I am being absolutely serious here with the Weimar Republic comparison. Because people are fucking miserable and it’s fucking terrifying.
A hundred years ago, broke people in big cities would go to fascist rallies because they were free, and because sometimes the organizers gave out free food and beer, and because people had nothing better to do.
And they stayed because hate feels good when you’re hurting and simple violent solutions appeal to the angry monkey parts of our brains.
And the fewer community connections you have - the more the economy strips your life down to work and sleep, or to job hunting and sleep, or to scrounging in the gutter to survive and sleep, and the less you go out and socialize with actual human beings - the more appealing the fascist illusion of unity, of being part of a powerful group, becomes.
And the only difference today is that the fascist rallies are beamed directly into your home.
Another thing that pisses me off about it all is that more and more of our money leaves our communities and goes to billionaire scum that use it to lobby against our interests.
That’s why for YEARS, I have been saying that Campaign Finance Reform is the issue from which ALL other issues flow.
Billionaires pay a miniscule, totally unnoticeable percentage of their fortunes to strongly, relentlessly lobby for laws,.rules, regulations, loopholes, tax breaks, etc. that will bring them even more money, many more times than what they invested.
Lobbying, and trading favors for campaign donations, has to end, it is literally the reason behind nearly every bad thing in our country, and it is only getting worse.
easier to kill the billionaires
Or - hear me out - we could do BOTH!
Even when people put great effort into a tiny win you know what the lobbyists do? Go back to work on Monday and try again.
Oh, yeah. In the 90s we had the McCain-Geingold Campaign Finance legislation, and Republicans immediately went to war against it, and piece by piece, they chipped away every bit of it, until it was gone. They did the same thing with health care.
MAGA needs to be prohibited as a National Security Threat.
I’m right with you.
Political money needs to be regulated with an iron fist.
We need a Constitutional amendment to strictly define the framework for campaign contributions and violating those laws comes the highest criminal punishments imaginable.