone else.
In my view, it’s time we had democratic socialism for working families, not just Wall Street, billionaires and large corporations. It means that we should not be providing welfare for corporations, huge tax breaks for the very rich, or trade policies which boost corporate profits as workers lose their jobs. It means that we create a government that works for works for all of us, not just powerful special interests. It means that economic rights must be an essential part of what America stands for.
It means that health care should be a right of all people, not a privilege. This is not a radical idea. It exists in every other major country on earth. Not just Denmark, Sweden or Finland. It exists in Canada, France, Germany and Taiwan. That is why I believe in a Medicare-for-all single payer health care system. Yes. The Affordable Care Act, which I helped write and voted for, is a step forward for this country. But we must build on it and go further.
Medicare for all would not only guarantee health care for all people, not only save middle class families and our entire nation significant sums of money, it would radically improve the lives of all Americans and bring about significant improvements in our economy.
People who get sick will not have to worry about paying a deductible or making a co-payment. They could go to the doctor when they should, and not end up in the emergency room. Business owners will not have to spend enormous amounts of time worrying about how they are going to provide health care for their employees. Workers will not have to be trapped in jobs they do not like simply because their employers are offering them decent health insurance plans. Instead, they will be able to pursue the jobs and work they love, which could be an enormous boon for the economy. And by the way, moving to a Medicare for all program will end the disgrace of Americans paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.
Democratic socialism means that, in the year 2015, a college degree is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50 years ago – and that public education must allow every person in this country, who has the ability, the qualifications and the desire, the right to go to a public colleges or university tuition free. This is also not a radical idea. It exists today in many countries around the world. In fact, it used to exist in the United States.
Democratic socialism means that our government does everything it can to create a full employment economy. It makes far more sense to put millions of people back to work rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, than to have a real unemployment rate of almost 10%. It is far smarter to invest in jobs and educational opportunities for unemployed young people, than to lock them up and spend $80 billion a year through mass incarceration.
Democratic socialism means that if someone works forty hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty: that we must raise the minimum wage to a living wage – $15 an hour over the next few years. It means that we join the rest of the world and pass the very strong Paid Family and Medical Leave legislation now in Congress. How can it possibly be that the United States, today, is virtually the only nation on earth, large or small, which does not guarantee that a working class woman can stay home for a reasonable period of time with her new-born baby? How absurd is that?
Democratic socialism means that we have government policy which does not allow the greed and profiteering of the fossil fuel industry to destroy our environment and our planet, and that we have a moral responsibility to combat climate change and leave this planet healthy and habitable for our kids and grandchildren.
Democratic socialism means, that in a democratic, civilized society the wealthiest people and the largest corporations must pay their fair share of taxes. Yes. Innovation, entrepreneurship and business success should be rewarded. But greed for the sake of greed is not something that public policy should support. It is not acceptable that in a rigged economy in the last two years the wealthiest 15 Americans saw their wealth increase by $170 billion, more wealth than is owned by the bottom 130 million Americans. Let us not forget what Pope Francis has so elegantly stated; “We have created new idols. The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.”
It is not acceptable that major corporations stash their profits in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens to avoid paying $100 billion in taxes each and every year. It is not acceptable that hedge fund managers pay a lower effective tax rate than nurses or truck drivers. It is not acceptable that billionaire families are able to leave virtually all of their wealth to their families without paying a reasonable estate tax. It is not acceptable that Wall Street speculators are able to gamble trillions of dollars in the derivatives market without paying a nickel in taxes on those transactions.
Democratic socialism, to me, does not just mean that we must create a nation of economic and social justice. It also means that we must create a vibrant democracy based on the principle of one person one vote. It is extremely sad that the United States, one of the oldest democracies on earth, has one of the lowest voter turnouts of any major country, and that millions of young and working class people have given up on our political system entirely. Every American should be embarrassed that in our last national election 63% of the American people, and 80% of young people, did not vote. Clearly, despite the efforts of many Republican governors to suppress the vote, we must make it easier for people to participate in the political process, not harder. It is not too much to demand that everyone 18 years of age is registered to vote – end of discussion.
Further, it is unacceptable that we have a corrupt campaign finance system which allows millionaires, billionaires and large corporations to contribute as much as they want to Super Pacs to elect candidates who will represent their special interests. We must overturn Citizens United and move to public funding of elections.
So the next time you hear me attacked as a socialist, remember this:
I don’t believe government should own the means of production, but I do believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a fair deal.
I believe in private companies that thrive and invest and grow in America instead of shipping jobs and profits overseas.
I believe that most Americans can pay lower taxes – if hedge fund managers who make billions manipulating the marketplace finally pay the taxes they should.
I don’t believe in special treatment for the top 1%, but I do believe in equal treatment for African-Americans who are right to proclaim the moral principle that Black Lives Matter.
I despise appeals to nativism and prejudice, and I do believe in immigration reform that gives Hispanics and others a pathway to citizenship and a better life.
I don’t believe in some foreign “ism”, but I believe deeply in American idealism.”
Mocking death?!?!
But….they’re all ALSO just people, with their foibles, demons, ticks, itches, relationships, children, problems, illnesses and now even death, just like anyone, doing anything.
I don’t know, I read that piece and realized maybe I’ve been kinda glossing over it whenever I see someone slagging about this, knowing that it’s just ignorant childish creepiness that’s not worth engaging one on one…had this reaction, felt like saying something…
