@simon_brooke@mastodon.scotI feel a wee essay coming on on why #democracy and #liberalism are incompatible with one another.
I suspect it will irritate a lot of people, because, like the emperor's lack of clothes, this is not something we are supposed to notice.
@Tupp_ed@mastodon.ieNew Mini-Gist: Power’s Walled Cities
A Democracy where politicians are in constant office, but do not respond to citizens’ wishes (or even just their own voters’ interests) but just advance the policies that suit monied lobbies is a disaffection machine.
https://www.thegist.ie/mini-gist-powers-wa
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioThis is exactly the groundwork we need to be laying right now, and I’m delighted to hear it coming from a US Senator (!):
If Trump tries to prevent a fair election from happening, then we need “a true national strike in the sense that, if they do this, if they try to overthrow our democracy, if you are allied with democracy, do not go to work . If you’re a pilot, do not show up. If you drive a train, do not show up. If you’re a teacher, do not show up. We grind the country to a halt.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/06/donald-trump-voting-midterms-democrat-national-strike
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@cdarwin@c.imDemocracy experts believe there is no longer any doubt about Trump’s desire to interfere with this fall’s elections.
“We should not be waiting for the next shoe to drop,”
said Wendy Weiser, vice-president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice.
🆘“There is a full-blown effort to seize control of some of the mechanisms of our elections and to lay the foundation for interfering in upcoming elections.”
The president has no power over federal elections,
and …
@curiouscat@fosstodon.orgI donated again to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Due to the dire threats to the USA from the current administration and the Republican party I am donating as much as I spend on myself to charity this year.
https://www.splcenter.org/
We still have so much racism injustice for the poor in the USA. We…
@hex@kolektiva.socialAfter #Trump finally crashes and burns (I'm still saying I don't think he makes it to the mid terms, and I think it's more than possible he won't make it to the end of the year) we'll hear a lot of people say, "the system worked!" Today people are already talking about "saving democracy" by fighting back. This will become a big rally cry to vote (for Democrats, specifically), and the complete failure of the system will be held up as the best evidence for even greater investment in it.
I just want to point out that American democracy gave nuclear weapons to a pedophile, who, before being elected was already a well known sexual predator, and who made the campaign promise to commit genocide. He then preceded to commit genocide. And like, I don't care that he's "only" kidnaped and disappeared a few thousand brown people. That's still genocide. Even if you don't kill every member of a targeted group, any attempt to do so is still "committing genocide." Trump said he would commit genocide, then he hired all the "let's go do a race war" guys he could find and *paid* them to go do a race war. And, even now as this deranged monster is crashing out, he is still authorized to use the world's largest nuclear arsenal.
He committed genocide during his first term when his administration separated migrant parents and children, then adopted those children out to other parents. That's technically genocide. The point was to destroy the very people been sending right wing terror squads after.
There was a peaceful hand over of power to a known Russian asset *twice*, and the second time he'd already committed *at least one* act of genocide *and* destroyed cultural heritage sites (oh yeah, he also destroyed indigenous grave sites, in case you forgot, during his first term).
All of this was allowed because the system is set up to protect exactly these types of people, because *exactly* these types of people are *the entire power structure*.
Going back to that system means going back to exactly the system that gave nuclear weapons to a pedophile *TWICE*.
I'm already seeing the attempts to pull people back, the congratulations as we enter the final phase, the belief that getting Trump out will let us all get back to normal. Normal. The normal that lead here in the first place. I can already see the brunch reservations being made. When Trump is over, we will be told we won. We will be told that it's time to go back to sleep.
When they tell you everything worked, everything is better, that we can stop because we won, tell them "fuck you! Never again means never again." Destroy every system that ever gave these people power, that ever protected them from consequences, that ever let them hide what they were doing.
These democrats funded a genocide abroad and laid the groundwork for genocide at home. They protected these predators, for years. The whole power structure is guilty. As these files implicate so many powerful people, they're trying to shove everything back in the box. After all the suffering, after we've finally made it clear that we are the once with the power, only now they're willing to sacrifice Trump to calm us all down.
No, that's a good start but it can't be the end.
Winning can't be enough to quench that rage. Keep it burning. When this is over, let victory fan that anger until every institution that made this possible lies in ashes. Burn it all down and salt the earth. Taking down Trump is a great start, but it's not time to give up until this isn't possible again.
#USPol
@boris@cosocial.ca“[open social] must be funded like infrastructure, not consumer apps. In fact, given the scale of hybrid threats, it should be funded from defense budgets, not innovation leftovers.
The strategic layer of democracy is the information layer. And right now, it is outsourced.” @seabass.bsky.social
<…
@cdarwin@c.imRright now it is unlikely that Trump gets a "rally around the flag" boost for his seizing of Maduro as
1) it didn’t happen with his invasion of cities or his attack on Iran
2) the country just isn’t on board some kind of extended military campaign in Venezuela
3) it increasingly feels like Trump has no real plan for what comes next in Venezuela, and like Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, thought the government would just fall and he could waltz into the Capital.
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialIn case anyone was wondering about the relevance of #LandBack in the current moment, via CrimeThinc an article on the Minneapolis resistance states:
"""
The Whipple, a federal building in Fort Snelling on the outskirts of the Minneapolis and St. Paul, has long been a regional headquarters for ICE, having previously housed other federal agencies. The complex is located across the street from a National Guard base, down the road from a military base, and next to the preserved fort itself. The fort sits on the sacred site of the convergence of two rivers. It was one of the earliest sites of colonization in the area; at one time, it was a concentration camp holding native Dakota people.
"""
If at any point in the past you ever felt that maybe Native soverignty was a niche issue, or so far from being realized that other causes were more important or relevant, things like this are a good reminder that that cause: overturning the colonial order, is the *same* cause as any meaningful change from the fascist status quo. Things like a "return to democracy" aren't necessarily bad, but the rot runs to the root of this nation, and any intervention that doesn't go that deep is going to leave us right back in this situation again later on.
The fact that ICE is detaining Native Americans is not at all a mistake given their white supremacist aims.
Article link: #ICE #LandBack
@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.netSeries C, Episode 07 - Children of Auron
CALLY: This is not a trap.
AVON: Not knowingly, perhaps.
TARRANT: Zen, reroute to planet Auron.
AVON: Just like that?
TARRANT: A democracy. You're outvoted, Avon. Three to two.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/307/165 B7B6
@cdarwin@c.imWe are not in an era where democracy is “challenged.”
We are in an era where democracy is under siege.
Authoritarianism isn’t knocking…it’s battering the door.
Propaganda isn’t creeping…it’s flooding.
The public isn’t outraged…they’re exhausted.
This isn’t a moment for:
“Be Inspired.”
“Stay Hopeful.”
“Vote Blue.”
“We’ll Be Fine.”
This is a moment for:
“DO. NOT. LET. GO. OF DEMOCRACY.”
@cdarwin@c.imTrump has effectively turned the White House into a slush fund,
running the federal government like a personal ATM.
Public money, political favors and government power are funneled to his friends and family businesses,
while regulatory agencies and enforcement mechanisms are hollowed out or weaponized for profit.
His oligarch allies, from big tech executives to big oil barons, are already seeing massive returns on their political investments.
This is not demo…
@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.caFull disclosure for Canadian folks.
Yes I am an #NDP member.
I have also been a Green Party (Federal) member. #gpc
I have always been on the orange/green fence. This post explains my history and current thinking about parties and this moment in Canada.
I had never been a member of any party, then I voted in the GPC leadership race with Annamie Paul and Dimitri Lascarsis because I wanted to make a difference more than just talking online…
When that party disintegrated, I left, but had got the taste… so then I joined the BCNDP to participate in their leadership campaign after Horgan. I supported the upstart Appadurai who got disqualified… but she made a splash and a very very important point!
So I stuck around… and now I am going to vote in the Federal NDP leadership because I see a couple really good candidates that could push Canada in a #democraticSocialist direction.
I encourage others to do the same. Canada and Canadians need real options right now. Liberal, NDP, and others. Be involved. Become a member even if you don’t think you’ll stick. Be involved.
After the leadership vote I will likely let my membership lapse and go back to being a free agent… towing a party line is not my style…
But it is important in this moment in the world to fight for what you believe in, so that’s why I am voting in the NDP leadership.
I know I will be voting for one or more of these depending how the voting works.
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#canpoli #cdnpoli #canada #liberalparty #democracy #beinvolved
