Shifting this to the proper thread:
The democratic decline of the United States and the capture of the institutions of society and the state by the executive is not something any reasonable person would expect to see happen instantaneously or even quickly. It’s also not something easily superimposed over relatively intact and smoothly running systems and institutions. There needs to be fracture, disruption, and knockdown first- some things removed wholesale, other things weakened. Stakeholders in the institutions need to be fired, or convinced to turn and walk away. Norms need to be shifted away from.
While that happens, as some things decline and degrade, other more pliant persons and institutions are put in this place. Inspectors General are fired in breach of congressional notification requirements, and replaced with an unaccountable DOGE that is subject neither to Senate confirmation nor any meaningful oversight. Career civil servants are fired and replaced with lackeys whose foremost (and sometimes sole) job qualification are political loyalty. Executuve appointment candidates are subjected to questionnaires designed to assess their compliance with the new politics more than their qualifications and suitability for the tangible demands of the role, well over and above any political assessment or vetting that is the norm. Senior Justice and law enforcement officials are fired for having been part of lawful investigations that are seen as politically disloyal.
Categories of people need to be identified, othered, and established as some sort of opposition beyond that one would tackle in civil discourse. This provides a foil for the administration, a useful distraction and focusing ire when such is needed.
All of these things are happening. Some surprisingly quickly. While it’s happening, other incidental damage is being done in other sectors that will weaken the nation; yet even those weaknesses and resulting micro-crises will be available for leveraging by the increasingly empowered executive.
Things we’ll be watching for now as major red flags will be abject defiance of judicial decisions; reversal of historically stable constitutional protections; capture of the legislature such that it becomes a rubber stamp that tolerates and enables executive overreach.
We will watch and hope that the courts continue to uphold the rule of law, and that when the courts and executive conflict, the enforcement mechanisms retain their integrity and play their role in the rule of law. We’re already seeing degradation there though, such as in the Eric Adams case.
We will watch the midterms nervously and hope that whatever the constitution of the next Congress is, it’s one that stands up for the division of powers between branches, and for its own oversight roles.
No die is cast and no outcome here is predetermined or inevitable, but the trajectory of America’s democracy is concerning as hell.
Some of us will watch this with concern and point out when these things are happening. You and some others will speak up at every step talking about why it cannot actually be what it’s taking the appearance of. In the absence of a perfect analogy for a Reichstag fire or a March on Rome, you’ll go to the ends of the earth to convince us that if history doesn’t repeat, it also cannot possibly rhyme.
I don’t need a way out, thanks. If your response to a very loose historical analogy is to “well ackshually…”, you aren’t bringing much to the conversation.
The democratic decline of the United States and the capture of the institutions of society and the state by the executive is not something any reasonable person would expect to see happen instantaneously or even quickly. It’s also not something easily superimposed over relatively intact and smoothly running systems and institutions. There needs to be fracture, disruption, and knockdown first- some things removed wholesale, other things weakened. Stakeholders in the institutions need to be fired, or convinced to turn and walk away. Norms need to be shifted away from.
While that happens, as some things decline and degrade, other more pliant persons and institutions are put in this place. Inspectors General are fired in breach of congressional notification requirements, and replaced with an unaccountable DOGE that is subject neither to Senate confirmation nor any meaningful oversight. Career civil servants are fired and replaced with lackeys whose foremost (and sometimes sole) job qualification are political loyalty. Executuve appointment candidates are subjected to questionnaires designed to assess their compliance with the new politics more than their qualifications and suitability for the tangible demands of the role, well over and above any political assessment or vetting that is the norm. Senior Justice and law enforcement officials are fired for having been part of lawful investigations that are seen as politically disloyal.
Categories of people need to be identified, othered, and established as some sort of opposition beyond that one would tackle in civil discourse. This provides a foil for the administration, a useful distraction and focusing ire when such is needed.
All of these things are happening. Some surprisingly quickly. While it’s happening, other incidental damage is being done in other sectors that will weaken the nation; yet even those weaknesses and resulting micro-crises will be available for leveraging by the increasingly empowered executive.
Things we’ll be watching for now as major red flags will be abject defiance of judicial decisions; reversal of historically stable constitutional protections; capture of the legislature such that it becomes a rubber stamp that tolerates and enables executive overreach.
We will watch and hope that the courts continue to uphold the rule of law, and that when the courts and executive conflict, the enforcement mechanisms retain their integrity and play their role in the rule of law. We’re already seeing degradation there though, such as in the Eric Adams case.
We will watch the midterms nervously and hope that whatever the constitution of the next Congress is, it’s one that stands up for the division of powers between branches, and for its own oversight roles.
No die is cast and no outcome here is predetermined or inevitable, but the trajectory of America’s democracy is concerning as hell.
Some of us will watch this with concern and point out when these things are happening. You and some others will speak up at every step talking about why it cannot actually be what it’s taking the appearance of. In the absence of a perfect analogy for a Reichstag fire or a March on Rome, you’ll go to the ends of the earth to convince us that if history doesn’t repeat, it also cannot possibly rhyme.
