The time to fight fascism is before it takes power. Those of us outside the fascist movement in America that has anointed a vulgar talking yam as its strongman are already far behind the curve. I am continually reminded of Thomas Madden's analysis of the Roman constitution, unwritten obviously, and the generally conservative tendencies of the Roman state and its people. In Empires of Trust Madden wrote that the Romans didn't like to change things, so when they fought wars with unfriendly neighbors to push danger over the horizon as he puts it, they simply adapted the republican system that had served them more or less well since the revolution that overthrew the foreign Etruscan kings by appointing proconsuls to exercise authority in the provinces instead of overhauling the system for their new far flung empire. We can see in hindsight that allowing proconsuls (they were military generals in addition to being governors) years and years outside the oversight of Rome and the annual consuls allowed them to build up mass bases of power and eventually march on the city. This happened a few times, like dress rehearsals, before Julius Caesar "crossed the Rubicon" and took over for good simply because he had the biggest, most loyal army following him. This is happening today in the form of the Electoral College, and we; the beleaguered adherents of democracy, the rule of law, the constitution and all that, should have learned our lesson 16 years ago.
The subtitle of this blog is "the past is still with us" for a reason, even though Americans seem to have the collective memory of gnats, there are certain things that the children of darkness never forget. There was no one able to say "what? no!" when George W. Bush and his brother got their daddy's Supreme Court justices to say "no more counting, we got the result we like" to Florida canvassers. Everyone from Al Gore on down just shrugged and said that we need to give the president-elect the benefit of the doubt. And if I or anyone needs to refresh your memory about why letting the guy who received fewer votes take office was a bad idea then I have an awesome pair of towers dedicated to world trade in Manhattan to sell you.
We should have used the last eight years to agitate for a fix, once and for all, to the problem of voters in Wyoming having far more sway in picking our Chief Executive than voters in New York or California. But that would have been impolite, and given the tantrum thrown by our domestic terrorist party it would probably have been futile. The sentiment often left unsaid by Democrats was that demographics had finally turned in their favor, no need to work or plan to counter the next abomination against civility and popular government by the republicans. The rule of stodgy old white men was over! I cannot bring myself to use the term "conservative" to describe the right wing in this country for they are the furthest from, if words have any meaning. However, most official voices rejoiced in the knowledge that there simply were not enough of them to ever again elect a bumbling warmonger to the office of the president. It was the lonely voices out here in the wilderness that understood, however ephemerally, that if the children of darkness could obstruct and lie and prevent the responsible children of light from addressing the myriad issues facing Americans that the electorate would relent and turn over the reins to a republican once more.
It is a great problem for a republic that a quarter of eligible voters can throw that republic away by electing a demagogue, but here we are. Only 16 years removed from the last trial run with tyranny, a minority of voters handed every last lever of power to the greatest threat to civilization in human history. How did it happen? We, like the Romans, are prisoners to a system that outlived its usefulness. The electoral college was obsolete following the Civil War, when the United States became singular. Yet we persisted in treating the election to the highest office in the land as separate state elections. Now it will serve as not a final bulwark against an unqualified, unfit demagogue from sneaking into the office of chief executive of the republic, but the vehicle of that republic's destruction.
Donald the vulgar talking yam snuck his way into the carefully laid trap set for our democracy. The republican governors and legislatures who passed voter ID and other methods of suppressing Democratic voters were simply preparing the way to take America back from demographic inevitability. The republican partisans on the Supreme Court knew exactly what they were doing when they gutted the voting rights act. And it played out as expected, the southern white supremacists barely waited until the ink had dried on the decision before ripping apart the minority protections that previous generations marched for, endured police dogs and fire hoses for, and in some cases died for. Poof, gone. And those of us outside the fascist movement in our midst could do nothing but watch and weep for our democracy.
Our best efforts to stop this fascist from taking office will fail. Our efforts to resist the damage to our people that trump has promised will come to nothing. No one will save us. Elections have consequences, and the republicans thought ahead. We play by the rules, they think rules are for suckers. We try to uphold the American idea, they shit all over it. Lying, cheating, and stealing are all justified to the children of darkness who recognize no law beyond their own self-interest. They will stop at nothing to acquire power and just proved it. The constitution is at best a cudgel to beat their enemies with, to be dropped and ignored the millisecond it impedes the path to total control and power. Democrats revere the constitution and the attendant American traditions, therefore they will not do anything to stop trump and the republicans from completely destroying the republic. I have heard some people claim that somehow the midterms will be awesome, that people will have buyer's remorse and somehow remember how badly total control of the federal government by the GOP last time worked out. I say, what makes you think there will be midterm elections, or a presidential one? Trump has shit on every convention of American government, we are one pretext away from cancelling elections. And no one will do anything to stop them. The most trivial rationalization can be drummed up by relentless propaganda into an existential threat, we don't know what form it will take but history certainly points to possibilities. That's a story for another day though. One I may get to someday, to pass the time before I am disappeared. Maybe you can convince others around you to give a damn that we have lost something great, and unlike promises to "make America great again" it is not coming back.
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