How the conservative thinking of today is working to destroy democracy

oneguy: "Conservatives have had numerous chances to do the things you’re talking about, but somehow they never do."
Another reason conservatives haven't done all the damage they want is there are adults in the room working hard to stop them.

Saying they didn’t cause damage doesn’t absolve them of the fact they would if they could.

American society and thinking seem pretty damned damaged - if the standards we were loudly proclaimed while I was growing up meant anything.

The lurking fear is that we were always phony, but our country was so big and bountiful we could kid ourselves.

The bountiful is over, now we need real brains and soul and community - and turns out we don’t have any.

 

After all it takes two to tango and obviously the great American public don’t want anything to do with it - fear and hatred and blaming others is as far a our coddled lazy imaginations seem capable of carrying us. The future looks bleaker all the time.

Conservatives have had numerous chances to do the things you’re talking about, but somehow they never do. Not to mention they control the military-industrial complex so armed citizens are not going to a problem for them even if your paranoid fantasy somehow became reality.
It's definitely not happening this time, but it is very scary how close it came. There is just ONE person in Washington who decided whether it was going to happen or not, Moscow Mitch. And he decided it wasn't.

As for the military I think you’ll find that NOBODY has “control” of the military when they try giving the order to take America by force. Trump only won with the support of 25% of eligible voters. EVEN IF every one of those supporters in the military was willing to kill democracy in America AND another 25% was willing to follow whatever orders they were given that leaves 50% to actually defend American democracy. And it would be a hell of a lot harder sell to get generals to turn on their own country in favor of totalitarian rule than you imagine. People who join the military tend to be very patriotic. They are serving their country, not specific people in it. I would be shocked if it wouldn’t be a hell of a hard sell for 90% of them or better to get them to screw over America in favor of one leader.

It’s definitely not happening this time, but it is very scary how close it came. There is just ONE person in Washington who decided whether it was going to happen or not, Moscow Mitch. And he decided it wasn’t.
Trump's stupid comments about counting votes is just talk. Presidents don't have to authority to change the election process to suit them.
As for the military I think you’ll find that NOBODY has “control” of the military when they try giving the order to take America by force. Trump only won with the support of 25% of eligible voters. EVEN IF every one of those supporters in the military was willing to kill democracy in America AND another 25% was willing to follow whatever orders they were given that leaves 50% to actually defend American democracy. And it would be a hell of a lot harder sell to get generals to turn on their own country in favor of totalitarian rule than you imagine. People who join the military tend to be very patriotic. They are serving their country, not specific people in it. I would be shocked if it wouldn’t be a hell of a hard sell for 90% of them or better to get them to screw over America in favor of one leader.
The constitution doesn't allow politicians to go to war against citizens for the thrill of it but if things deteriorated to the point where the system didn't matter, whoever is in the White House and whoever is in bed with the defense industry could use the military however they wanted.

As for “Generals” – they got to where they are by doing what they’re told. They might be patriotic but they also worship their careers. Individual thinking is not a trait you find in career military personnel. I was in the military and it’s something you notice pretty fast. The men who aren’t going to make a career out of it are different story; some would do it and some wouldn’t. But a big problem is “some” is enough to cause hell on earth for citizens.

The dotard is was basically talking about a coup and refusing to leave the White House tonight. IMHO, I think he might have to be cuffed, dragged out, stuffed, put on trial for his crimes, and sent to prison for a very long time.

Trump’s stupid comments about counting votes is just talk. Presidents don’t have to authority to change the election process to suit them.
Of course not. Not by themselves. But there are a scary number of Republicans in our government who seem all too happy to help him. Just not one of the more powerful ones. And Barr believes the president's authority is near absolute. With enough help from the right offices, then he has the power to actually try.

@mriana

They all tell us constantly that nobody is above the law. I don’t believe this and I don’t think anybody does. But I do have a dream that when he’s out of office both he and his criminal family (not like the bullshit unfounded “Biden crime family” claims, the “Stole money from a charity” type of crime family) get matching family outfits chosen specifically to match Trump’s skin color. If that happens, THEN I will believe that nobody is above the law.

Seriously, imagine where you or I would be right now if we were convicted of starting a charity just so we could steal millions from it? And that’s after settling a lawsuit for stealing millions from a college scam we ran. And that’s while we’re being investigated for inflating our income to fraudulently get loans and deflating it to avoid taxes. And writing off $70,000 for hair and makeup, which is not legal to write off.

His kids aren’t in prison because they can’t be put in prison. They ARE “above the law”. He would just pardon them. If it’s state charges he would get the governor to pardon them. If the governor needed convincing, Trump has a fistfull of taxpayer dollars to throw their way. ONLY IF he and the other little criminals that popped out of his mushroom actually spend some time in prison will I actually believe that nobody is above the law.

The dotard’s words are a call to his cult members to stir up more trouble. They are not just words.

@widdershins I hope all the dotards are put in prison for their crimes for a very long time. They need to be criminalized for all of they’ve done, because if anyone else did what they did, they’d be in prison for a very long time.

I agree 100%. That’s why I won’t believe “nobody is above the law” until I see actual justice served on the Trump criminal empire.

I hope all the dotards are put in prison for their crimes for a very long time. They need to be criminalized for all of they’ve done, because if anyone else did what they did, they’d be in prison for a very long time.
You want to jail people for voting for a candidate you don’t like.......and you’re worried about fascism. Interesting.

 

You want to jail people for voting for a candidate you don’t like…-- oneguy
How did you get that?

No @thatoneguy. I want the dotard and his adult children to go to prison for their crimes. I have no idea how you got that out of what I said. I never said one word about voters. Sometimes I wonder about you and your reading comprehension or if you put more into what you read than what is there.

You often call Trump supporters “dotards”.

It’s nicer than other things they could be called.

You often call Trump supporters “dotards”.
They got boners when corporations and rich people got huge permanent tax breaks while they got tiny temporary tax breaks set to expire after Trump's second term (Ha! The joke's on HIM!) We're not exactly talking about the rocket scientists of the country.

@thatoneguy No, I call the dotard (you know that orange scum creature occupying the White House) dotard, not his supporters. His supporters are dumpster people, because they support a dumpster of an orange creature. In the 4 years that creature has been occupying the White House, I have not said his name and I refuse to say his name.

And to be fair his followers do tend to be unstable. I read a story just last night about an Arkansas sheriff who had to resign after posts he made on the conservative version of Grindr or something telling people that they needed to physically assault Democrats every chance they got, called for death to all Democrats and called for execution by hanging of Democrat politicians for no other reason than Trump lost and he was throwing a little baby tantrum. This is one of Trump’s “law and order” Sheriffs, calling on people to commit assaults and murders. And he just happened to be one of the Sheriffs who wouldn’t support a statewide mask mandate.

And that’s a common theme with Trumpsters. They demand “law and order” while at the same time themselves refusing to follow any laws they disagree with. They have this weird disconnect where “winning an election” is an unforgivable violation of laws that don’t actually exist, but nobody has the right to enforce the laws which do actually exist which they disagree with. They’re really quite a pathetic bunch of losers. It’s, “Me, me, ME” all the time. No concern for their fellow man, just ready to shoot someone dead for being asked to wear a mask to enter a store, which LITERALLY happened. It’s all and always about their rights with no concern for anybody else. THEY don’t have to wear a mask if THEY don’t want to! And YOU can’t stop them from entering YOUR store on YOUR property without a mask because THEY have rights…but you do not.

Widdershin - could i ask you if we had a choice of voting to putting a socialist or a fascist into power , who would you vote for?

Socialism is a part of our every day lives in America, and much of it you don’t complain about. My taxes pay to repair roads I will never use. My property taxes pay for schools whether I have children in them or not. My taxes have to be higher to make up for the taxes your church doesn’t pay, PLUS the taxes YOU don’t pay on the money you gave to your church. In the last spending bill my tax dollars went to give farmers handouts to offset the damage done by Trump’s trade war. And that was a REPUBLICAN demand. Socialism is everywhere on both sides of the isle and I doubt there’s a single politician who hasn’t pushed for one socialist line item or another on a regular basis.

So I’m afraid that I can’t really answer your question as I don’t know what your definition of “socialism” is. If you’re talking about the government owning everything and everyone getting a share, that’s a shit form of government which has never worked. In theory it’s nice, but it only works in futuristic science fiction where nobody at the top gets greedy and just takes it all. If you’re talking about paying for health care with our own tax dollars, then you’re into the territory where many Republican demands are actually MORE socialist. If I pay for my healthcare with my tax dollars that is decidedly less socialist than if I pay a farmer not to grow crops and all I get out of it is higher prices.

Socialism as in a planned economy to meet the needs of the masses not the Corporations with the means of production, maufacturing and exchange in the hands the workers .

You choose fascism?