australopithecus
Heidi Li FeldmanWe are going to need a wholesale reconstruction of the U.S. federal government if we are ever to restore anything like rule of law and pluralistic democracy in the U.S. I know I have said this before, but it bears repeating. If Democrats gain control of one or even both houses in the midterms they may be able to limit just a bit of what Trump, with Roberts Court, can do but that will be only a small patch on a government that must be completely overhauled. 1/
This does not mean we shouldn’t fight like hell to protect the freedom and fairness of the midterms and to put as many Democrats in office as possible. But we also have to be honest with ourselves. This cold Second American Civil War will not be won nor ended by Democrats gaining control of one of or both houses in 2026. 2/
That would be a stopgap measure, en route to kicking Republican Fascism out of the White House. We need to wrest control of both Congress and the Executive in order to ever reform the Supreme Court as is necessary. 3/
Even if we put anti-fascists in the Presidency and in control of Congress, we will have to insist they do the work necessary to a) fix the corrupt Roberts Court, b) enact all manner of laws to undo the effects of Republican Fascist rule and to attempt to bulwark the federal government from future fascist demolition. 4/
We have to cultivate in ourselves the fortitude, resilience, and patience to fight both Republican Fascism and many Democrats’ tendency to lapse into complacency or timidity. It is going to take decades, I believe. 5/
Those fights will be necessary beyond the midterms, regardless of which party has control of which chamber of Congress. That doesn’t mean the immediate battle - to win the midterms for anti-fascism - is not important. One does not win a war without winning battles. 6/
But we have to be calm and steely-eyed about building an _extended series_ of battle victories. We must exercise discipline, use our energy and resources wisely. Borrowing a phrase from a friend, we must not squander time or effort on unnecessary irritants. We must plan for the long haul. 7/7
Paul_IPv6we need careful but durable and sustainable fixes. that's not fast but it's the way you get things that last.
Chuck@heidilifeldman My question is can you get to the 'Reconstruction' part without the killing each other 'Civil War' part. I certainly hope that is possible.
Toot Uncommon Ω@heidilifeldman Or the Free States could secede from the Orange States and we can reestablish our Constitution and the rule of law. Soft secession without violent separation is a viable first step. The Free States withhold all payments to the feds until order is restored. They pay out more than they take in to begin with. Gerrymandering and winner take all award of electors are the primary reasons the Constitution crashed. We can ban those, keep the rest, and get the old America (somewhat) back.
BlueDotSecession isn't an option. It would mean abandoning millions of people in so-called red states to the fascists.
GrumpyDad 🇺🇦🇵🇸@heidilifeldman You will need more than one generation to do that
Toni Aittoniemi@heidilifeldman End the electoral monarchy: It’s an imperial presidency. Cut down the power of the executive, or a more competent authoritarian than Trump will use it to end democracy for good in 2036 latest.
Change your voting system from first-past-the-post to fractional, with much larger electoral areas to cut down the advantage of gerrymandering. Don’t elect 1 of 20 from a small area, elect 20 of 1000 from a larger area.
And kill Citizens United. Normal people have to run.
Moz@heidilifeldman Quite right. But you'll (outsider speaking) also need to have a set of alternative plans.
Because your democratic process may fail before it gets the chance.
Because your democratic process may fail before it gets the chance.
Ben Rosengart@heidilifeldman Reformers will not be "pushing on an open door" — the same forces that helped Trump tear down the old order, will resist the imposition of a new. We'll need a great deal of organization and planning.
Joe Brockmeier@heidilifeldman it’s not a silver bullet by any means, but if we don’t do that, we are truly and completely screwed if we wind up with two more years of Republican controlled Congress.
Darren du Nord@heidilifeldman My fear is that once in power, Dems will try to go back to normal, reach out across the aisle, let bygones be bygones, govern from the center and forgive and forget. Do they realize the rules have changed forever?
Scary Austin
Full Metal Archaeopteryx@darren
One major impediment will be the oligarchs backing both sides
To be fair, most members of congress are millionaires who whine about their congressional salary being insufficient
@heidilifeldman
Tim@darren @heidilifeldman
The rules never changed, then or now.
The Dems who want to go back to normal were always part of the problem because they didn't object to, or worse, actively assisted with incremental shifts towards fascism.
The rules never changed, then or now.
The Dems who want to go back to normal were always part of the problem because they didn't object to, or worse, actively assisted with incremental shifts towards fascism.
Karl Auerbach@heidilifeldman I agree that the trump/maga thing has revealed significant flaws and weaknesses in our Constitution.
And it is going to take amendments.
I suggest doing it one amendment at a time rather than risk a convention that will possibly start from scratch (bad idea) or be taken over by the maga klansters.
I have a few amendments to propose:
Redressing the Distortion of Elections and Political Speech by Corporations (1st URL)
Redressing Excess Corporate Power (2nd URL)
We also need some statutory changes to change the structure of the Federal judiciary:
Do We Need Rubber Rooms for Federal Judges? Two Plans To Reduce The Long Tailed Impact of Trump Judicial Appointees (3rd URL)
Building A Firewall Around A Radical Supreme Court (4th URL)
Reformation of the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) (5th URL)
https://www.cavebear.com/cavebear-blog/corp_amendment/
https://www.cavebear.com/cavebear-blog/redressing_corp_power/
https://www.cavebear.com/cavebear-blog/rubber-rooms/
assuming we can get back to a sane and functional congress, the work list is long:
- election reform (ranked voting, no electoral college, campaign finance reform, federal term limits)
- fix SCOTUS (12 seats, term limits, ethics standards, oversight)
- fix congress (no stock trading, better ethics reviews, trash seniority as the means of committee assignment)
- review what we've learned about all the gaps in the constitution that undermine separation of power and have substantive constitutional review and changes.
HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴100%:
https://mastodon.social/@heidilifeldman/116603685891243921
Top on my list would be the inverse codification of Citizens United v. FEC, term limits for SCOTUS, new States, such as Puerto Rico, killing the (unconstitutional?) (unlimited filibuster), Impeachment a long the lines of the late Roman Republic, oh, and holding each and every incumbent of government accountable, aber (s)he loses "imperium", similar to France and Brazil ;), a revitalization of early 1900s trust-busting, among other things.
JxPet✔️@heidilifeldman goodbye USA, good riddance.
welcome China, Meet the new Boss🖤🇨🇳
Janis@heidilifeldman
Liz Oyer just dropped a hidden detail in the Blanche-driven IRS settlement. It basically cuts Trump and all his companies and family members free from any legal recourse, ever.
It's time to call any Republican friends we have left.
Joe Heafner@janisf @heidilifeldman Call or cull?
@heafnerj
Well, in the immediate, call, or we risk losing something useful. In war, you may have to drive enemy tanks. And if we cull the likes of Massey, we're executing on enemy objectives.
The power and avarice are not with the Republican party. It's a tool.
@heidilifeldman
Count Holdem@heidilifeldman There's a powerful reason why there's more than monarchies and duopolies in modern nations. A minimum third party must be established, asap. You can't sustain one of the most powerful nations in history, on a crippled foundation of only two legs. It's NOT sustainable, unless the species is put back in caves, near extinction, to start the same genocidal cycle prior - never evolving beyond our recent peak.
Mat Wright@heidilifeldman and this is the problem, far worse in the US now, but an example is British Columbia
For 16 years the BC 'Liberal' party shaped the civil service, policy direction for the province and it became a conservative mindset, almost a religious ideal on caving to industry and vested interest groups
Booted out by the more 'progressive NDP, but nearly 10 years of them and little has changed - unless a new government cleans house, it's screwed
scubapro28@heidilifeldman It's going to take more than one generation to repair the damage this administration has wrought on the country. This will not happen in 4 years--not even 8.
I AM BANKSY ☕ / 🗑🔥@heidilifeldman
I'm not convinced the Democrats could bring effective change if they got 100% of both houses and the Whitehouse.
mtp@xinit @heidilifeldman @lisamelton Indeed. If there is to be so much as a recovery of at least the rule of law, I see it requiring no less than a purge of judiciaries (plural because one can’t write off what’s happened in states and municipalities under unilateral control of these criminals), civil servants, and agency appointments.
I do not feel hopeful in the slightest that any remediation will be substantive — just a repeat of 2021–2024.
wasabi brain@heidilifeldman they have absolutely killed the goose that laid the golden egg. For just a little more in tax breaks and a little less regulation they’ve squandered the American privilege. It’ll be so much harder to convince poor Americans to fight and die for stupid wars or for people to transact in the markets or for people to generally to trust institutions and process
steve@heidilifeldman
BRAVO!
BRAVO!