Trump in league with Putin?
There may not be any tanks rolling into Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan yet, but the attempt to suppress democracy there as well as in the Ukraine is becoming abundantly clear, and we need to connect the dots. The struggle is between western liberal democracy, and authoritarian oligarchy. It used to be an ideological struggle between capitalism and communism. " From each according to his ability, To each according to his need", was the old model communist mantra. That mantra is no more. Communism lost, but Capitalism's win did not come without a price. Putin and his hand picked oligarchists have carved up the economy of the country and enriched themselves, while at the same time, limiting free speech, and the right of the citizenry to have free and fair elections to determine their leaders. The effort to quench the nascent Democrat of his fellow Slavic state of Ukraine is a potential turning point in this struggle.
Meanwhile, back here in the good ol' USA, the 1% has adopted a strategy of supporting the limitation of ballot access to the 99%, and particularly to the bottom 20%, so they can seal their grip on the wheels of economic production, to their own benefit.
Our battle for freedom has taken a new turn, and it is the unbridled application of money into the political system that is attempting to accelerate the demise of American democracy. Attempts to limit the flow of dark money into our political coffers have been beaten back by the courts, and the inability of state legislatures and the federal government to halt the march of money into politics. The more money there is in politics, the greater the tendency toward autocratic governance will continue. Oligarchs will recruit political front men to do their bidding, and keep the "hoi polloi"in check. The result has been the triumph of Trumpism in many state governments, and even in our national government for four years before being beaten back, at least for a while, by the forces of liberal democracy. Truth is elusive in an autocracy. Repeated Lies and manipulation of public opinion is the mainstay of such regimes.
The mere thought that former President Trump considered utilizing the military to seize voting machines in states where his loss was marginal is a very scary indication of how close we came to a Putinesque style autocracy. The threat of this undermining of our liberal democracy is far from over. The Trumpian threat of the use of tanks to hold onto power should be a wake up call to everyone who cherishes freedom and democracy.
o Leaders who sound like populists and offer simple solutions to complex problems need to be challenged vociferously. " Only I can solve our problems!" is a statement that should make the hair on the back of the necks of all believers in our democratic system stand on end.
o Sometimes it takes the observation of extreme measures to make us connect the dots. Rising up and resisting all challenges to our ability to freely and openly choose our leaders is a must. We still have time to protect against tanks rolling into Texas and Tallahassee. But it is far past the time for all good men to come to the aid of their respective parties and governments, and join the fight to save our political system.
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