US could be under rightwing dictator by 2030, Canadian professor warns

[wjfox]

US could be under rightwing dictator by 2030, Canadian professor warns

Mon 3 Jan 2022 06.00 GMT

The US could be under a rightwing dictatorship by 2030, a Canadian political science professor has warned, urging his country to protect itself against the “collapse of American democracy”.

“We mustn’t dismiss these possibilities just because they seem ludicrous or too horrible to imagine,” Thomas Homer-Dixon, founding director of the Cascade Institute at Royal Roads University in British Columbia, wrote in the Globe and Mail.

“In 2014, the suggestion that Donald Trump would become president would also have struck nearly everyone as absurd. But today we live in a world where the absurd regularly becomes real and the horrible commonplace.”

Homer-Dixon’s message was blunt: “By 2025, American democracy could collapse, causing extreme domestic political instability, including widespread civil violence. By 2030, if not sooner, the country could be governed by a rightwing dictatorship.”

[...]

Worse, he said, Trump “may be just a warm-up act”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ump-canada

[funkervogt]

Homer-Dixon’s message was blunt: “By 2025, American democracy could collapse, causing extreme domestic political instability, including widespread civil violence. By 2030, if not sooner, the country could be governed by a rightwing dictatorship.”

He has something in common with a famous American right-winger.

Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?

[jamestiago]

A bit meaningless, left-wing and right-wing dictators have been, are and will be in power at different and/or concurrent periods of time, until we die.

[BaobabScion]

A bit meaningless, left-wing and right-wing dictators have been, are and will be in power at different and/or concurrent periods of time, until we die.

I'm sure this sounded cooler in your head.

[jamestiago]

A bit meaningless, left-wing and right-wing dictators have been, are and will be in power at different and/or concurrent periods of time, until we die.

I'm sure this sounded cooler in your head.

Not really, there are always headlines fearmongering about the end of democracy or the rise of a rightwing dictator by these more left leaning outlets. Coulds and woulds and such.

[caltrek]

It is not "fearmongering" to be concerned about the future of democracy in the United States or anywhere else.

The biggest danger to democracy comes from apathy. This is why a recent poll on the matter is particularly discouraging.

Older Americans were far more concerned about the fate of democracy than younger respondents, and also more likely to support the work of the Jan. 6 commission.

Source: https://www.axios.com/jan-6-poll-axios- ... 2c5a9.html

Do younger people not realize, or perhaps not care, that the alternative to democracy is a right-wing dictatorship, or perhaps even fascism?

Perhaps they simply do not understand the nature and history of fascism as it expressed itself in the World War II era. Indeed, how it expresses itself today and in the more recent past throughout the globe in countries where democracy does not exist.

I am tired of these "the left is just fearmongering" attitudes.

Smoking is hazardous to your health = fearmongering?

Global warming is a threat to our well-being = fearmongering?

Covid is a threat to the public health = fearmongering?

Wake up.

[BaobabScion]

A bit meaningless, left-wing and right-wing dictators have been, are and will be in power at different and/or concurrent periods of time, until we die.

I'm sure this sounded cooler in your head.

Not really, there are always headlines fearmongering about the end of democracy or the rise of a rightwing dictator by these more left leaning outlets. Coulds and woulds and such.

No. Instead, fearmongering seems to be more prevalent on right-wing outlets like Fox and OANN, to the point that I wonder if it's a part of their company motto. Every segment of theirs is focused on either the "eVil CoMmunists", perceived "wokeness" in university, the threat of transgenders hunting their kids, or AOC. All Tucker and Hannity do is talk about "Coulds and woulds and such".

Also, this sentence doesn't take from the vapidness and faux-edgyness of your original statement. Please do tell us about the left-wing and right-wing dictators that have been in power in the United States. What were their names?

[jamestiago]

It is not "fearmongering" to be concerned about the future of democracy in the United States or anywhere else.

The biggest danger to democracy comes from apathy. This is why a recent poll on the matter is particularly discouraging.

Older Americans were far more concerned about the fate of democracy than younger respondents, and also more likely to support the work of the Jan. 6 commission.

Source: https://www.axios.com/jan-6-poll-axios- ... 2c5a9.html

Do younger people not realize, or perhaps not care, that the alternative to democracy is a right-wing dictatorship, or perhaps even fascism?

Perhaps they simply do not understand the nature and history of fascism as it expressed itself in the World War II era. Indeed, how it expresses itself today and in the more recent past throughout the globe in countries where democracy does not exist.

I am tired of these "the left is just fearmongering" attitudes.

Smoking is hazardous to your health = fearmongering?

Global warming is a threat to our well-being = fearmongering?

Covid is a threat to the public health = fearmongering?

Wake up.

I think the problem is when problems collide with political definitions. Everyone can agree smoking is bad for your health, or that covid exists, but can everyone agree with where to draw the line in the measures that are taken against covid? The main points I see raised are about individual freedoms, such as the decision to take or not the vaccine, and whether one should be barred from society for not taking it. In this case, I agree that dictatorships are bad, but you say the alternative to democracy is right-wing dictatorship. Why not left-wing dictatorship? This is where part ways.

[caltrek]

I agree that dictatorships are bad, but you say the alternative to democracy is right-wing dictatorship. Why not left-wing dictatorship? This is where part ways.

Well, this thread is about the United States, which is the country that I live in. Sure, in theory a left-wing dictatorship is also possible. In actual fact, certainly as I perceive it, there is no real threat or immediate danger of a left-wing dictatorship taking power in the U.S. The left is more or less completely devoted to extending democracy to all segments of adult society, as well as protecting the recently gained voting rights of many in minority communities. In contrast, the right is promoting a Big Lie to undermine democracy. Hence, the clear and present danger from the right.

[Cyber_Rebel]

Pretty sure America would need an actual left wing to begin with in order to formulate a so called "left wing dictator." Obama passing some half assed version of UHC and being called Stalin by Faux News is not what I'd consider that to be. Covid policies also can't be placed under the typical spectrum, as Australia has had some of the strictest measures of any country under Morrison, same for Ontario's Doug Ford, and even the Austrian gov is "conservative." (By their standards not the U.S.) Contrast this with places nominally considered to be "left wing" like Sweden and their loose handling of the pandemic.

America is a country that considers anything left of Ayn Rand to be socialist/communist and even hilariously has infighting between its own far-right calling each other "commies." The idea of a left-wing dictator emerging is just astronomically less likely than a right-wing one. The people themselves aren't even left-of-center, and no amount of "polling data" makes up for the fact that the American populace don't ever vote that way. Sorry, but Bernie Sanders is actually pretty damn boring (centrist) the moment you take him out of America.

That national identity of America may as well be anti-collectivist, except when identity politics are concerned. And no, something divorced from actual economics is not in the actual left-wing of materialist thought. Said potential dictator also needs military backing I'm assuming and won't have it from "progressives" who regularly call for lessening those funds, so this is yet another thing in the favor of the very right-wing establishment in Washington.

[weatheriscool]

The left wing is faker then crap in this country that is for sure!!! They literally are owned by corporate America to spread division and to undermine the labor market with people that they can break the law with in order to make money. They couldn't care less about any of the early to mid 20th century progressive labor laws, anti-trust or any of that. Makes me fucking sick. They let the poor rot on the street! They let landlords raise the price of rent up the ass and the worst places in America are 100% democrat!!! My fucking god.

All while these corporate America fuckers divide the living hell out of this nation...

If anything people like Trump are probably more little guy then the democratic party!!!! Makes me fucking sick saying these words but it is probably true...Not by much I tell you. At least he doesn't shit on the American people, its history and dance on our labor laws within such a blatant sickening way. If you don't understand this then you don't understand the damage outsourcing and importing has done to our labor laws and everything progressivism built in the early 20th century.

[caltrek]

January 6 Proved the Durability of the Constitution — and the Continuing Need to Defend It
by Rich Lowry
January 6, 2022

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/ ... -it-526622

Introduction:

(National Review) The Jan. 6 riot was a disgrace. But, in a certain sense, it was almost beside the point.

At the end of the day, the QAnon shaman and Co. were never going to be able to hold the Capitol and take over the U.S. government; they weren’t even going to be able to stop, rather than delay for several hours, the counting of the electoral votes in the 2020 election. Even if members of Congress for some reason couldn’t have gotten back into the chambers, they would have convened in some other place and finished the count anyway.

The more direct threat to the election was the spurious legal arguments advanced to try to convince Vice President Mike Pence that he had the unilateral power to resolve the counting of electoral votes in President Donald Trump’s favor, despite his loss. One point of the riot was to further pressure Pence (“Hang Mike Pence!”), but much of the lobbying took place behind closed doors, among Trump’s advisers.

Pence, of course, resisted. Besides the vice president, perhaps the biggest hero of the post-election period was the constitutional system itself — and the reason Pence was so stalwart was out of an abiding loyalty to that system. One year later, we should appreciate the fact that the Constitution proved a durable vehicle of representative government, and a frustration to anyone hoping to seize and wield illegitimate power.

The genius of the document is how it distributes power through federalism and the separation of powers, and explicitly prevents inflamed majorities from trampling core liberties in the Bill of Rights. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia once noted how, in other countries, such assurances are merely “words on paper” because the governing documents do not “prevent the centralization of power in one person or in one party.”

caltrek's comment: The National Review is a very conservative journal. So, there are a lot of points made in this article with which I don't agree. Still, on the whole, I think it makes a lot of good points that I actually did find compelling. I think this also serves to highlight the difference between the sincere never-Trump conservatives and the Trump loyalists. In my mind, the loyalists simply do not understand the threat to democracy posed by Trump and other Trumpist politicians.

[Lilymoon]

Trump is no different than Nixon or Reagan the only difference is Trump lies and is a clown where Nixon or Reagan are both very right wing but more polish.

The culture difference is south and midwest have not change much but the west coast and east coast are more liberal on social issues now but the same on economic issues. This is creating culture shock among the conservative and are moving more to right to counter it. So Bush now is a liberal among conservatives now. Well the conservative party and conservative people have shifted more to right now.

And conservatives don’t care that Trump grammar is at third grade level and he lies all they care is the conservative ideology to counter the left on social issues.

[weatheriscool]

We probably will be similar to china with its social credit system and both party are fascist. Fascist as in being controlled by big corporate and not the people! The elites control our system and both parties. We're all fucked.

[Yuli Ban]

Hence why I put my hope in an AI takeover. It's not ideal, but the devil you know is sometimes worse than the one you don't. If humans are still in total control of this planet circa 2040, we're fucked. We lack the ability to deal with the messes we've wrought. Civilization outgrew human control decades ago, but we had no alternatives to rely upon.

[Lilymoon]

Hence why I put my hope in an AI takeover. It's not ideal, but the devil you know is sometimes worse than the one you don't. If humans are still in total control of this planet circa 2040, we're fucked. We lack the ability to deal with the messes we've wrought. Civilization outgrew human control decades ago, but we had no alternatives to rely upon.

It is a culture thing and history of the US that the US was never really country unity. There will be civil war if both parties cannot bridge the problem. The US is the worse first world country with such huge political divide.

In reality the south and midwest should have pulled out of the Union. They probably would been more progressive by now as FOX news and republican party cannot blame some one else. The blue states giving them money and aid to the south would stop as they would been their own country.

You most likely would have a two conservative or three conservative parties to vote for in the south. And when South failing behind and prison population and crime that does not work the southern conservatives party and people may be more really to try different things like rehabilitation than punishment and root cause of crime than just dealing with after effect. As it is other conservative party saying it and mot liberal. And the liberal blue states would have two or three liberals to vote being centrist and left than far right.

The way it is now it is a boxing match my patty vs your party and my state rights over your state rights.

To many people in the south feel California and New York is running the show and controlling so much for Alabama rights and Mississippi rights so on. The midwest and south are just very different than coastal areas and Obama, Clinton and Biden being centrist party in the US just cannot grasp that.

And Trump is symptom not the problem there is going to be more Trump in the future. The south and midwest have value system very different than blue states. Well they may have moved past slavery and getting black people to sit at the back of the bus. But many are pro gun lovers, anti abortion, anti LGBT, go to church every Saturday, Bible studies, low tax or no tax, prison system, non welfare state, police system so on.

The democratic party should release by now they are just alienating the south and midwest more every election. And remember these are people that love the 60s and 70s life style. They don’t want some star trek future or cyberpunk future.