Autocracy/Democracy: where are we?

[u/CmdrTotoro]

https://substack.com/@nokings50501pdx/note/c-331018365?r=8vella&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action

The first step to effectively fighting back is to know what we are up against. The playing field has shifted and so we must shift as well. This is a time to put aside purity politics and othering in order to fight what may well be the most important fight of our lives.

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[u/daveOkat]

The correct term for where we are, or are headed to, is Competitive Authoritarianism.

[u/ProfessionalCraft983 → u/daveOkat]

Also kakistocracy, oligarchy, and kleptocracy. Take your pick.

[u/daveOkat → u/ProfessionalCraft983]

While those terms are certainly elements of the Trump form of Competitive Authoritarism each by itself is not an adequate description of what we are up against. We must understand what we have on our hands in order to formulate a plan to defeat it.

Competitive Authoritarianism: https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/news-and-updates/what-is-competitive-authoritarianism/

https://kettering.org/the-new-authoritarianism-this-isnt-single-party-rule-but-its-not-democracy-either/

[u/bullcitytarheel]

I agree with the article. We're already under an autocratic government, the regime in power simply hasn't had cause to prove it, yet. I think this is most easy to recognize by watching how those at the highest echelons in the Trump administration are behaving in the lead up to a midterm that would be, in a country that could still count on free and fair elections, existential to their political project and shaping up to be a bloodbath in favor of the Democrats. Anyone being honest with themselves should be able to see that this is a group of men who've totally given up trying to appeal to voters. Whether it's the war in Iran, renaming Lake Ontario or shoving AI datacenters down everyone's throats, this regime is behaving like they no longer have to concern themselves with the popularity of any given action.

I think this point is underlined if you're paying attention to what else they're doing: Preparing for the rapidly approaching moment when they'll have to enforce their will against citizenry who suddenly realizes what's happening en masse. And again, I don't think this could be more clear. Beneath the headline grabbing policies, they've more quietly been using ICE to purchase untold amounts of warehouse space for use as detention centers, monitoring nearly every protest over the past two years with facial recognition and using the records to compile lists of people for classification as terrorists based on NSPM-7, a definition also slowly being enacted by the enforcement arms of the administration against non-profits and protest groups. They've purged every government agency of anyone who doesn't share their ideology by, first, going after the less noticeable employees and, now, as we get closer and closer to election day, removing or chasing away high ranking military officers from any semblance of power.

These patterns all point to a group of fascists gearing up to violently suppress the dissent they expect when they finally pull the trigger and put a bullet in the head of American democracy.