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Phillip's avatar

Another great post and very timely. The collapsing credibility of regime loyalists within the Right is proof that the current system is breaking down. The frauds that used to work no longer do. This exposes the system to danger: its nature is revealed, its legitimacy is further eroded and its ability to demobilise potential opposition shrinks. There is nothing to regret about any of this.

The emerging system, or the successor to the current regime, cannot expect to establish its legitimacy by way of elections. The fraudulent character of electoral politics was established by the ease with which the electoral process was rigged in 2020, as well as by the ease with which the regime intimidated the entire federal court system (which upheld the fraudulent outcome on procedural grounds). All of this compounds the spectacle of representatives who routinely neglect to advocate for their constituents (sometimes with a malicious enthusiasm for betrayal).

The mid-terms will test both the system and its victims/subjects. The nominal result may well be irrelevant. What is key is how the electorate respond to the instances of electoral fraud and how far the courts will go to legitimise those frauds.

Finally, Theophilus you need to further develop your thinking about the case for a paternalistic mode of governance. The current regime simultaneously claims to represent the people while using therapeutic and eudaimonic interventions to disempower, exploit and immiserate the people. The passivity and docility that are being created and normalised by this are creating precisely the sort of conditions for an enlightened despotism (using the expression in the value neutral sense that a despot is simply a lord).

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Ginned up's avatar

Yes, excellent piece. Although i disagree, it's well done and thought provoking.

My chief criticism is that we don't inhabit a democracy nor a representative republic in any, actual sense. These are illusions contrived (like the Matrix) to keep all western peoples as docile cogs in the rulers' wheel.

The reality we inhabit is better viewed as a criminal cartel of sorts. A gang of corruptocrats comprised of many factions and families loosely affiliated in their overarching Racket-- stealing the wealth and soul of the people.

As such, it is fantasy to believe that a criminal Cartel can be voted out-- or that Americans can improve their lot by voting in the right kind of criminals or even mirabile dictu! Honest people who will go to dc to battle the crooks.

Ridiculous.

Let's imagine our country as a small city. It has been infested with a malevolent and ruthless criminal gang. Over the years the crooks gained control over every lever of power, doling out favors to some, carving up the city resources amongst themselves, intimidating or killing any who resisted. "Go ahead!" they say,"have your elections. Have your candidates if you don't like the ones we give you. We don't mind because at the end of the day, anyone you send to city hall belongs to us, not you. They will take orders and get rich or they will be ousted. We hold the guns, the police, the courts, the news outlets, and the banks. So elect away, suckers!"

It really is that bad. Our refusal to face this is just more evidence of our impotence and capacity for self delusion. In the real world the only way to free the city from bloody criminals is to wipe them out. (Actually, the alternative is that the criminals exhaust every resource and impoverish everyone to such a degree that they move on to new territory but that's a fate perhaps worse than death for citizens).

In the meantime the interweb is full of posts and memes and vids of people excited about an election and dreaming about how things will improve. But the Oligarchs won't cede power without a bloody fight. Elect 535 raving MAGA zealots to Congress and they will smack head first into the raw power of a criminal enterprise willing to coerce and cow anyone who challenges them.

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