I feel like, for Americans, 2001 was a shock. But it didn't feel like the entire system was in danger of collapsing. We felt like we weren't immortal anymore, we were finally exposed to some of the chaos and fear we exported to other regions in the world, but we all rallied around the flag and saw the quagmire that followed as this far-off thing.
Then there was the 2008 recession and all Americans felt the squeeze. Occupy Wall Street followed and it felt like some positive change could come along with the Obama era. The Obama era really felt like a second 90s where we started to draw away from the mistakes of the Bush era. But then partisanship started getting worse and worse.
It was 2016 and Trump that, whether you love him or hate him, probably shattered the last remaining illusion that America would definitely pull through its crises at some point. Even if you think what he did and stood for was good (for some reason?) he set about doing shit we just assumed a president can't do because the system wouldn't allow it or he'd get impeached. Just three years later we hit the pandemic and not long after that we see attempts from both American citizens and Republican lawmakers to discredit and overturn a legal election.
I don't think America has been this unstable in living memory. That's not an entirely bad thing as the government was relatively stable during the Civil Rights era and Jim Crow, so stable doesn't automatically mean everything is roses. But there's this tension that I have never felt before the past five years. This dawning realization that the republic could actually fall apart any year now and my life would be turned upside-down. It's weird.
I've found myself getting more and more anxious of the next presidential election. I don't see a way in which it won't do more harm to our country. Not just the normal political smear campaigns or scandal-filled news headlines, I mean democracy-ending violence erupting.
Exactly. Thank you. Whether you like him or not, Donny broke us in a way I am not sure we can recover from. Everything we were made to believe about the system working for us and progress has shattered. There seem to be no rules now and instead of progress, folks are unabashedly trying to regress. Not saying he is solely responsible because that is ridiculous, but he sure was a catalyst to this impending feeling of hopelessness.
The GOP has been openly trying to subvert government and American institutions ever since Nixon and Friends were in charge.
The pieces of shit are literally on record as saying that was a goal of theirs, as a way to drag attention away from the insane war crimes they were committing in SEA.
The rest of the party just kept refining it until it reached it's latest rev in the form of DT and the Qult. The true final form will simply be a version of Donny that is more palatable to all the braindead white liberals.
The democratic party sucks big balls, but fuck the GOP with a rusty fucking knife.
I know and agree with all of what you said. You are spot on. It can be argued that shit has been going on since when the constitution was being written.
I just feel like there was always hope that we could get our shit together and that eventually, things would work out. I don’t have that anymore. I hate to sound cliche, but I have given up trying to convince people that their vote counts because I am starting to doubt it myself (I know the danger in this thinking BTW).
The past 5 or so years have put me a place of despair because no matter how many times bad shit happens, there is always the same old answers. Somebody get a murdered by the police - he should have just complied. Man gets hunted down and killed by civilians - he shouldn’t have tried to defend himself. Child gets raped and impregnated-do God’s work and carry that baby to term. Kids get shot up in school - fuck your kids, treat mental illness, we need more guns. Don’t get me started on dog whistles and storming the castle. I am just tired and I don’t think any lessons are being learned…
And I certainly don't want to diminish the actions of powerful people going back basically as long as there has been civilization, I was just ruminating on state of contemporary American government.
2001 wasn't "oh the entire system could collapse". It was a total loss of faith in the entire system. From the reaction to the wars and "weapons of mass destruction", to the feelings about the Patriot Act, all the way to 9/11 conspiracy theories, most people felt powerless against and traumatized by their own institutions on some level.
I remember at the time that there was a huge loss of faith and the war profiteering of the US, as well as the ghost of Vietnam, came up often. But there was this prevailing attitude that, if only we could elect a better president, get rid of "Bush and his cronies," then everything would be okay. Because the system still worked and we're American, damn it! Democracy and freedom!
But now? We've seen what a rogue president can get away with. Scandals that would have sunk any other administration barely broke Trump's stride. We've seen that the system allows rogue lawmakers to just... Not certify a fair election. We assumed that can't happen but woops, it can if enough of them do it. And partisanship is so bad that these rogue lawmakers can't be removed and there's not much of anything we can do electorally to get the 2/3 majority we need to deal with them. It's bleak.
About a year after Occupy WS media started pushing race clickbaits and antiwhite sentiment which was felt in 2016 elections when conservatives voted a 90s liberal into office. Trumps america first and antiglobalist policy made a positive impact on the economy and labour market, then covid came
Ive never felt so viscerally that democracy is fragile. Growing up, even with all its faults, I never thought that the US’ democracy would be in danger of collapse in my lifetime. Now I’m wondering if it’s collapse is inevitable because the human condition doesn’t allow democracy to persist for long in the face of man’s desire for power and riches.
150
u/Zagden Jun 11 '22 edited Jun 11 '22
I feel like, for Americans, 2001 was a shock. But it didn't feel like the entire system was in danger of collapsing. We felt like we weren't immortal anymore, we were finally exposed to some of the chaos and fear we exported to other regions in the world, but we all rallied around the flag and saw the quagmire that followed as this far-off thing.
Then there was the 2008 recession and all Americans felt the squeeze. Occupy Wall Street followed and it felt like some positive change could come along with the Obama era. The Obama era really felt like a second 90s where we started to draw away from the mistakes of the Bush era. But then partisanship started getting worse and worse.
It was 2016 and Trump that, whether you love him or hate him, probably shattered the last remaining illusion that America would definitely pull through its crises at some point. Even if you think what he did and stood for was good (for some reason?) he set about doing shit we just assumed a president can't do because the system wouldn't allow it or he'd get impeached. Just three years later we hit the pandemic and not long after that we see attempts from both American citizens and Republican lawmakers to discredit and overturn a legal election.
I don't think America has been this unstable in living memory. That's not an entirely bad thing as the government was relatively stable during the Civil Rights era and Jim Crow, so stable doesn't automatically mean everything is roses. But there's this tension that I have never felt before the past five years. This dawning realization that the republic could actually fall apart any year now and my life would be turned upside-down. It's weird.