I don’t think we are headed for idiocracy, but for violent fascism. And I HOPE we can exit with no worse than a split into multiple countries.
Yes, more like a violent fascist regime, supported, and in some cases run, by idiots (Trump, e.g.).
And I fully agree with your last sentence.
Just, no. Buying freedom at the cost of allowing fascists free rein in their little hellholes is a price too high. We have an obligation to all Americans, even those who live in fascist hellholes. Violations of their rights are violations of our rights, for they are us.
That only works if we win. I’m not convinced we do. If we separated we could provide a safe haven for refugees.
…I’m just calling it like I see it. I don’t think Balkanization is the endgame because that is my “desired outcome.”
Its just that: talk is cheap. And while I have no doubt that you believe you have an “obligation to all Americans to stand up for their rights” I also think that you neighbour might be thinking right now that they “have an obligation to all Americans to report your ass for having seditious musings.”
Not enough people care. The centrists run the Democrats, and they are never going to treat this as the threat to democracy that it truly is. So you’ve got one party steady on the path to authoritarianism, and you’ve got the other party meekly going “meh.”
As puzzlegal says, probably the best case scenario is you get “a split into multiple countries.” Because at least then there will be somewhere for the marginalized folk in the extremist states to go.
But if you really want to fight, then you gotta do better than whatever it is the dems are doing now.
I don’t see as I have more of an obligation to an American than I do to any other human, and there’s a lot of fascist hellholes in the world. I want to do what I can to help folks oppressed in Vladivostok, too, but not at the cost of my own life and safety. If the option is breaking up the US, or turning the entire US into Missouri, sorry, but Missourians can go fuck themselves.
And if we split up, the marginalized folks in new England, New York, and California don’t need to run at all. And can stop worrying about what happens in the next national election.
Or, if we seriously balkanize
People in Yankeedom, New Netherlands, Tidewater, the left Coast, and probably the Midlands and el Norte are okay. That’s a large chunk of the US population.
And that would be what?
Remembering that we’ve got one party steady on the path to authoritarianism and their votes count too.
…I kept asking in one of the other threads, “what’s the Democrat plan to protect trans and marginalized people in the extremist states?”
And there isn’t a plan. What happens to them is what happens to them. That means the extremist states will just keep getting more extreme. And if the federal government won’t do anything about it, and if the courts (that aren’t already captured) just get ignored, then the other states have to step it up.
But I look at what New York city is like under Hochul and Adams…and yeah, they will be better than the extremist states. But that isn’t saying a lot.
That would be a question better directed to Pleonast. I’ve made my position on this clear.
The Federal government does not have that authority.
Also, keep in mind that if Biden sets that sort of precedent then someone like Trump has an excuse to barge into a state legislative chamber to remove someone.
You’re assuming that us non-fascists in Red State America will be allowed to leave.
Already Texas is attempting to restrict the movement of women who might be pregnant from going out of state in fear of them getting abortions. Do you think they will stop there?
The Constitution guarantees that the states will have a representative form of government. Not allowing a duly-elected representative into the chamber is an abrogation of that. If the Feds don’t have the authority to enforce the Constitution, then who does?
We need to drop this idea that the Republicans are waiting for Democrats to break a precedent first before they do something. If Trump wants to use the National Guard after winning in 2024, the only criteria he’s considering are 1. does he profit from it, and 2. can he get away with it? What the Democrats did or did not do is not going to factor into his decision making in the slightest.
It was never a debate about bathrooms. Hell, it was never a debate. It was one group of phobes disclaiming their horror about people they don’t understand and refuse to understand therefore those people need to not exist.
It’s also about controlling women, not protecting women. Zephyr had the misguided notion (in the phobes’ eyes) of daring to become a woman and therefore, as a man who got mutilated (note: this is not my view, but, yes, I have heard people describing transgender women as such) she (or as they love to misgender her, “he”) does not deserve any respect, courtesy, or consideration other than punishment.
Oh, and speaking of the pearl clutching going on about transgender people in sports, of course the “big fear” was that a “true male” would become female in order to win prizes that “he” could not win in a contest against males. I don’t recall ever hearing the gnashing of teeth about a biological male becoming a man and thus that’s not fair to the other men, but there are some rather prominent transgender men in competition. Evidently if one wants to compete in a woman’s sport, then one is subject to restrictions; however, if one wishes to compete in a man’s sport, one may do so “without restriction”.
This is not and never has been a debate. It’s an attempt by a certain segment of our society to control other people.
Anyone thinking that these fascists will stop once trans people are eliminated from public life is wrong too, they’re just a convenient first step. Once the framework to legally oppress unwanted people is in place no one outside the white heteronormative world will be safe.
That is definitely NOT what they want. They want to take all the toys and have the rest of us go away. The want the three branches of government, the military etc.
This isn’t them wanting to leave the country and make their own-This is a hostile takeover.
I agree. Which is why if my state can get out, i find that a considerably better outcome.
Your state can’t get out without the permission of the Republicans, and those assholes will not allow an oasis of sanity to exist where it might influence others.
So they want to ban Megan Hunt for “possible conflict of interest” because she has a transgender son.
When are they going to ban other representatives for “possible conflict of interest” because they might feel compelled to vote against measures which could affect those who contributed to their election campaigns?
Oh, i don’t think that’s a likely outcome at all. I agree. They want the whole ball of wax, and they want to oppress all of us. But someone up thread was talking about a split as if that would be a bad outcome.