Joe Biden gave an important speech today about MAGA fascism, but this was the most crucial line:
"Democracies don't have to die at the end of a rifle. They can die when people are silent, when they fail to stand up or condemn threats to democracy. When people willing to give away what's most precious to them because they feel frustrated."
#Fascism has always been unpopular. It can only win when the majority gives up in disgust. Don't let the bastards grind you down.
h/t @atrupar
They'd like very much for us to become too discouraged to vote, or to vote in self-harming ways.
Vote, and vote pragmatically.
Case study:
"But Hillary gave speeches to bankers!"
"But Hillary [this, that, whatever]!"
Outcome:
* Women's reproductive rights gutted.
* Fossil fuel interests over climate sanity.
* Religious beliefs over public health.
* Wetlands slated for destruction.
* Etc.
Rank the principles at stake. Vote with eyes on the prize.
@biggongpress @mattsheffield @atrupar
What's your specific recommendation? What specific thing should we do right now? Which specific rungs on the ladder of progress can we get in our grip right now?
As to shame, arguably "shame" can be found in confused thinking leading to a SCOTUS that is promoting racial bigotry, white male supremacy and a whole panopoly of other back-sliding. Notably, that's a pre-Biden matter. It happened because our thinking and actions were confused, to our shame.
@biggongpress @mattsheffield @atrupar
Did you notice? Biden attempted to forgive student debt and SCOTUS forbade it.
This is because sloppy voting was substantially determinative in creating the current weighting of SCOTUS.
There are plenty of real warts to complain over. We need not invent new ones.
https://www.ncsl.org/resources/details/supreme-court-strikes-down-student-loan-forgiveness-program
@biggongpress @mattsheffield @atrupar
I'll look into that, thanks.
Focus efforts on electoral mechanics, and think about how the Greens have ascended where they've been successful. The Green path in particular, but in the US that ultimately means repairing electoral mechanics.Both require enduring patience.
In the meanwhile, don't self-harm by accidentally creating fatal vote splitting.
@biggongpress @mattsheffield @atrupar
"Department of Education revised existing student loan forgiveness programs and estimates that $117 billion in loans has been canceled for more than 3.4 million borrowers during Biden’s term so far."
Having attempted to expand reach of this philosophy and then being being foiled by the vote-split wreckage of SCOTUS, after a think other tactics and strategies are play.
It's not a matter of simply wishing it away, not simple.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/joe-biden-student-loans
@biggongpress @mattsheffield @atrupar
More halting progress.
It's a matter of the power of the pen colliding with entrenched obstruction, seems like.
So, how to thread a path taking obstruction into account?
Coming back to the original topic, a fundamental problem here is a SCOTUS created by fickle perfectionist voting.
Gift link.
"Democracies are lost because the people that live within them, given enough time, forget how precious they are, and forsake the foundations upon which they stand."
SearingTruth
Fascism is easy to get into.
You just vote it in!
But you have to shoot your way back out.
Illegitimi non carborundum
Biden is one of the few politicians who has exceeded my expectations (albeit only slightly). Now, this is aided by my incredibly low expectations...but it remains true.
"Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Don't let the bastards grind you down." https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/404835-nolite-te-bastardes-carborundorum-don-t-let-the-bastards-grind-you
As I remember it, Offred didn't come up with the phrase. She found it inscribed in her "room" by a prior Handmaid.
Vanity Fair traced the history of the phrase, including comments from Margaret Atwood herself, in 2017.
(Paywalled but you get "first" article free, so open in private mode.)
I find it interesting that "Atwood herself said, the motto was a joke when she was in school"
@janetlogan @mattsheffield @atrupar
“The key to the mystery is knowing (from the O.E.D.) that carborundum was a trade name,” he continued. “Whatever it was, it’s not in use any more, so we’ve lost all memory of it."
Not so. My father had a block of carborundum (not trademarked) for sharpening his chisels. The funny thing is that it (artificial silicon carbide) was so named because it resembled corundum, a word that derives from Tamil-Dravidian kurundam (ruby-sapphire) from Sanskrit kuruvinda.
@mattsheffield @atrupar Except...
He's one of the bastards grinding us down!
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