Why It Can Happen Here

I cannot access link because I do not have online subscription. Is there another way to get the article?


I can't find another way to read it, and I'm not going to paste the whole thing here - but here's a few paragraphs:

In both countries the ruling parties — Law and Justice in Poland, Fidesz in Hungary — have established regimes that maintain the forms of popular elections, but have destroyed the independence of the judiciary, suppressed freedom of the press, institutionalized large-scale corruption and effectively delegitimized dissent. The result seems likely to be one-party rule for the foreseeable future.
And it could all too easily happen here. There was a time, not long ago, when people used to say that our democratic norms, our proud history of freedom, would protect us from such a slide into tyranny. In fact, some people still say that. But believing such a thing today requires willful blindness. The fact is that the Republican Party is ready, even eager, to become an American version of Law and Justice or Fidesz, exploiting its current political power to lock in permanent rule.



LOST said:
I cannot access link because I do not have online subscription. Is there another way to get the article?

 Here's the entire piece:

Opinion

Why It Can Happen Here

We’re very close to becoming another Poland or Hungary.

Paul Krugman

By Paul Krugman

Opinion Columnist


Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a friend of mine — an expert on international relations — made a joke: “Now that Eastern Europe is free from the alien ideology of Communism, it can return to its true historical path — fascism.” Even at the time, his quip had a real edge.

And as of 2018 it hardly seems like a joke at all. What Freedom House calls illiberalism is on the rise across Eastern Europe. This includes Poland and Hungary, both still members of the European Union, in which democracy as we normally understand it is already dead.

In both countries the ruling parties — Law and Justice in Poland, Fidesz in Hungary — have established regimes that maintain the forms of popular elections, but have destroyed the independence of the judiciary, suppressed freedom of the press, institutionalized large-scale corruption and effectively delegitimized dissent. The result seems likely to be one-party rule for the foreseeable future.

And it could all too easily happen here. There was a time, not long ago, when people used to say that our democratic norms, our proud history of freedom, would protect us from such a slide into tyranny. In fact, some people still say that. But believing such a thing today requires willful blindness. The fact is that the Republican Party is ready, even eager, to become an American version of Law and Justice or Fidesz, exploiting its current political power to lock in permanent rule.

Just look at what has been happening at the state level.

In North Carolina, after a Democrat won the governorship, Republicans used the incumbent’s final days to pass legislation stripping the governor’s office of much of its power.

In Georgia, Republicans tried to use transparently phony concerns about access for disabled voters to close most of the polling places in a mainly black district.

In West Virginia, Republican legislators exploited complaints about excessive spending to impeach the entire State Supreme Court and replace it with party loyalists.

And these are just the cases that have received national attention. There are surely scores if not hundreds of similar stories across the nation. What all of them reflect is the reality that the modern G.O.P. feels no allegiance to democratic ideals; it will do whatever it thinks it can get away with to entrench its power.

What about developments at the national level? That’s where things get really scary. We’re currently sitting on a knife edge. If we fall off it in the wrong direction — specifically, if Republicans retain control of both houses of Congress in November — we will become another Poland or Hungary faster than you can imagine.

This week Axios created a bit of a stir with a scoop about a spreadsheetcirculating among Republicans in Congress, listing investigations they think Democrats are likely to carry out if they take the House. The thing about the list is that every item on it — starting with Donald Trump’s tax returns — is something that obviously should be investigated, and would have been investigated under any other president. But the people circulating the document simply take it for granted that Republicans won’t address any of these issues: Party loyalty will prevail over constitutional responsibility.

Many Trump critics celebrated last week’s legal developments, taking the Manafort conviction and the Cohen guilty plea as signs that the walls may finally be closing in on the lawbreaker in chief. But I felt a sense of deepened dread as I watched the Republican reaction: Faced with undeniable evidence of Trump’s thuggishness, his party closed ranks around him more tightly than ever.

A year ago it seemed possible that there might be limits to the party’s complicity, that there would come a point where at least a few representatives or senators would say, no more. Now it’s clear that there are no limits: They’ll do whatever it takes to defend Trump and consolidate power.

This goes even for politicians who once seemed to have some principles. Senator Susan Collins of Maine was a voice of independence in the health care debate; now she sees no problem with having a president who’s an unindicted co-conspirator appoint a Supreme Court justice who believes that presidents are immune from prosecution. Senator Lindsey Graham denounced Trump in 2016, and until recently seemed to be standing up against the idea of firing the attorney general to kill the Mueller investigation; now he’s signaled that he’s O.K. with such a firing.

But why is America, the birthplace of democracy, so close to following the lead of other countries that have recently destroyed it?

Don’t tell me about “economic anxiety.” That’s not what happened in Poland, which grew steadily through the financial crisis and its aftermath. And it’s not what happened here in 2016: Study after study has found that racial resentment, not economic distress, drove Trump voters.

The point is that we’re suffering from the same disease — white nationalism run wild — that has already effectively killed democracy in some other Western nations. And we’re very, very close to the point of no return.

>>



the really scary thing is how Trump and the R's are packing the courts.  The next few years will see a startling growth in the number of "unconstitutional" liberal laws, among other things.


What is the solution?


I think that economics will largely determine the direction the country goes. With unemployment down and most financial stats looking good, people are more content than they would be if the numbers were ugly. I'm not hoping for a recession, but if we have one, I doubt people would be as supportive of those in office now.

When people can't find work, when mortgage rates are skyrocketing, when daily headlines about economic problems are prevalent, when the stock market is crashing, that's when those in office lose support. These days the opposite is true. 


KPMG took a good look at several scenarios involving global trade wars and different levels of sanctions, trade agreements etc.

While the following article was written for our morning news (it's now late afternoon), you might find the predictions for the USA interesting because I suspect you're not hearing this info:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-28/full-trade-war-could-cut-australian-household-income-by-470bn/10173594?section=business 


drummerboy said:
Vote!!!!

 First, you have to also get others to vote. Second you have to fight to make sure everyone is allowed to vote.

Hopefully we will not have to fight to make sure we have a vote.


joanne said:
KPMG took a good look at several scenarios involving global trade wars and different levels of sanctions, trade agreements etc.
While the following article was written for our morning news (it's now late afternoon), you might find the predictions for the USA interesting because I suspect you're not hearing this info:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-28/full-trade-war-could-cut-australian-household-income-by-470bn/10173594?section=business 

Thanks Joanne. I’ve shared this via my Facebook page, so at least a few more people will see it.   


LOST said:
 First, you have to also get others to vote. Second you have to fight to make sure everyone is allowed to vote.
Hopefully we will not have to fight to make sure we have a vote.

 Things are not looking good. And the vulnerabilities that voting machines have to hackers is extremely alarming.


drummerboy said:
the really scary thing is how Trump and the R's are packing the courts.  The next few years will see a startling growth in the number of "unconstitutional" liberal laws, among other things.

Not just "liberal" laws. A complete redo, a going back to the Lochner era. A very, very pro-business era of no rights for workers. The only right workers had was to quit.

They ruled business contracts are constitutionally protected. In effect a business contract would override just about anything. When some legislatures passed child and other labor laws, they were struck down because the laws violated the "constitutionally protected" contracts.

In effect, the only rights workers had, besides quitting, were enumerated in business contracts. Usually none. A serfdom for the masses with no social safety net fallback. You quit your job, you're on your own.

Does anyone really believe, the Republican senators, who are busy batch processing judicial nominees, really care that much about Roe v Wade? Their real concern is to bring back an environment where worker right are severely curtailed.


Both Lochner and Adair rested on the premise that the Constitution protects an individual’s right to sell his labor at any cost. This doctrine trammeled minimum wage and maximum hour rules, as well as laws safeguarding workers’ right to unionize.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/the-lochner-era-is-set-for-a-comeback-at-the-supreme-court.html

During this period, the Supreme Court struck down both state and federal labor laws that limited working hours and instituted a minimum wage, holding that they interfered with employees' liberty right to freely contract with employers, which they believed was protected by the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause. They also believed federal minimum wage legislation set an artificial standard that interfered with business, and was an inappropriate government intervention.

https://www.answers.com/Q/How_did_the_US_Supreme_Court_help_businesses_in_the_1920s


BG9, is that what’s behind the grumbling about leaving the WTO? I couldn’t figure it out when I first read it then saw it again yesterday. Seriously, the view from outside your nation is that you’ve all been whisked back to the mid- to late 1800s in some alternate reality, and you’re having to rewrite your social and economic history; it’s not pretty. We’ve all moved on and we take certain conventions for granted now, going rogue will only be tolerated for a little while. 


Re the voting machines: I’ve kept away from the Russia threads for weeks, so I don’t know if this was mentioned. We vote low-tech, with pencils and paper, because they’re reliable in all conditions and locations. We have a very low incidence of voter fraud or tampering. And you know it compulsory for us to attend a polling place (we don’t have to vote, just show up). So your use of voting machines puzzles me. A couple of weeks ago the BBC had an article about an event where school children were being taught how easy it is to tamper with them and rig the results. Why isn’t this discussed more?

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45154903


BG9 said:


drummerboy said:
the really scary thing is how Trump and the R's are packing the courts.  The next few years will see a startling growth in the number of "unconstitutional" liberal laws, among other things.
Not just "liberal" laws. A complete redo, a going back to the Lochner era. A very, very pro-business era of no rights for workers. The only right workers had was to quit.
They ruled business contracts are constitutionally protected. In effect a business contract would override just about anything. When some legislatures passed child and other labor laws, they were struck down because the laws violated the "constitutionally protected" contracts.
In effect, the only rights workers had, besides quitting, were enumerated in business contracts. Usually none. A serfdom for the masses with no social safety net fallback. You quit your job, you're on your own.
Does anyone really believe, the Republican senators, who are busy batch processing judicial nominees, really care that much about Roe v Wade? Their real concern is to bring back an environment where worker right are severely curtailed.
 


 I agree completely.


joanne said:


 Re the voting machines: I’ve kept away from the Russia threads for weeks, so I don’t know if this was mentioned. We vote low-tech, with pencils and paper, because they’re reliable in all conditions and locations. We have a very low incidence of voter fraud or tampering. And you know it compulsory for us to attend a polling place (we don’t have to vote, just show up). So your use of voting machines puzzles me. A couple of weeks ago the BBC had an article about an event where school children were being taught how easy it is to tamper with them and rig the results. Why isn’t this discussed more?
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45154903

 Besides being enthralled by technology it was believed that paper ballots were easily tampered with. They could be marked up or destroyed or counterfeited by crooked Election Officials. Those things probably did happen in he 19th and early 20th Century.

The old fashioned mechanical voting machines left a paper record. It's the latest electronic and digital machines that are hackable.

And certainly the paper Butterfly Ballots used in Florida in 2000 caused a major problem. 


On the topic of the Supreme Court and "liberal laws" not the following article from National Review in 2011.

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/federal-minimum-wage-unconstitutional


LOST said:
On the topic of the Supreme Court and "liberal laws" not the following article from National Review in 2011.
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/federal-minimum-wage-unconstitutional

 I remember vigorous MOL discussion at the time. cheese


Re the tampering of paper ballots: Aussies just don’t understand why anyone would want to go to that much effort. Any fiddling of an election result ultimately comes back to a physical recounting of physical paper ballots, and it takes a lot of effort and coordination to ‘hack’ them significantly. We just can’t be bothered. There are much more efficient ways to mess with government. 



In order to add a comment – you must Join this community – Click here to do so.

Sponsored Business

Find Business

Rentals

Advertise here!