# I fear I'm about to lose my country **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 22, 2023, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926 "2023-10-22T16:48:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 25
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/481 "2024-02-09T18:05:05Z")
Yea, but he hasn’t enough unconditional supporters, if things get really dire he’ll be out on his ass ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/482 "2024-02-09T18:16:20Z")
Using the American perspective again, he’s Trump in 2016-2018, not the Trump of 2020. Yeah, a good number of True Believers, but more that are angry and want to be told it can all be fixed easily, and plenty who privately disagree but figure they can ride the tiger. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/483 "2024-02-09T18:52:22Z")
I think (I hope) that he can’t reach Trump’s loyalty levels, he’s got no equivalent to Trump’s republican party to ride on, and more basically he doesn’t seem able to catalyze hatred and racism with the same success (but he is able to do it with _some_ success, just not at Trump’s level). Also he didn’t inherit Obama’s economy precisely so the consequences of his mismanagement are going to be far more evident far more quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Pazu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pazu/32/15522_2.png) [@Pazu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pazu)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/484 "2024-02-09T20:13:40Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > From an Argentinian perspective English is very quaint sometimes, the equivalent of “goes to hell in a handbasket” in Argentina is “Se va a la mierda”… Plenty of us English-speakers say “It all goes to shit” as well 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/485 "2024-02-09T20:15:44Z")
Ahh, I may have a biased view of colloquial english 😃 (Mostly I use it at work, in the books I read, and here in the SDMB) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/486 "2024-02-09T20:30:48Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > I may have a biased view of colloquial english It varies quite a bit depending on both where you are (within at least the USA as well as between countries) and on your social group. I’d consider either “goes to hell in a handbasket” or “goes to shit” to be normal; the first maybe a bit old-fashioned, but the second in some contexts / social groups to be mildly rude, though it wouldn’t cause a blink in others. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/487 "2024-02-10T13:15:23Z")
Probably the difference is that we stopped using the more polite expressions to talk about the country’s situation in 1976 or so 😄 ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/488 "2024-02-10T16:26:22Z")
Hehe I was just reading SciFi book when… > "And all of that goes to shit if the Laians drop another regiment on their heads,” Pat said grimly. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/489 "2024-02-10T16:38:53Z")
I never thought Argentina was like Canada but these tensions and threats between provinces and central government sound very familiar. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/490 "2024-02-10T19:08:57Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > Probably the difference is that we stopped using the more polite expressions to talk about the country’s situation in 1976 or so Might also still be a stronger opinion by some (definitely not all) people in the USA that “shit” is not a word to use in public or in print. I’ve in the past few years seen a whole lot of news etc. sites using “poo”. Which always reads to me as if they think they’re talking to two year olds. If they can’t bring themselves to say “shit” and don’t want to use medical language, I’d think they could at least use “dung” or something of the sort. – though the point here is that apparently they can’t bring themselves to say “shit”, at least in print. And some comment sites/boards will censor the word. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/491 "2024-02-10T21:30:26Z")
Yeah, probably I’m mentally defining “English” as what I perceive from here, which is not the english I’d perceive if I lived in an English-speaking country and so passes through some filters before reaching me and is thus “sanitized” so to speak. If your impression of spanish came from books and message boards you’ll think it is more polite than English (depending on the message board may be) ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/492 "2024-02-10T21:33:12Z")
People is people the world over. That said, we usually don’t have such heightened tensions, an incompetent at the helm tends to have that effect. Also past presidents were _politicians_ and respected and liked politics, this is an amateur who’s already fighting with members of his own government and calling them “traitors” barely in the 3rd month of his administration… ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/493 "2024-02-10T22:15:03Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > If your impression of spanish came from books and message boards you’ll think it is more polite than English (depending on the message board may be) I’m afraid I only have a dozen or so words of Spanish and some of them I know better than to use! > [@Frodo](#): > > this is an amateur who’s already fighting with members of his own government and calling them “traitors” barely in the 3rd month of his administration… That’s rather what dictators do, sooner or later. He’s just getting to it sooner than some (and, we can hope, before he’s got his power established well enough to get away with it for very long.) I really don’t understand why the hell so many humans want to cozy up to such people. No, it doesn’t make you safe. Letting them get power puts everybody in danger, including the ones who think they’re best buds. Read a history book! (not you, Frodo; you’ve obviously done so.) ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/494 "2024-02-10T22:55:12Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I really don’t understand why the hell so many humans want to cozy up to such people. I suspect you actually -do- understand, but don’t want to admit it. Demagogues and wanna-be-autocrats/fascists are darn common when people have the perception (rightly or wrongly) that things are getting worse and said populist rises up and says “It’s bad and I can fix it! And its not YOUR fault, it’s XYZ’s fault!” Someone claiming a fix, even if laughable, and letting you dodge blame? It’s (in the form of many religions if nothing else) possibly one of the oldest cons in the game. And from one POV or other, it’s ALWAYS getting worse. > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Letting them get power puts everybody in danger, including the ones who think they’re best buds. Read a history book! (not you, Frodo; you’ve obviously done so.) This part though, yeah, the endless historical examples are freaking terrifying. But somehow, they always feel it will be different this time. And there are rare examples that give them juuuust enough rope to hang themselves and potentially their entire society with them. And we also won’t speak as to how many autocrats/fascists quickly target education, the educated, political and social philosophers/scientists and the like unless, of course, they happen to provide unconditional support… ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/495 "2024-02-10T23:57:09Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > I suspect you actually -do- understand, but don’t want to admit it. Demagogues and wanna-be-autocrats/fascists are darn common when people have the perception (rightly or wrongly) that things are getting worse and said populist rises up and says “It’s bad and I can fix it! And its not YOUR fault, it’s XYZ’s fault!” I didn’t mean primarily the people who vote them in but don’t expect to have any direct connections with them. I meant the assorted henchmen of various types whose names the dictator’s going to know. (Many Republican politicians, I’m looking at you.) ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/496 "2024-02-11T00:04:43Z")
Ah! I apologize for the misunderstanding. Yeah, they too should look to the past and freaking learn. But, still, as previously noted, there’s that non-zero number of enablers who do well out of things. Far more end up being purged, sidelined, jailed, or dead, but enough. And face it, if you’re the sort that claws your way up to being a financial or political elite, you certainly -believe- that you’re the smartest, most cunning and ruthless person in the room. And that your money or power will insulate you from consequences even if it _does_ go pear shaped. IE, hubris. Add a strong stench (in the US at least) of “it can’t happen HERE” and, well, MAGA. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/497 "2024-02-11T01:45:16Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Add a strong stench (in the US at least) of “it can’t happen HERE” Oh, yeah. ‘Here in the USA somebody will stop the leopard before it eats MY face!’ ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/498 "2024-02-23T14:45:17Z")
Fascism Watch, Day 75: Things are getting heated, yesterday there was a strike in the health sector, today there are marches and demonstrations in several places in downtown B.A. (I’m working in the office today, and I think I can hear the drums in the distance) But the most important thing, teachers pay has not been increased in the wake of the about 50% inflation we’ve had since December, and to add insult to injury the government refuses to pay an extra that’s been paid since the 90’s that, depending on the province, represents between 5 and 20 percent of teachers wages. School is scheduled to start on Monday, but it will not, the teacher unions are on strike, and realistically, can you blame them? I _know_ if my salary had not only remained the same it was in december but on top of that it was reduced 10% I would not be here at work!. Nevertheless the president’s supporters are furious with the “lazy” teachers… ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/499 "2024-02-23T21:40:46Z")
Internal Tension update: The governor of Chubut, with support from all other governors from provinces in Patagonia just published an open letter saying that if the central government continues to refuse to release the funds owed to them they are going to cut off the flow of oil (Chubut is one of the main petroleum extracting provinces) I won’t say that the fecal matter has struck the rotary impeller yet but I’m also desperately looking for an umbrella… [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GHDHnvRWYAEYse4?format=jpg&name=large) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GHDHnvRWYAEYse4?format=jpg&name=large) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926/500 "2024-02-23T22:00:40Z")
If you’ve got anything that runs on gas or oil you might also want look for a batch of gas/kerosene cans to fill. It may already be too late to do that, however. By now a lot of others may be doing that also. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fear-im-about-to-lose-my-country/991926.md?page=26)