It’s not alarmist: A second Trump term really is an extinction-level threat to democracy
www.vox.com
Why a second Trump term is a mortal threat to democracy — though perhaps not in the way you think.

This article was posted shortly before the election but everything in there is still true and seeing his appointees perhaps worse than predicted.

  • Seleni@lemmy.world
    131·
    12 days ago

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone’s fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I’m one of Us. I must be. I’ve certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do the bad things.

    -Terry Pratchett

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      12 days ago

      I agree with the sentiment. But I think one of the perils of Democratic erosion has been “Us” having less and less say in how government functions, particularly at the local level.

      The mayor is as alien and removed from me as any CEO or celebrity. City council is dominated by real estate agents and business cronies. Even the school board is inaccessible, as they pay far more attention to their friends in state government than anyone with kids in grade school.

      Fearmomgering against the other is a tool leveraged to win high office. But it’s hard to see who isn’t just running a racket when the profession seems to repel activists and draw in shills like a magnet.