I agree that we are in very dark times, and likely the darkest we have been in the history of our country, or at least since the Civil War.

But we seem to so quickly forget Operation Wetback, committed under a Republican (but back when Republicans could still plausibly relate to Lincoln and Democrats will ruled the Jim Crow south) and Japanese Internment, committed under FDR, everyone’s favorite progressive Democrat. We forget how Truman prosecuted the Korean war without a declaration from Congress, while both parties in Congress failed to assert their power to stop him.

To be clear, I’m not picking on Democrats because I think they’re the same as Republicans. The Democratic base is much more compassionate, which forces the politicians in the party to be so as well. I’m picking on Democrats because I fear that if we do escape from this Trumpian nightmare without addressing the Oligarchic Duopoly, we will at best have a very temporary reprieve from techno-fascist dystopia. Certainly not the world of compassion, courage, and curiosity that I want to see.

And I agree that Trump is a war criminal and domestic terrorist. That just doesn’t make what was happening before him OK. And it doesn’t absolve his predecessors of their responsibility for helping erode our Constitutional framework.

The Oligarchy is scared of what’s coming: climate change, AI, the loss of American unipolarity in the world. They don’t think they can maintain their status and privilege while continuing to give us the modicum of liberty and societal openness we have enjoyed here in The West (at the expense of much of the rest of the world) for the past 80 years. So they need to clamp down, and the base of the Republican party was always going to be their vehicle to do that. Because people who will support a fascist are going to be in the Republican tent by and large. But the parties themselves are both owned by the same Oligarchy. Just look at the top donors to R and D candidates for the highest federal offices. There’s a lot of overlap between them. And while there are some Dems (and even some Reps) in Congress and more at the state and local level who genuinely want to do right by their constituents, the core of each party are soulless, unprincipled sociopaths who just want power and have chosen one team or the other to get it.

By the way, thank you for not attacking me personally and instead engaging in the content of my comment. It is rare and refreshing.

EDIT: Punctuation

Not once have I made excuses for MAGA. And I explicitly said that Republicans are worse than Dems and that Trump is uniquely bad (maybe in a different sub-thread from this one - it’s hard to tell with all the ignorant hate that came my way in this post). But you clearly have no interest in responding to what I actually say - you only want to attack the caricature of me that you’ve built in your head.

So I’ll offer you an ultimatum analogous to the one you offered me: stop pretending that only one party in America is fascist or admit that you’re a fascist yourself.

What’s annoying and obnoxious is how many left-leaning people in the US rightfully denounce authoritarian, unconstitutional, and imperial behavior of the US government when a Republican is in office but then ignore the same behavior when a Democrat does it. And if I point this out I’m smeared as a troll or closet MAGA or just, as you have here, an obnoxious person. We will never even approach the ideals expressed in our founding documents until enough of our population wakes up to the fact that both parties are puppets of corporate forces that actively oppose democracy and only value the welfare of the general population to the extent that they can use us as labor and consumers.

By the way, not sure which country you’re from but I’m sorry on behalf of America that we have subordinated your country to our imperial nonsense.

Given that the responses I got to my original comment were mostly devoid of actual counter-arguments and were mainly just attacks on my character, I have scant evidence that there are any minds here for me to change.

I used a search engine for like 30 seconds and found plenty of examples. I’ll just link one that has a long list of both Dems and Reps throughout history exercising power that the Executive is not supposed to have: https://www.usconstitution.net/presidential-constitutional-violations/

I don’t really know what you’re talking about, but yes, it is rigged, and having only two choices, both of whom are beholden to a few rich and powerful interests, is part of the rigging.

Both sides work for the Oligarchy. They do a nice good-cop/bad-cop routine, and the Republicans are definitely the bad cops. So I vote for Dems when it matters. And I vote for 3rd party when it won’t cause harm (i.e. when Dems are guaranteed to win). I hope that helps clarify the type of crack that I’m on.

Meanwhile, you seem to be on the most potent crack of all - American propaganda. Try reading some Chomsky or Howard Zinn or just learning history beyond what you slept through in high school before making more dumb comments.

Also, I vote Democrat almost all the time because they are the lesser of two evils. And when I’m not voting Democrat, it’s because I can afford to vote 3rd party, either because there are no Republicans in the race or because the Democrat is all-but-guaranteed to win. But I’m sure none of that will matter to you, as you’re so quick to assume I’m just a troll. Right, anyone who says anything you disagree with is a troll? That seems to be the general consensus here.

I thought Lemmy was the place for actual leftists to find other informed people to talk to. Apparently its just more thoroughly propagandized morons based on the response to my post.

For the record, I almost always vote Democrat and have never voted for a Republican. And I made it clear to anyone who actually read my comment that I think Trump is uniquely dangerous and awful. But I’m sure none of that will matter to any of you puppets.

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Lately I’ve been smoking Chomsky but I have sampled many of the finest intellectuals.

More ad hominem with no actual retort to anything I said. Brilliant.

Real mindfuck for ya: I vote for Democrats and also criticize them - because I’m not a mindless fucking lemming.

Ugh, the mindless ad hominem attacks of the willfully uninformed are so tiring.

You’re tragically uninformed.

Why don’t you try doing research instead of insulting people who say things that make you feel uncomfortable?

• Both parties throughout the 20th century have supported giving away Congressional power to declare war.
• Kennedy bombed Vietnam without Congressional approval and tried to overthrow Castro without congressional approval. Democrats in Congress didn’t do much to try to stop him.
• Obama set the precedent of assassinating American citizens with drones, again without Congressional approval or a declaration of war.

These are just a few examples off the top of my head. There are plenty more. Its an issue the duopoly agrees on.

I simply meant that Democrats also want power concentrated in the Executive branch. I wasn’t referring to transfer of power.

Though, if prosecuting your political opponents after each transfer of power becomes normalized, just you watch the Dems embrace lifelong presidencies as well.

All true. But, the Democrats have the same goal of neutering Congress and having a President-King. They just want to be the ones in charge. If they do regain the WH in 2028 or beyond, I bet they’ll happily go on issuing executive orders and deploying the military domestically.

I dunno why we expected anything different. Congress has been neutering itself since at least WWII and the Executive has been getting away with overreach almost the entire history of the country. This is what we get.

Trump is a uniquely vile and soulless figure who tapped into a sufficiently large voter base, which is just what the Oligarchy needed to shed the last trappings of our “democracy”.

Debian or Flatpak, so basically all distros.