(05-18-2017, 02:45 AM)Warren Dew Wrote:(05-17-2017, 02:31 PM)David Horn Wrote:(05-17-2017, 01:52 PM)beechnut79 Wrote: Let it for now suffice to say that there really is no way that Trump, or Pence for that matter, can be another Hitler. We have a Constitution in place to prevent that. And while we're at it, how many of you feel as though Trump is creating a Constitutional crisis worse than Watergate?
A Yale professor on this morning's Morning Joe made the argument that a slide to authoritarianism is not impossible in the US. His argument centered on the power of institutions, including the rule of law. All of them consist of real people, who may rise to the occasion or not. Failure to respond early in the process of degradation can make any response impossible later.
The biggest threat of authoritarianism isn't Trump but the federal establishment. If the bureaucrats manage to get rid of Trump through their whisper campaign of illegal leaks, the voters will never matter again.
The administrative state effectively creates and enforces laws all on its own through rule making authority so voters largely don't matter already. So the outcome you describe is quite possible.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. -- H.L. Mencken
If one rejects laissez faire on account of man's fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action. -- Ludwig von Mises
If one rejects laissez faire on account of man's fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action. -- Ludwig von Mises