Aug 20, 2022·edited Aug 20, 2022Liked by Robert Reich, Heather Lofthouse
I remain optimistic. All that stuff is good, but we have to grind to achieve victory.
All politics is local. I live in the Fascist state of Florida where we had 7 x the number of COVID deaths per 100,000 than other states (like California) because we were in a failed herd immunity experiment. Civil rights like freedom of assembly and voter rights have been curtailed by DeSantis and a willing state legislature. Republicans fight Mickey Mouse, our largest employer. a Republican candidate says stuff like “Under my plan, all Floridians will be able to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF, and all other federal troops on sight, Let freedom ring.” Republicans have been caught in voter fraud schemes.
According to polls, De Santis, our Francisco Franco, if not Fidel Castro, leads. Of course we are still in the midst of a primary election. One poll has Val Demmings up against Little Marco Rubio by 4 points but that is an outlier.
We have to stop Fascism. DeSantis is a "very dangerous individual' because he has 'already absorbed all the lessons of Trump" but doesn't have any of the baggage. We now have a civilian-law enforcement elections-fraud squad, DeSantis' personal army. We have "Don't Say Gay" and "Stop WOKE Act" to restrict race discussions in Florida but schools must dedicate at least 45 minutes of instruction on “Victims of Communism Day.” He made intrusions on academic freedom, and we have a “ballot harvesting” law—eliminating delivering mail-in ballots belonging to anyone except the single voter and immediate family members — a third-degree felony punishable by five years in prison and $5,000 in fines. And those are just examples.
We still have an opportunity. Field Team Six has a database of 770,734 unregistered likely Democratic women. We need help. Please contact Mervis Reissig.
Most of us have zero idea of how much is at stake and how much trouble we are in. Reasons: lousy public education past 40+ years bc defunded by congresses, cultural history of ignoring civics in education, lousy mainstream coverage of issues and connections between domestic policy and climate and foreign policy. Nobody connects war + drought + famine + drought + migration + economics. Forecast: we lose the House, keep Senate. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2022-election-forecast/
NO!!!!! Absolutely not. Unless they're in the enlightened minority, that's us of course. Just heard a Rep. offer their idiotic criticism of Joe B./Dems. The Rep. seem to think that all they had to say was "big government." At least in their mind, that was the end of the discussion. My reply to that is if it wasn't for Big Government starting 12/7/1941 we wouldn't be having this conversation in English. We need to counteract the Rep's favorite terms, of which there are more than a few. Here's my start: The scariest eight words in the English language: "I'm a Republican and I'm here to help." I'd love to see a list, a small dictionary, of new terms. Another one: Does capitalism produce goods and services? Of course not. Neither does socialism or an other form of government. All the goodies get produced by human labor, physical or mental. What do I Iike about Joe B. He does his best to act like a human being. He doesn't cave in to the Rep.'s threats, like Clinton and Obama.
Waiting to have coffee with y'all -- excuse me, I'm from Georgia -- is one of my favorite parts of the week. Thanks to chat rooms on the Internet, I can play it in a room with several like-minded political junkies.
Do we understand the fight we're in? ... I wonder. In my work life, I was employed by a few multinational corporations, and the tone and tenor of what is happening in America now goes back to those companies and how people reacted when faced with "downsizing" and the loss of thousands of jobs. (How we as a society responded to the pandemic is a good indicator. I well recall my first polio shot in the 1950s -- and I can't remember ANYONE questioning the science. )
A successful "long game" in the fight we're in has been conducted by the religious right (Christian nationalists) who insist there is no separation between church and state -- and funded by billionaires who are opposed to any means to more equitably distribute wealth. One of the key fronts in the battle comes in the form of our public schools. Here is what we are up against, make no mistake:
"So let's be blunt about it: we must use the doctrine of religious liberty to gain independence for Christian schools until we raise up a generation of people who know there is NO religious neutrality, no neutral law, no neutral education and no neutral civil government. Then they will get busy in constructing a bible based social, political, and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of G-d."
The prevalence of members of law enforcement and military among the mob that stormed the Capitol certainly evokes the specter of fascism. There were several reports that some members of the capitol police knew of the planned Illegal and armed entry of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys and even opened doors for them. We now know the Secret Service knew in advance of the planned attacks on Nancy Pelosi and did not warn her. It’s come to light that the inspector general of Homeland Security knew of the deletions of Secret Service phone messages from January 6th and withheld that information, for more than a year, from the Congressional committee investigating the January 6th insurrection.
It goes on and on. It’s known now that right-wing legislators in Arizona were willing to reverse the votes of the 2020 election and went so far as to create a slate of “fake” electors to replace the real ones. And so much more around the country.
I’d say we’ve moved into authoritarianism in Florida (with removal of an elected prosecutor; and muzzling of private businesses’ content in their employees’ on-the-job training — actions that have been commonplace, for some time, in Russia and Hungary and Belarus all modeled on authoritarian rule .)
I’d say we need to be very worried, and VERY scared and do EVERYTHING we can to thwart more take-over and subversion of our democracy. It’s no longer just about voting. All of us need to get involved in the making and passing of our laws.
Our elected officials are NOT going to save us. We must save ourselves, our democracy. We must get active now — somehow. Really, our democratic life is being disassembled, brick by brick, right before our eyes.
We need to look at recent state and local laws. Go to city council and county board meetings and attend public hearings of our state legislatures — this is where a lot of this stuff is happening. We need to speak out in these under-the-radar public forums. Participate in democracy!
We the people have the power to save our democracy, to prevent further subversion of our democratic government, to prevent our accelerating slide into authoritarianism — possibly into fascism.
We can do this. And, if we don’t, no one else will. No one can do it for us, nor should they. We CAN DO this.
We must save ourselves with each other. We must have each other’s back, and the back of democracy.
There's a world of difference between "facts" and "truth", and many people don't seem to get that difference. That's part of why Trumpers are so loyal despite all of the appalling things he's said and done. One of those truths is this country's drift towards a fascist orientation, which implies a lack of appreciation of how that change would affect their lives. Some people would lose much of what makes life in a democracy more rich and rewarding: Things like diversity, opportunity to grow both economically and as a person, and access to a rich palette of cultures would diminish under the narrow, intolerant version of government that Trump and the radical Republicans are offering. In a time of rapid change, that may seem comforting and safe to many of those who are losing ground. But it's an illusion to believe that the world they seek is better than the one we're building now. I hope that the candidates who win in 2022 and 2024 do so by offering hope, opportunity and freedom, not dictatorial government, exclusion and prejudice.
I think that, although the Inflation Reduction act was passed with Biden's strong input, we should not promote it as a win for Biden and the Democrats, but as a win for ALL American people, Republican, Independent , and Democrat. And we were successful without a single Republican vote.
I empathize with the sentiments, but I hate to see Progressives get drawn into this constant “fight” mentality. Fighting, othering, posing enemies, dividing-and-conquering and ultimately hating. That's all stuff of modern day Conservatism. So long as we get sucked into playing that game, by those rules, we will always be at a disadvantage because it’s not in Progressive nature to be equally mean-spirited and vicious — nor should it be.
Boxer Muhammed Ali had a technique called “Rope a Dope” wherein he’d protect his vitals and draw the opponent into expending all his energy in landing a barrage of useless blows. When the opponent was then exhausted, Ali could step in for the kill. Let’s not get rope-a-doped by the dark forces of Conservatism.
With atl the knowledge and resources available today, we really *can* have a country that works for the benefit of all. Let’s focus on that and rally the country to a better future -- for everyone.
I believe the election this fall will witness the largest percentage of registered voters in history. The sleepy people have been awakened by the fascists and religious extremists. Choice and democracy are clearly threatened by the reactionary radicals embracing election lies, banning books, restricting women's rights...and now a theft of top secret documents. Talk about motivation.
The frosting on the cake is the positive stuff recently passed and signed.
Oh...and the fiasco around veterans and burn pits? Indefensible.
We'll keep the House barely and we will have 52 Senators. Forward ho.
I honestly believe that most Republicans don’t even know what fascism’s beliefs are. They think they’re being “patriotic “.
That’s troublesome. Ignorance is not bliss-it’s just ignorant! Unfortunately most young people have lost their ability to effectively communicate verbally due to the aspects of social media and the constant use of computers and smartphones in my opinion . They have not been “taught” to think! ! Their parents and educators have not been able to breach the power of social media and the impact it has on them. A lot of kids can’t even have dinner without their smartphones at the dinner table-my God
that used to be a “table” of communication wasn’t it? My husband and I raised our daughters to actually THINK and one like me is on no social media and the other only on one. They were already grown by the time that smartphones came into existence . I think it is problematic to divert kids today away from the computers, phones and social media. Maybe they need a vacation like you Professor Reich from all that. Have a wonderful vacation -you’ll be missed for two weeks but I know upon your return they’ll be some worthy stories. Looking forward to those.
Thank you Heather for asking, and Bob for explaining both fascism and authoritarianism. Dr Reich, I liked you description of fascism as using racism and nationalism, but as I remember the 1926 to 1945 fascists I think you left out their use of the industrial/military complex, which both Hitler and Mussolini used so successfully. Japan was not fascist it was authoritarianism at its worst. I think of authoritarianism as "Please, Daddy tell me what to think, so I don't have to"
It may be interesting to reflect on the term belief in its context with religion and the great turmoil of the Reformation period. Where many stated that true belief was not a function of understanding, but rather an acceptance of authority and the complete obedience to it. 100% obedience. Authoritarianism is totally dependent on such automatic obedience. Culture wars, Republican dross and much of the duplicitous media are now all in on creating that mindless obedience as the primary road to their authoritarianism. The strategy is not to have a platform, an actual polity or a reasoned leadership, but simply to germinate a 16th century game of pure hatred and divisiveness as a permanent equation to political tyranny. Belief may often be thought of as a sacred thing, but criminally and horrifically constructed as a very undemocratic means…it is anything but. We now fight belief as an orchestrated nuclear first strike. The world has been here before.
The struggle we are in is against a system, not a specific political party. While the Republicans are pushing theocracy and xenophobia as their platform, the Democrats has been do as much for corporate America and as little for the people as possible over the past 40 years. In fact, Democrats have pushed austerity, militarism, for-profit health care, mass incarceration, overpolicing and immigrant abuse as much or more than Republicans over this period. Instead of wondering if the Inflation Reduction Act, which the CBO says will do nothing to reduce inflation, has the "sails at Biden's back," we should be wondering how we get such a paltry legislation with so little truly for 99% of us in it. Compromise is not between President Manchin, his VP Sinema and the negotiator-in-chief Biden, it's between Democrats and the lobbyists writing the legislation. Until that is fixed, we will keep playing the game of relativism, being frightened into supporting Democrats because Republicans are so awful while the rug is literally pulled out from under us. We should not have to be protecting and supporting our leaders, they should be protecting and supporting us.
I remain optimistic. All that stuff is good, but we have to grind to achieve victory.
All politics is local. I live in the Fascist state of Florida where we had 7 x the number of COVID deaths per 100,000 than other states (like California) because we were in a failed herd immunity experiment. Civil rights like freedom of assembly and voter rights have been curtailed by DeSantis and a willing state legislature. Republicans fight Mickey Mouse, our largest employer. a Republican candidate says stuff like “Under my plan, all Floridians will be able to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF, and all other federal troops on sight, Let freedom ring.” Republicans have been caught in voter fraud schemes.
According to polls, De Santis, our Francisco Franco, if not Fidel Castro, leads. Of course we are still in the midst of a primary election. One poll has Val Demmings up against Little Marco Rubio by 4 points but that is an outlier.
Democrats used to have a large majority, but now are a minority party, partly due to voter preclusion but also because of an influx of voters from out of state. However, the pandemic kept people from voting and many renters had to relocate and were struck from the rolls. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article264584481.html?ac_cid=DM686959&ac_bid=712207332
We have to stop Fascism. DeSantis is a "very dangerous individual' because he has 'already absorbed all the lessons of Trump" but doesn't have any of the baggage. We now have a civilian-law enforcement elections-fraud squad, DeSantis' personal army. We have "Don't Say Gay" and "Stop WOKE Act" to restrict race discussions in Florida but schools must dedicate at least 45 minutes of instruction on “Victims of Communism Day.” He made intrusions on academic freedom, and we have a “ballot harvesting” law—eliminating delivering mail-in ballots belonging to anyone except the single voter and immediate family members — a third-degree felony punishable by five years in prison and $5,000 in fines. And those are just examples.
We still have an opportunity. Field Team Six has a database of 770,734 unregistered likely Democratic women. We need help. Please contact Mervis Reissig.
merv4peace@gmail.com
Most of us have zero idea of how much is at stake and how much trouble we are in. Reasons: lousy public education past 40+ years bc defunded by congresses, cultural history of ignoring civics in education, lousy mainstream coverage of issues and connections between domestic policy and climate and foreign policy. Nobody connects war + drought + famine + drought + migration + economics. Forecast: we lose the House, keep Senate. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2022-election-forecast/
NO!!!!! Absolutely not. Unless they're in the enlightened minority, that's us of course. Just heard a Rep. offer their idiotic criticism of Joe B./Dems. The Rep. seem to think that all they had to say was "big government." At least in their mind, that was the end of the discussion. My reply to that is if it wasn't for Big Government starting 12/7/1941 we wouldn't be having this conversation in English. We need to counteract the Rep's favorite terms, of which there are more than a few. Here's my start: The scariest eight words in the English language: "I'm a Republican and I'm here to help." I'd love to see a list, a small dictionary, of new terms. Another one: Does capitalism produce goods and services? Of course not. Neither does socialism or an other form of government. All the goodies get produced by human labor, physical or mental. What do I Iike about Joe B. He does his best to act like a human being. He doesn't cave in to the Rep.'s threats, like Clinton and Obama.
Waiting to have coffee with y'all -- excuse me, I'm from Georgia -- is one of my favorite parts of the week. Thanks to chat rooms on the Internet, I can play it in a room with several like-minded political junkies.
Do we understand the fight we're in? ... I wonder. In my work life, I was employed by a few multinational corporations, and the tone and tenor of what is happening in America now goes back to those companies and how people reacted when faced with "downsizing" and the loss of thousands of jobs. (How we as a society responded to the pandemic is a good indicator. I well recall my first polio shot in the 1950s -- and I can't remember ANYONE questioning the science. )
A successful "long game" in the fight we're in has been conducted by the religious right (Christian nationalists) who insist there is no separation between church and state -- and funded by billionaires who are opposed to any means to more equitably distribute wealth. One of the key fronts in the battle comes in the form of our public schools. Here is what we are up against, make no mistake:
"So let's be blunt about it: we must use the doctrine of religious liberty to gain independence for Christian schools until we raise up a generation of people who know there is NO religious neutrality, no neutral law, no neutral education and no neutral civil government. Then they will get busy in constructing a bible based social, political, and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of G-d."
The prevalence of members of law enforcement and military among the mob that stormed the Capitol certainly evokes the specter of fascism. There were several reports that some members of the capitol police knew of the planned Illegal and armed entry of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys and even opened doors for them. We now know the Secret Service knew in advance of the planned attacks on Nancy Pelosi and did not warn her. It’s come to light that the inspector general of Homeland Security knew of the deletions of Secret Service phone messages from January 6th and withheld that information, for more than a year, from the Congressional committee investigating the January 6th insurrection.
It goes on and on. It’s known now that right-wing legislators in Arizona were willing to reverse the votes of the 2020 election and went so far as to create a slate of “fake” electors to replace the real ones. And so much more around the country.
I’d say we’ve moved into authoritarianism in Florida (with removal of an elected prosecutor; and muzzling of private businesses’ content in their employees’ on-the-job training — actions that have been commonplace, for some time, in Russia and Hungary and Belarus all modeled on authoritarian rule .)
I’d say we need to be very worried, and VERY scared and do EVERYTHING we can to thwart more take-over and subversion of our democracy. It’s no longer just about voting. All of us need to get involved in the making and passing of our laws.
Our elected officials are NOT going to save us. We must save ourselves, our democracy. We must get active now — somehow. Really, our democratic life is being disassembled, brick by brick, right before our eyes.
We need to look at recent state and local laws. Go to city council and county board meetings and attend public hearings of our state legislatures — this is where a lot of this stuff is happening. We need to speak out in these under-the-radar public forums. Participate in democracy!
We the people have the power to save our democracy, to prevent further subversion of our democratic government, to prevent our accelerating slide into authoritarianism — possibly into fascism.
We can do this. And, if we don’t, no one else will. No one can do it for us, nor should they. We CAN DO this.
We must save ourselves with each other. We must have each other’s back, and the back of democracy.
We must keep paying attention.
Everything is moving very fast.
But, we can do this: save our democracy.
There's a world of difference between "facts" and "truth", and many people don't seem to get that difference. That's part of why Trumpers are so loyal despite all of the appalling things he's said and done. One of those truths is this country's drift towards a fascist orientation, which implies a lack of appreciation of how that change would affect their lives. Some people would lose much of what makes life in a democracy more rich and rewarding: Things like diversity, opportunity to grow both economically and as a person, and access to a rich palette of cultures would diminish under the narrow, intolerant version of government that Trump and the radical Republicans are offering. In a time of rapid change, that may seem comforting and safe to many of those who are losing ground. But it's an illusion to believe that the world they seek is better than the one we're building now. I hope that the candidates who win in 2022 and 2024 do so by offering hope, opportunity and freedom, not dictatorial government, exclusion and prejudice.
I think that, although the Inflation Reduction act was passed with Biden's strong input, we should not promote it as a win for Biden and the Democrats, but as a win for ALL American people, Republican, Independent , and Democrat. And we were successful without a single Republican vote.
I empathize with the sentiments, but I hate to see Progressives get drawn into this constant “fight” mentality. Fighting, othering, posing enemies, dividing-and-conquering and ultimately hating. That's all stuff of modern day Conservatism. So long as we get sucked into playing that game, by those rules, we will always be at a disadvantage because it’s not in Progressive nature to be equally mean-spirited and vicious — nor should it be.
Boxer Muhammed Ali had a technique called “Rope a Dope” wherein he’d protect his vitals and draw the opponent into expending all his energy in landing a barrage of useless blows. When the opponent was then exhausted, Ali could step in for the kill. Let’s not get rope-a-doped by the dark forces of Conservatism.
With atl the knowledge and resources available today, we really *can* have a country that works for the benefit of all. Let’s focus on that and rally the country to a better future -- for everyone.
I believe the election this fall will witness the largest percentage of registered voters in history. The sleepy people have been awakened by the fascists and religious extremists. Choice and democracy are clearly threatened by the reactionary radicals embracing election lies, banning books, restricting women's rights...and now a theft of top secret documents. Talk about motivation.
The frosting on the cake is the positive stuff recently passed and signed.
Oh...and the fiasco around veterans and burn pits? Indefensible.
We'll keep the House barely and we will have 52 Senators. Forward ho.
I honestly believe that most Republicans don’t even know what fascism’s beliefs are. They think they’re being “patriotic “.
That’s troublesome. Ignorance is not bliss-it’s just ignorant! Unfortunately most young people have lost their ability to effectively communicate verbally due to the aspects of social media and the constant use of computers and smartphones in my opinion . They have not been “taught” to think! ! Their parents and educators have not been able to breach the power of social media and the impact it has on them. A lot of kids can’t even have dinner without their smartphones at the dinner table-my God
that used to be a “table” of communication wasn’t it? My husband and I raised our daughters to actually THINK and one like me is on no social media and the other only on one. They were already grown by the time that smartphones came into existence . I think it is problematic to divert kids today away from the computers, phones and social media. Maybe they need a vacation like you Professor Reich from all that. Have a wonderful vacation -you’ll be missed for two weeks but I know upon your return they’ll be some worthy stories. Looking forward to those.
Have a wonderful vacation!
I'm determined to be optimistic.
From a language nerd in Paris. Instead of Trumper, how about saying Trumplican?
Thank you Heather for asking, and Bob for explaining both fascism and authoritarianism. Dr Reich, I liked you description of fascism as using racism and nationalism, but as I remember the 1926 to 1945 fascists I think you left out their use of the industrial/military complex, which both Hitler and Mussolini used so successfully. Japan was not fascist it was authoritarianism at its worst. I think of authoritarianism as "Please, Daddy tell me what to think, so I don't have to"
It may be interesting to reflect on the term belief in its context with religion and the great turmoil of the Reformation period. Where many stated that true belief was not a function of understanding, but rather an acceptance of authority and the complete obedience to it. 100% obedience. Authoritarianism is totally dependent on such automatic obedience. Culture wars, Republican dross and much of the duplicitous media are now all in on creating that mindless obedience as the primary road to their authoritarianism. The strategy is not to have a platform, an actual polity or a reasoned leadership, but simply to germinate a 16th century game of pure hatred and divisiveness as a permanent equation to political tyranny. Belief may often be thought of as a sacred thing, but criminally and horrifically constructed as a very undemocratic means…it is anything but. We now fight belief as an orchestrated nuclear first strike. The world has been here before.
The struggle we are in is against a system, not a specific political party. While the Republicans are pushing theocracy and xenophobia as their platform, the Democrats has been do as much for corporate America and as little for the people as possible over the past 40 years. In fact, Democrats have pushed austerity, militarism, for-profit health care, mass incarceration, overpolicing and immigrant abuse as much or more than Republicans over this period. Instead of wondering if the Inflation Reduction Act, which the CBO says will do nothing to reduce inflation, has the "sails at Biden's back," we should be wondering how we get such a paltry legislation with so little truly for 99% of us in it. Compromise is not between President Manchin, his VP Sinema and the negotiator-in-chief Biden, it's between Democrats and the lobbyists writing the legislation. Until that is fixed, we will keep playing the game of relativism, being frightened into supporting Democrats because Republicans are so awful while the rug is literally pulled out from under us. We should not have to be protecting and supporting our leaders, they should be protecting and supporting us.