The US political system has countless weaknesses, but Trump has shone a light on one of the deepest weaknesses inherent to all democracies — what happens if/when the majority support fascism, authoritarianism, a holy war to genocide X, etc (not the case atm, but Trump having more than 1% of the vote is insanity).
You could argue that moral citizens should take up arms against tyranny, but that appears to be what the majority of MAGA’s believe they are doing, and would be anti-democratic, so you’re ultimately just hoping that the more moral and ethical are better at slaughtering the least moral and ethical — not much of a failsafe if you ask me.
I guess my point is that I’m not surprised we have no evidence of other intelligent life, and the great filter preventing universal colonisation seems to simply be life itself…
The majority don’t support it. Fascists never do. They get by with about 20% of the population directly supporting them, another 10-20% having reservations but being more afraid of leftists removing their cushy position in a stratified society, and a final 10% or so centrists who vote for their side because they voted for the other side last time.
Trump lost the popular vote both times, and only got in once because of a poorly conceived electoral college system. The German Nazi Party got 44% of the vote in 1933–much of that with voter intimidation–and then an old guy with a family title handed him the chancellorship. Mussolini never had a vote in his favor at all–his party led violent protests against the existing Prime Minister, and the King handed the job over to Mussolini.
They don’t win at democracy. They win by exploiting holes in the democratic process and the failure of liberalism to make things better for people.
The US political system has countless weaknesses, but Trump has shone a light on one of the deepest weaknesses inherent to all democracies — what happens if/when the majority support fascism, authoritarianism, a holy war to genocide X, etc (not the case atm, but Trump having more than 1% of the vote is insanity).
You could argue that moral citizens should take up arms against tyranny, but that appears to be what the majority of MAGA’s believe they are doing, and would be anti-democratic, so you’re ultimately just hoping that the more moral and ethical are better at slaughtering the least moral and ethical — not much of a failsafe if you ask me.
I guess my point is that I’m not surprised we have no evidence of other intelligent life, and the great filter preventing universal colonisation seems to simply be life itself…
The majority don’t support it. Fascists never do. They get by with about 20% of the population directly supporting them, another 10-20% having reservations but being more afraid of leftists removing their cushy position in a stratified society, and a final 10% or so centrists who vote for their side because they voted for the other side last time.
Trump lost the popular vote both times, and only got in once because of a poorly conceived electoral college system. The German Nazi Party got 44% of the vote in 1933–much of that with voter intimidation–and then an old guy with a family title handed him the chancellorship. Mussolini never had a vote in his favor at all–his party led violent protests against the existing Prime Minister, and the King handed the job over to Mussolini.
They don’t win at democracy. They win by exploiting holes in the democratic process and the failure of liberalism to make things better for people.