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<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:4f94721b-55c6-88bc-4d6b-722f928f6027@gmail.com">Ha! That
reminded me of this:
<br>
</blockquote>
<p>Which reminded me of THIS:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Shea#Controversies">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Shea#Controversies</a> <br>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>co-starring <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozzie_Knezovich">Ozzie
Keznovich</a> who sounds like an echo of Moty...<br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:4f94721b-55c6-88bc-4d6b-722f928f6027@gmail.com">
<br>
California county on track to be run by militia-aligned group
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/03/california-county-controlled-by-militia-group">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/03/california-county-controlled-by-militia-group</a>
<br>
<br>
I don't feel too sorry for Moty because my character alert bells
went off a bit while reading his words ... like his objections are
really just acoustic emissions. (Get off my lawn!) But I say Good
Riddance. I'd be outta Shasta in a heartbeat.
<br>
<br>
On 2/4/22 09:02, Marcus Daniels wrote:
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">As Omicron was ramping up Joy Reid said
something along the lines of “Is there a way to cut out a safe
place to live these days [free from all the anti-vaxxer
crazies]?”
<br>
<br>
That resonated with me. I think that’s a plausible way how life
could be in ten years. Some municipalities & companies,
maybe some states, will appeal to individuals that value, well,
reason, and others will not. Then the exercise becomes one of
which brands are in some sense profitable. This will of course
deepen polarization, but over the course of several generations
the unprofitable approaches will die a desperate and lonely and
death. Some of the woke brands won’t make it, but neither will
some of the reactionary brands. It is not clear what will
happen to the federal government during this time, perhaps the
kind of oscillation the author imagines. The trick will be to
insulate oneself from it until the political power of the
crazies is ground down by repeated failure and steadily
decreasing economic power.
<br>
<br>
*From:* Friam <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:friam-bounces@redfish.com"><friam-bounces@redfish.com></a> *On Behalf Of
*Steve Smith
<br>
*Sent:* Friday, February 4, 2022 8:32 AM
<br>
*To:* <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:friam@redfish.com">friam@redfish.com</a>
<br>
*Subject:* [FRIAM] Democracy in Name Only: endemic regime
instability
<br>
<br>
Someone here is more likely than I to have actually read Ziblatt
and Levitsky's How Democracies Die
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Democracies_Die#:~:text=How%20Democracies%20Die%20is%20a,process%20to%20increase%20their%20power."><https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Democracies_Die#:~:text=How%20Democracies%20Die%20is%20a,process%20to%20increase%20their%20power.></a><br>
<br>
A recent article (behind a subscribe-wall) included the
following quote:
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2022-01-20/americas-coming-age-instability">https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2022-01-20/americas-coming-age-instability</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2022-01-20/americas-coming-age-instability"><https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2022-01-20/americas-coming-age-instability></a>
<br>
<br>
/America may no longer be safe for democracy, but it remains
inhospitable to autocracy./
<br>
<br>
/Rather than autocracy, the United States appears headed
toward endemic regime instability. /
<br>
<br>
/Such a scenario would be marked by frequent constitutional
crises, including contested or stolen elections and severe
conflict between presidents and Congress (such as impeachments
and executive efforts to bypass Congress), the judiciary (such
as efforts to purge or pack the courts), and state governments
(such as intense battles over voting rights and the
administration of elections). The United States would likely
shift back and forth between periods of dysfunctional democracy
and periods of competitive authoritarian rule during which
incumbents abuse state power, tolerate or encourage violent
extremism, and tilt the electoral playing field against their
rivals./
<br>
<br>
I found this characterization of our plight very compelling, if
also very disturbing.
<br>
<br>
It seems as if we have "tumbled our gyros" but in a different
mode than the rhetoric about "Civil War" and "Descent into
Autocracy" seem to suggest. It also characterizes a lot of the
aspiring/limping democracies we know of in the world today up to
and including extreme examples such as Russia which fits the
DINO (democracy in name only) label pretty well.
<br>
<br>
This conception of the problem lead me to a very well written HS
student-essay by the same title: democracy-in-name-only
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="https://hac.bard.edu/amor-mundi/democracy-in-name-only-2020-01-02"><https://hac.bard.edu/amor-mundi/democracy-in-name-only-2020-01-02></a>.<br>
<br>
Within this essay was a poignant quote:
<br>
<br>
<br>
In the words of Alexis de Tocqueville,
<br>
<br>
/“A new science of politics is needed for a new world.
This, however, is what we think of least; launched in the middle
of a rapid stream, we obstinately fix our eyes on the ruins
which may still be descried upon the shore we have left, while
the current sweeps us along, and drives us backward toward
the gulf.”/
<br>
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