Today is election day in the United States. Paul Krugman writes that, if Republicans take control of congress, things could get very ugly:
I, at least, always feel at least a bit guilty when writing about inflation or the fate of Medicare. Yes, these are my specialties. Focusing on them, however, feels a bit like denial, or at least evasion, when the fundamental stakes right now are so existential.
Ten or 20 years ago, those of us who warned that the Republican Party was becoming increasingly extremist and anti-democracy were often dismissed as alarmists. But the alarmists have been vindicated every step of the way, from the selling of the Iraq war on false pretenses to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Indeed, these days it’s almost conventional wisdom that the G.O.P. will, if it can, turn America into something like Viktor Orban’s Hungary: a democracy on paper, but an ethnonationalist, authoritarian one-party state in practice. After all, U.S. conservatives have made no secret about viewing Hungary as a role model; they have feted Orban and featured him at their conferences.
At this point, however, I believe that even this conventional wisdom is wrong. If America descends into one-party rule, it will be much worse, much uglier, than what we see in today’s Hungary.
It's a case of millions of Americans not being able to see the forest for the trees:
While I understand the instinct of voters to choose a different driver if they don’t like where the economy is going, they should understand that this time, voting Republican doesn’t just mean giving someone else a chance at the wheel; it may be a big step toward handing the G.O.P. permanent control, with no chance for voters to revisit that decision if they don’t like the results.
What strikes me, reading about Orban’s rule, is that while his regime is deeply repressive, the repression is relatively subtle. It is, as one perceptive article put it, “soft fascism,” which makes dissidents powerless via its control of the economy and the news media without beating them up or putting them in jail.
Do you think a MAGA regime, with or without Donald Trump, would be equally subtle? Listen to the speeches at any Trump rally. They’re full of vindictiveness, of promises to imprison and punish anyone — including technocrats like Anthony Fauci — the movement dislikes.
And much of the American right is sympathetic to, or at least unwilling to condemn, violence against its opponents. The Republican reaction to the attack on Paul Pelosi by a MAGA-spouting intruder was telling: Many in the party didn’t even pretend to be horrified. Instead, they peddled ugly conspiracy theories. And the rest of the party didn’t ostracize or penalize the purveyors of vile falsehoods.
In short, if MAGA wins, we’ll probably find ourselves wishing its rule was as tolerant, relatively benign and relatively nonviolent as Orban’s.
So the question is: Do Americans see the forest or the trees?
Image: The New York Times
10 comments:
Most white Americans like the feeling of being socially superior, and the GOP has long catered to their racism and desire for ethnonationalism. None of this is new.
During the Jim Crow era, Southern states had authoritarian, white supremacist rule. Since then, they've had to be more subtle in their racism, but the goal is the same. As GOP strategist Lee Atwater once explained, the party's policies are designed to hurt black people more than whites:
You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can't say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states' rights, and all that stuff, and you're getting so abstract. Now, you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.... “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”
White Americans will continue to vote GOP for no other reason than to keep black people down. Never count out the country's fundamental racism.
Cap
Unfortunately, Cap, what you say is true. Americans can't get away from the notion that black people are second-class citizens -- even after they elect one as their president.
I watched the CUPE press conference yesterday and it was so pleasing to hear 'our' side say unequivocally, "We won".
* Electoral politics ain't gonna do it. fptp parliamentary democracy is broken here and in worse shape in the USA.
* The courts US courts are packed with ideologues and Canadian courts by-passed with the pre-emptive notwithstanding clause.
The media? LOL.
What's left?
Drug Ford just ran into a political brick wall and lost this phase of his battle against the vulnerable working class in Ontario.
Spread the word about Ford's capitulation and how 'we' won.
When people are united in their pursuit of a goal, PoV, they're hard t stop.
They dont' see either of them.
They see self interest and dollar signs.
They may see their own tribe, but even that is doubtful.
If the Republicans take over government it won't be like Hungary or any other European country, it will be like China or Russia, Iran or Syria and the killing will begin. It may also start to look a lot like South Africa, back in the day.
When I was a kid, there was the KKK and the John Birch Society. Nothing has changed that much except a lot more people took on those ideas that the KKK and the J.B. Society had.
The country was founded by violence. Tried to seperate through violence. Individuals kept control of other people by violence. Violence will continue except as usual the Quakers
What Cap writes is so true. I've read what Atwater wrote all those years ago also. Whites in the U.S.A. never got over being in what they thought was control. Politicians and capitalists made sure they didn't and feed on their insecurities. Making money at the expensive of other human beings has never been a problem for the U.S.A. Those in control will never have enough money.
At one time a measure of your success in the U.S.A. was how many people you "owned". Even when the Civil War was over, this condition continued in various forms. Many American never left this mind set. Its easy to see how it continued if you look at their history. Although 1865 maybe a long way back, it really isn't. Twenty years after 1865 people were born into families who still carried the Civil War with them and they lived into the 1930s and 40s. So as more people come into these families, this behaviour/thought pattern continues. Many people think, if they look down on others, they are part of the elite. they aren't and never will be. Its how the elite control them. They give them a sense of belonging and its worked ever so well for Trump. They think he actually cares about those who cheer him on. Not so much. I'm sure he is watching t.v. or playing golf and laughing at how gulible his supporters are.
The other problem is the lack of education in the U.S.A. There are an awful lot of "dumb white crackers", in the U.S.A. and some of them are rich.
It's astonishing, e.a.f, to see so many ignorant Americans.
Indeed, these days it’s almost conventional wisdom that the G.O.P. will, if it can, turn America into something like Viktor Orban’s Hungary: a democracy on paper, but an ethnonationalist, authoritarian one-party state in practice.
I do not know anything about Hungary except it refuses to accept refugees from the Middle East and send weapons to Ukraine. Let's see: "the US refuses to accept refugees from the Middle East and sends weapons to Ukraine" Seems like a draw.
It's astonishing, e.a.f, to see so many ignorant Americans.
A few years ago I was talking with a very nice couple from Albany NY who did not know that Ottawa was the capital of Canada. We were about 100km from Ottawa I no longer think it is "astonishing" but simply "normal"
You could consult Michael Ignatieff on what has happened in Hungary, jrk. He has a great deal of personal experience there.
I think "normal" is accurate, jrk. "Astonishing" is a Canadian reaction to what is normal in the United States.
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