“‘Democracy Will Break Down’ If We Don’t Take It Seriously”
You mean like it did on November 8, 2016?
Frankly, if it were possible to deliver an all-out curbstomping beating to the entire Fourth Estate all at once, “Democracy breaks down when we don;t take it seriously!!!” is precisely what I’d be yelling repeatedly the entire beatdown.
“Do not take for granted our systems of government and our way of life. I think there is a tendency because we have lived in an era that has been largely stable and peaceful, at least in advanced countries, where living standards have generally gone up, there is a tendency, I think, to assume that that’s always the case. And it’s not.”
It’s funny, but I just realized the double-entendre that applies there to “carrying a cross”…just think of the white Christian persecution martyrdom complex that has arisen so strongly in response ot a black man being elected POTUS and you’ll see what I mean.
“If we are not serious about facts, and what’s true and what’s not, particularly in the age of social media where so many people are getting their information in sound bites and snippets off their phones…”
Seriously why doesn’t Twitter just suspend Trump’s account? Force him to talk to Americans through press conferences and real interviews like every other President has had to.
Trump shouldn’t be using his right to free speech to suppress our right (through a free press) to be informed.
Merkel will have to be the leader of the free world in 2017–what’s left of it. I think this is a great opportunity for the EU to rediscover its core values as a bastion of peace and democracy, and for it to unite around a common enemy: the UST. France and Italy are the next dominos of liberal democracy to fall, and a populist–and need I add highly accurate and realistic–call to resist the US of Trump would be a way for the EU to get back in touch with its raison d’etre and find a unifying cause. Just watch this happen once Trump tears up the Paris Agreement, sets up an illiberal axis with Putin, and starts to push people around on trade. And if Trump ‘punishes’ Europe, it will only bring Europe together. None of this would help Trump at home.
Because $.
True. But people not taking truth or democracy seriously, when told to do so, will just laugh.
“You mean like it did on November 8, 2016?”
Like it did (2007-2009) during the Housing Bubble and Market Credit Crisis Crash?
Where was Democracy then? Oh, that’s right, it never happened. Obama and his selective memory.
"In an era that has been largely stable and peaceful, at least in advanced countries, where living standards have generally gone up, there is a tendency, I think, to assume that that’s always the case. And it’s not.”
“Any mule can kick down a barn, but it takes a skilled carpenter to build one.” --Lyndon Johnson.
Frankly, if it were possible to deliver an all-out curbstomping beating to the entire Fourth Estate all at once,
Not sure if that would solve the problem. The fourth estate is currently a for-profit entity. As such it is doing it’s job, that is to make money. The media didn’t cause Hillary to lose. That said they are often, as Republicans like to do, used as a convenient scapegoat diverting attention away those things/people who are responsibility.
Ya beat me to it.
Merkel is now the firewall.
No doubt Western Europe is waiting to see what will happen with elections in France as well.
@sonsofares Dammit, if I could recommend that 100x I would.
I blame Obama!
Yes it did, right here in “River City,” for HRC won by over 1 million votes, but is not the nominee. You see, we aren’t a “democracy,” either. A “republic,” is maybe more accurate, maybe…
There’s this idea that no sane person could vote for Trump, but obviously millions did. Everyone’s looking for someone to blame, for someone to not have done their job, or for some cultural tell.
The basic issue is, though, is that everyone who votes votes on their own priorities and their own point of view. Some of my friends say voting for Trump proves you don’t care enough about racism and bigotry, and that makes you a racist and that’s the sine qua non of that voter. Others say voting for Hillary meant condoning abortion, and that voting for her is proof that you don’t care about women or babies no matter what color they are.
The thing is, demonizing opponents and explaining why their concerns are not Real Concerns™ is not a good tactic for changing minds, or laws, or systems. If you think someone’s priorities are wrong, that’s where to engage them.
It was always thus. Name a time in human history save the last 40 years when the multitudes were not oppressed by the gilded class. The American Experiment bloomed with possibility at the end of the last century but it was an aberration. Every society throughout time has been a cycle of injustice and oppression, followed by populism and then back into authoritarian oppression. Nothing new under the sun. Get used to it. It’s how it is now. We should just consider ourselves lucky to have lived in that ever so brief window of peace and love before we again devolved into Trumpfuckistan.
Mr President, democracy has already broken down. What was democratic about that election besides nothing? What was democratic about your administration being usurped by the Legislative? What’s democratic about refusing to make the SCOTUS whole?
What’s democratic about the minority seizing power?
Mr President, this isn’t just a disagreement. This is a fucking crisis. And if all of us are just handed over along with the military all our secrets and our terrible weapons to these unstable unfit people because: democracy, then fuck democracy.
Not to mention the abject interference from the Praetorian FBI, a dishonorable and disreputable racket if there ever was one.
That appears to have been it’s last gasp of life.