by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
There seems to be two types of people at the moment — those who see that the United States is careening towards a dark and unknown future, and those who don’t. The thing about the modern Republican Party is the most surreal, extreme position of the ultra Far Right is now their baseline position.
And all of this happening in the broad daylight.
Ultimately, what may happen is we’ll become an autocracy and most of the country won’t notice or care. They won’t care until, of course, it becomes personal and then they’ll care A LOT. But for the most part, America will become a nation of Good Germans who know to keep their heads down, “play by the rules” and just be happy they don’t risk being “canceled” in any way ever again.
It’s loudmouth people like me who have had the luxury of being able to be very vocal kooks because I live in a free country who will suffer. The autocracy is not an abstract for me — in very real, concrete terms, I know I may die at the hand of a ICE agent if the United States becomes a traditional autocracy. That sucks. At least for me.
Another thing is, all the policies that MAGA Republicans so desperately want to enact to “make America great again” are almost universally politically destabilizing. They want an America where only the poors pay taxes. The States already suffer from severe income inequality — just wait until we turn into a first world version of Brazil.
This is where we have to be honest with ourselves. If we are, then we will realize that there’s a decent chance that there will, in fact, be a civil war of some sort in the United States at some point in the next, say, decade. WMD will be used and we’re going to bomb the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world into the stone age by our own fucking hands.
If this does happen — it may not, we may just peacefully become an autocracy — then WW3 will happen too and billions will die around the globe. Our only hope is after the dust clears the “good guys” will have won and a new international system will be established. Hopefully, it won’t be too late for us to do something about global climate change and humanity will, at last, start to the think collectively on a global scale.
Who am I kidding. That will never happen. We’re doomed.
