03-16-2017, 06:54 PM
(03-10-2017, 05:11 PM)TeacherinExile Wrote: Listen, I'll readily admit that Steve Bannon worries me far more than Trump does. I prefer not to have any ideologue sitting at the right hand of the president. I admit, as well, some discomfort that Neil Howe lent his participation to Bannon's patently slanted documentary Generation Zero, to which I took issue--even umbrage--at a number of his suppositions. (More on that later.)
Okay, so Steve Bannon has made some speeches, and has read more than a few books. I get the concern, and attention must be paid, I'll grant you that. But the key question for me boils down to this: Is there more than "six degrees of separation" between Bannon the provocateur and Bannon the president's chief political strategist? Because if there is, maybe we need to dial down the volume just a bit. (I have, though I remain watchful, to the extent that that's possible for an ordinary citizen.)
How will we know if Steve Bannon--and by logical extension, Trump--is using any text as a "playbook" for domestic and foreign policy? Was Bannon's recent language about establishing a "new political order" lifted right out of The Fourth Turning? Is that alone sufficient evidence on its face to accuse Bannon of orchestrating a self-fulfilling prophecy with Trump's tacit approval? (Some us may recall that George H.W. Bush spoke of a "new world order," which some Americans immediately interpreted in strictly conspiratorial terms.)
Wouldn't it be glaringly obvious if our president was using any radical text--Mein Kampf, included--to hoodwink the American public, and bring about some dystopian vision? Does totalitarianism come that easily to a mature democracy? Or will it come creeping in on "little cat's feet" in a guise--and for a purpose--with which we are comfortably familiar? Some astute observer speculated that if fascism ever comes to America, it will be a fascism created to fight another fascism (say, Islamofascism). That I can buy, especially if our "fascism" is in response to a terrorist attack that makes 9-11 pale by comparison. One pundit has even ventured so far as to say that we are one such attack away from the end of the "open society" as we know it. Perish the thought. That event might coincide with some kind of authoritarianism--benign or otherwise.
It's not going to be so easy as suddenly slipping a "black hood" over our heads and carrying us off to...whatever. There will be more to go by--something other than old speeches and a controversial reading list--to alert us that liberal democracy is about to meet its demise.
We need to shout and scream as loudly as possible; raise the volume so loud that it makes people deaf.
Trump is reprehensible; at least 1000 times worse than Hillary would have been. Trump is evil, criminal, ghastly, monstrous, horrible... you can fill in the blank with whatever bad word you choose, and it would not be bad enough.
Crump and Bannon's plan is to destroy America by filling the swamp with alligators. His government is already a corporate takeover to boost the oligarchy much further than it already has been by 40 years of neo-liberalism. Drump is neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism on steroids; his cabinet appointments and his budget prove this beyond any question. That's only step one. He has already started to sweep people off the streets while their families watch, and deport them without justfication. He wants already to waste all our money by cutting all the programs we need and spend it instead on a wall boondoggle, replace emergency help for people in need with more "security" against non-existent threats, and spend billions on more war toys so that America can win so much we will get tired of winning-- at an unknown cost to lives and treasure and standing in the world. A war with Russia who is invited by Drump's negligence and collusion to invade Europe would suit his plan. Or if not, an attack on North Korea might do.
Next, their plan is to wipe out the free press, already declared "the enemy of the people." Coverage of his activities will not be allowed. Demonstrators will be jailed just for participating non-violently in a march where some thugs break some windows. Public broadcasting, the only real mass media in this country already which provides news and information, will be cut back so it will have to spend even more time hocking stuff and asking for dough 24/7/365.
It won't stop there. The following is just my estimate; the preceding list is well underway already. Drump and Cannon will incite riots, or announce terrorist attacks that didn't happen, with news blackouts so the people don't know they didn't happen, and that will lead to enabling laws so that Drump can become our Big Daddy Dictator. Drump is Mussolini and Nero reincarnate. He is setting the world on fire so he can watch it burn!