Doc Avid Mornington

Not actually a doctor.

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  • 28 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 5th, 2023

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  • Party leadership on both sides play all kinds of games to keep the balance of power, to keep voters scared of the other guys, in order to maintain control of their own parties, but that system isn’t infallible. Bernie almost won the primary, twice, and Trump actually did. If he weren’t so abysmally bad at placating centrists liberals, he’d still be in the Whitehouse. I think that’s a terrifying prospect, but also, both hopeful, and instructive. A true left-populist candidate, who respects the rule of law and democratic consent of the governed, once in office, would be almost impossible to remove.

    Overall, your assessment of the current system isn’t bad, but you are very wrong to describe that as fascist. It just isn’t, definitionally, what “fascism” means. Not yet. Certainly, significant aspects of fascism have been put into place, or have been there since the beginning, but our current system is not, overall, at the bar of fascism, and saying it is cheapens the critique of, and warnings against, actual fascism. In the big picture, our current system is actually much more democratic, and further from fascism, than it was not that long ago, even though there have been some specific, and worrying, steps backwards.

    Being vigilant against fascism is good. Being defeatist about it is not.







  • On the one hand, candidates should not, under any circumstances, have a choice. Eligibility for office should be predicated on participation in public debates, structured and moderated under direct democratic control. On the other hand, stopping Trump is essential, and in the system we have, not the system I wish we had, this is a good strategy. Biden is assuming the role of adult in the room, and making Trump come to him, setting vague terms he never actually has to deliver on. He’s setting up the conclusion that if there isn’t a debate, it’s because Trump was an ill-behaved child, but if there is, it will be on Biden’s terms. Very well played.