Wine Break?
Steve, does it seem to you that the Democrats, who are the only Praetorian Guard we have, are on a permanent wine break as the Repugnican barbarians smash through the gate and assault the castle of democracy? On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being a full defense of democracy, where would you rate the Dems? (I'd give them a 2) How do we get them to wake up?
Class Struggle obscured by culture wars
Steve what is your opinion of Noam Chomsky? I saw an interview with him regarding the current state of American politics and agreed with his point regarding class struggle between big business/ corporate interests/ the private equity sector and "the rest of us" and how this is never addressed in the media, or taken up by either political party, except to promote the interests of the business/ ruling class. I also agreed with Chomsky that the current mess of more and more extreme partisan politics essentially reflects divisive cultural political "wedge issues" being used to distract or obfuscate the larger systemic changes that are increasingly concentrating wealth and empowering certain business interests, who then buy influence in the corrupted Congress. Physician burnout is one example of this trend of corporatization and pro-business systems creating a downward drift affecting an entire profession. Divisive wedge politics that obscure pro-business agendas have been a staple of the Republican party since Nixon. Abortion, LGBTQ, critical race theory, invasion at the border- all have legitimacy as issues, but serve to distract from the broader point of the concentration of power and wealth in this country. I wonder if this may be as much of a threat to democracy as Donald Trump or any particular extremists.
Trumpism v Trump
It’s clear the groundswell of attitudes and beliefs exposed and nurtured by the rise of Trump is not a passing fad. It’s real, scary and dangerous to democracy. What is the long term solution to reversing the damage done by the big lie and the unleashing of anti-democratic politics of the Trump era?