Thomas Zimmer
The American Right is fully committed to a fundamentally anti-democratic project, and the Republican Party has a comprehensive strategy to put it into practice.
Some thoughts on the radicalizing threat of authoritarian minority rule: 1/
https://bsky.app/profile/stephenwolf.bsky.social/post/3kch65wc6rc2q
Thomas Zimmer
The overriding concern for the Republican Party, which is almost solely focused on the sensibilities, anxieties, and interests of (wealthy) white conservatives, is to maintain hierarchies of race, gender, wealth, and religion. 2/
Thomas Zimmer
If the ruling minority is willing to keep curtailing the rights of opposing groups, to further restrict their ability to take part in the political process, to mobilize state power and enable paramilitary/vigilante forms of violence, minority rule can absolutely be sustained for a long time. 16/
Thomas Zimmer
Yes, the demographics are likely getting worse for the Right every year (although that’s not a guarantee). But whether or not minority rule can be upheld largely depends on how far the ruling minority is willing to go to uphold it, how far into authoritarianism they are willing to venture. 15/
Thomas Zimmer
The notion that Right won’t be able to get away with this assumes there’s a line they won’t cross, that there are certain anti-majoritarian measures – violence and coercion, specifically – they won’t seriously consider. But I see little evidence that’s the case. 14/
Thomas Zimmer
Republicans are not “delusional,” they haven’t temporarily “lost their mind.” Such pathologizing language obscures rather than illuminates the fact that Republicans are engaged in a deliberate, systematic, and highly successful project to entrench minority rule. 13/
Thomas Zimmer
What if such blatant undermining of the political system leads to protests? Well, you criminalize those protests, by defining them as “riots,” and you declare “rioters” outlaws who do not deserve the protection of the law, not even when they’re physically attacked and killed. 11/
Thomas Zimmer
Finally, Republicans are conducting a broad-scale offensive against everything and everyone criticizing the legitimacy of white nationalist rule – past, present, and future. They clearly understand the importance of being in control of the national story. 12/
Thomas Zimmer
If that is still not enough to keep the “wrong” side from winning, as has now happened in three consecutive elections since 2018, you have to be in a position to nullify their win: We have seen election subversion efforts up and down the country – an all-out assault on state election systems. 10/
Thomas Zimmer
It all starts with keeping the “wrong” people from voting. Republicans constantly introduce bills intended to make voting harder – and have enacted such laws almost everywhere they are in charge. While it is not always clear how effective these laws are, the intention behind them certainly is. 8/
Thomas Zimmer
If too many of the “wrong” people are still voting, you make their electoral choices count less: through gerrymandering. Wisconsin has long been the poster child for these gerrymandering efforts – but they are happening everywhere, and they are accelerating and radicalizing. 9/
Thomas Zimmer
Republicans see Democrats not as a political opponent, but as an Un-American enemy that must not be allowed to govern and destroy “real” America. Everything else follows from that understanding of the political conflict. (Small-d) democrats they are not. 6/
Thomas Zimmer
Republicans are not simply throwing stuff against the wall, desperately hoping that anything might stick. They are systematically pursuing an anti-democratic project to entrench reactionary hierarchies, and they have a comprehensive strategy to put it into practice. 7/
Thomas Zimmer
Republicans understand clearly that in a functioning democratic system, they would have to either widen their focus beyond the interests and sensibilities of white conservatives, which they are not willing to do; or relinquish power, which they categorically reject. 5/
Thomas Zimmer
No one understands better than Republicans themselves that due to political, cultural, and most importantly demographic changes, they no longer have majority support for this core political project – certainly not on the federal level, and even in “red” states, their position is becoming tenuous. 4/
Thomas Zimmer
Republicans don’t call it “maintaining hierarchies,” of course - they call it preserving “real” America, by which they mean a predominantly white, Christian, patriarchal nation. They also call it defending the “natural” and/or divinely ordained order - deviation must be punished. 3/
Thomas Zimmer
Reactionaries won’t stop because of an epiphany they shouldn’t go *that* far. They will either *be stopped* - or install a system in which only they and those who reflect their image back at them are entitled to rule and recognized as equal.
I tried to synthesize my thoughts on all of this a while back: https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/one-year-on-from-dobbs-the-dangers
AnthonyJK-Admin
@CosmicTrigger @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
Problem is, all this is just that....imagination.
In the actual real world, Bernie Sanders sold out his movement to the Democrats in 2016 and delivered his votes to Hillary Clinton, who managed to lose anyway on her own demerits; then, in spite of being scapegoated and ridiculed and trashed by the Democratic Party establishment, promptly did the same thing again for Joe Biden. Except, Biden won, and promptly backstabbed Sanders.
The Galactic Shitpost Outpost
@alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
They could have supported Bernie Sanders, who is universally beloved, has the highest approval rating of any politician in the country, and whose policies would lift poor Americans out of poverty and ease the tax burden on everyone else at the expense of billionaires no one should give a fuck about.
Imagine this is Bernie's second term now.
You now have: free healthcare, including dental and vision. All your medical debt is forgiven and in many cases you were reimbursed for the medical bills you paid because you were thought of as a victim of a scam.
College is free and all your student loans are forgiven.
The minimum wage is 25 bucks an hour, but since he's a socialist, realizes that won't help unless rent control is established at the federal level which slashes rents by 3/4ths.
He packs the court, but lays down a plan to get rid of SCOTUS completely.
He re-introduced the Fairness Act in Reporting and this cripples the 24-hour "news" media's ability to lie to you and peddle hate speech on the air.
He expands social security so people like me are getting a THRIVING amount, rather than the "barely surviving" pittance I get now. (Joe Biden has been trying to get rid of social security, medicare, and food stamps for 40 years - look it up.)
He invests in high-paying infrastructure jobs, with one of those things being a new high speed rail system that connects all the major cities and towns.
And now, once again, like in the 50s, someone can buy a house with a regular job. Especially since landlords are probably offloading their properties in disgust.
And last but not least, we get to hear the moans and cries of those poor, poor billionaires, who are still billionaires, but it's just so unfair, so unfair, that that mean Vermont Grampa made them actually pitch in their fair so we could have a functioning society.
Now imagine all this . . . and imagine the Republicans winning another election, ever.
Imagine anyone running on a platform of doing away with any of this.
So . . . in the present situation? What would help?
Tell that decrepit Dixiecrat who had pals in the KKK and literally supported segregation and WROTE the most fascist bill of my lifetime that SPECIFICALLY TARGETS BLACK PEOPLE to step down for "health reasons" and commit themselves 100 percent to a progressive candidate who wants to help people.
But, of course, they'll have to check in with their Wall Street and arms dealer pals first to make sure it's OK
Alan Hartley
@SallyStrange @CosmicTrigger @tzimmer_history Instead let’s talk about why this occasion demands attacking the Democrats. Is there a specific action they could have taken in the present situation that could have helped? If there is, let’s push for it. Otherwise this is not actually helpful.
Alan Hartley
@SallyStrange @CosmicTrigger @tzimmer_history This is about legislation and how you create it. Nothing else.
Sally Strange
@alanhartley @CosmicTrigger @tzimmer_history Then who are you calling a victim?
The Galactic Shitpost Outpost
@tzimmer_history The problem is that the Democrats aren't giving us a reason to vote FOR them. And they consistently enable these fascists.
If the Democrats listened to people like Bernie Sanders and the left, and passed progressive legislation that actually helps people: universal health care, making college free and forgiving student debt, enacting rent control across the nation that slashed rents by 3/4ths, raised the minimum wage to 30 bucks an hour, built a high speed rail system that criss-crosses the nation, etc, the Republicans would never win another election.
Instead, they do shit like THIS:
Alan Hartley
@CosmicTrigger @tzimmer_history Using this occasion to attack the Democrats is victim-blaming. Only one side is working tirelessly to keep wages down and create more homeless.
Sally Strange
@alanhartley @CosmicTrigger @tzimmer_history jesus christ Chuck Schumer is not a victim here
the people who typically vote Democratic? Absolutely. But that's not who's being called out here and you know that.
AnthonyJK-Admin
@alanhartley @CosmicTrigger @tzimmer_history
Naaaah, it's not victim blaming to hold a party accountable for its failures & heel turns.
What exactly, other than broken promises and chimeras of half-assed policies, have Democrats actually done as an alternative to the Republicans?
CTC? Increasing the minimum wage? Codifying Roe vs.Wade? Protecting voting rights? COVID prevention policy? Progressive taxation?
The "most progressive Democrat POTUS" is now to the Right of even Ronald Reagan.
AnthonyJK-Admin
@CosmicTrigger @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
The time and money that was given to Sanders and his "movement" to sheepdog people into the Democratic Party only so they could better serve their right-wing donors and ZioNazi/AvovNazi soldiers, would have been better spent building a real Indy Left party and movement to accomplish more than just piecemeal "reforms".
AnthonyJK-Admin
@CosmicTrigger @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
And that is even BEFORE we get to Biden's "Israel, always RIGHT" foreign policy which only feeds neoconservative wet dreams of corporatism and throws marginalized folks under the bombs and buses of Avov fascists and ZioNazis.
No, the Democrats are not the solution or the alternative to the Republican Right. They are, in fact, a significant part of the problem.
violetmadder
@AnthonyJK @CosmicTrigger @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
After the 2016 convention, a Bernie delegate I knew had a Hillary staffer laughing at her on the plane home, saying "You should just be happy we let him run."
Bernie's run never would have been allowed to happen at all, without a plan in place to limit his reach. Every step of the way, his media coverage was throttled.
When he agreed to run on the Dem ticket, he HAD to know what he was signing up for. Chris Hedges for one was warning us the entire time. And sure enough, when the DNC twitched his leash, the sheepdog trotted right to heel.
Now they tell us, look you had your chance-- we let Bernie take you on a nice little scamper around the yard, wasn't that nice? Now sit down and shut up before we let the Republicans eat you all for breakfast to teach you a lesson.
The Galactic Shitpost Outpost
@violetmadder @AnthonyJK @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
No politician has ever helped me in any appreciable way. I suppose under Clinton the economy wasn't as cruel, and I was able to live in New Orleans very inexpensively and just party the whole time, but other than that, I have never seen this country do anything but get meaner and more vicious and cruel since Dubya, even under Obama.
So the Vote Blue No Matter Who bootlickers can scream at me until they are blue in the face, I am fine with a Republican president.
Because as far as I can tell, the President has one job and one job only: to be a mouthpiece for the donor class, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, big oil, the military-industrial complex, various aspects of the intelligence community, the corporate media, national security officials; all of these overlapping and interconnected groups undeniably exist, undeniably wield immense power, and are undeniably not elected by the American people. There is no factual basis on which to deny any of these things; the only thing that can rationally be debated is how they behave.
Jo - pièce de résistance
I've said for a while that Dems & Republicans play good cop/bad cop with us. Dems good cop wants our submission and pretends to be nice and 'on our side' their only real offer they give is vote for them or the bad cop will beat you up. It's run like a protection racket now.
@AnthonyJK @CosmicTrigger @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
AnthonyJK-Admin
@jhavok @CosmicTrigger @violetmadder @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
Why is it that liberal apologists for right-wing Democrats always assume that critics of theirs from the Left are nothing but "BernieBros"???
That broken record crashed and burned even after 2020.
That someone got no help from even the supposed "most progressive POTUS in history" makes him privileged??? More so than....what? The corporations that have profited mightily from Biden's fluffing of the Pentagon?
jhavok
@CosmicTrigger @violetmadder @AnthonyJK @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history "No politician ever helped me" is a symptom of privilege. Must be nice to be affluent enough that the party in charge doesn't matter to you. Lots of other people are dead because they live in Republican areas...fuck them, eh, Bernie bro?
AnthonyJK-Admin
@jhavok @CosmicTrigger @violetmadder @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
For your benefit, Jimmy:
I live in a state which until last week had a Democratic governor overseeing a supermajority Republican legislature (he got term-limited & replaced by a Republican). I have had Democrats from "blue" states tell me that because my state is 10+ GOQP by vote & LA Democrats are mere go-alongs, I deserve to get ripped unless I move away...which I can't because I don't have the "privilege".
AnthonyJK-Admin
@jhavok @CosmicTrigger @violetmadder @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
Considering that a standing Democratic POTUS with a majority Democrat Senate is now orchestrating and bankrolling policy that is well to the RIGHT of even Republican Ronald Reagan, & even giving nodded approval to a fanatical right-wing Zionist nationalist state wiping an entire people off the face of their land, you may forgive me if I don't take your words about "people dead from Republican policy" seriously.
The Galactic Shitpost Outpost
@AnthonyJK @jhavok @violetmadder @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
When the winter storm killed a bunch of people here in Texas, liberals flooded Twitter saying we deserved it because of our GOP politicians.
https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-liberals-freese-storm-ice-snow-ted-cruz-abbott-2021-3
AnthonyJK-Admin
@CosmicTrigger @jhavok @violetmadder @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
See, suckas like Jimmy don't understand that when you mock people who suffer simply because you don't like who they voted for, you send the same message of hate that you accuse the GOQP and MAGAts of doing, and you legitimize their actions.
That goes for Big Deep Freeze victims in Texas as well as Gazans.
AnthonyJK-Admin
@jhavok @CosmicTrigger @violetmadder @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
Dawg:
I will be 60 years old next year.
I survived Ronald Reagan.
I also survived in a state which at that time elected Democrats like Edwin Edwards, John Breaux, and Mary Landrieu...the latter two being US Senators and Democrats so conservative they voted Clarance Thomas into the Supreme Court.
It was Democrats like that that made me leave the party back then, and I've never looked back.
jhavok
@AnthonyJK @CosmicTrigger @violetmadder @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history You've really persuaded yourself of a whole bunch of crap. Pretty sure you weren't around for Reagan or you would have choked on those words.
AnthonyJK-Admin
@jhavok @CosmicTrigger @violetmadder @alanhartley @SallyStrange @tzimmer_history
And NO, Jimmy Jack, I have never, ever, ever voted for a Republican, nor will I ever.
But, after these next two weeks, I damn sure won't be voting for a Democrat who is now governing to Reagan's RIGHT.
My vote, my business. Not yours. Take a hike. #Bye
AnthonyJK-Admin
@CosmicTrigger @violetmadder @alanhartley @SallyStrange
See, it's kind of rich for someome to bring his ass into someone else's convo flapping jowls about how you're "enabling fascism" if you don't totally back the candidate who is right now orchestrating and supporting the satellite country's complete visceration of 2 million poor brown people just to seize their homeland.
Not that Trumpster & the GOQP isn't as bad, but that argument sunk with the first Gaza bomb dropped.
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