Morning, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between. Coffee. Black. Three sugars.
A new paradigm.
Back in August of 2023 I published a blogpost establishing a parallel between my upbringing in a fascist country and the real threat such would come to pass here. History rarely repeats itself flawlessly; all it does is show us behavioral patterns likely to lead to similar results.
Those patterns are obvious to those, like me, who have lived through them. To others, not so much or, unfortunately, not at all. In spite of my warning having thousands of views, along with many other similar ones, most people believed it was an overreaction. Indeed, as I have said myself, the US is a much bigger and much more different country than Germany, which together with contemporary factors unthinkable in 1933 made the Nazi phenomenon impossible to carbon copy.
This is where critical thinking comes into play, and the ability to look for patterns rather than exact layouts. I didn’t know how exactly the institutionalization of fascism would come to be made but I knew it would require elections and the breakdown of the legislative AND judicial systems so the executive could rule supreme. That’s exactly what happened with the ascension of Nazism in Germany and that would undoubtedly happen here, should TFG win, as he has.
I just didn’t know how that would happen. But now I do. To commit a crime with impunity the best thing to do is to dismantle the organizations that would stop it and punish it. When the crime is to destroy democratic society that objective is both the assurance of impunity and the crime itself. So think of Musk’s cybertrooper kids as the Nazi Sturmabteilung, or SA. That’s their part to play, the pattern we’re looking for.
Not a part of the elected government, acting outside the law, unstoppable due to the control government itself has over the institutions meant to investigate, stop, and punish them. Without uniforms and armed with computers. No stormtroopers: cybertroopers. And this is how the size of our country becomes irrelevant as a protective buffer against this assault.
To make matters worse, the DOJ is now in the hands of a puppet whose main concern is to prevent any legal action against the government and ignore the unconstitutional criminal actions of the cybertroopers while going after those who oppose both. Yet the FBI is resisting the ongoing purge and the courts are trying to minimize the ongoing slaughter. Regardless of the puppet AG and the conniving SCOTUS, the courts remain our immediate line of defense. For now.
What do we have that Germany didn’t in 1932? What the Ukrainians did, during the Maidan uprising of 2013-14: the people. We will not go gently into that good night and if there’s one playbook we need to look at to fight the seemingly inexorable institution of fascism in our country is the Ukrainian playbook. I’m convinced that only massive peaceful demonstrations, coupled with nationwide strikes and civil disobedience will stop it.
Step two of the take over, the conversion of the legislature into a useless, aesthetic body that allows the executive all power, is in progress. It will serve as a rubber stamp to all the dear leader wishes done, and if we do regain control of the House in April it will probably be dissolved under martial law. Unless the people make that impossible. Much as the technocrats wish, this country cannot work without the cooperation of its people yet.
We can’t be replaced by robots or AI, yet. We have the power. The power to say no. The power to disobey. The power to stop this madness. But we must not wait for the very probable dissolution of Congress and we cannot leave to the courts alone the fight that belongs to us. I see some reminding us that demonstrations “are nice” but ineffective. Tell that to the Ukrainian people.
This, and I can’t stress it enough, is not a drill. People will die on the streets. Understand that is not just a real possibility: it will happen. And it will happen during peaceful demonstrations, just as it did during the Civil Rights Movement and just as it did during the Ukrainian Maidan. We had our shot at bloodless change last November and it was taken away from us. It does matter if by apathy or if outright stolen, and we will get to the bottom of it. But not now.
As much as I agree with those wanting swing states recounts and vote tampering investigations that’s not going to happen now. It’s a waste of time as we don’t have the means to do it. We have to focus on the ongoing coup that is taking democracy away from us as we speak. That’s where all our energy needs to be channeled to. Expect a hard push back from “the authorities”. Be careful about the way you resist and oppose as only you know how much you can give.
I see some people already leaving SM for fear of the very real harm they and their families may face if they go on writing against the government and the orange turd. I don’t blame them. My disabled wife asked me how long will I keep risking our lives by posting these words. I don’t know. As long as I can. Maybe one day I will have to stop, but not today. One thing is certain: it will come a time when none of us will have anything left to lose if we don’t try to prevent it.
If we get to that point it won’t be too late to fight but the fight will get much harder and deadly. So stand up and do your part right now, big or small. Take to the streets everywhere if you can. Give our elected officials the strength they need to get bolder and louder by our example. And if you are one of those targeted by the coup, still with a government job, do not quit. Do not resign. You are not alone. None of us are.
Resist & Oppose!
