by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Despite what the feel-good liberals of the “Mueller, She Wrote” Twitter account may think — we’re fucked. Trump and his coterie are above the law. The United States is a failed political state running on fumes of an established political order based on 250 years of Western democracy.
But this is coming to an end.
We’re in America’s twilight. We’re an anocracy, which is a fancy word for being between autocracy and democracy. When a nation is anocracy, it’s at its most vulnerable because it’s either transitioning to democracy or sliding into autocracy. It’s when a nation is an anocracy that the probability of it having a civil war is at its highest.
This is just basic political science so I’m not being a “terribly negative person” to point it out — it’s just what’s going on.
A key thing for us to remember is the American electoral system hides how bad things are because of the two party system. Right now, the United States has a Fascist Republican Party that runs against an array of liberal interest groups that call themselves the Democratic Party. As such, when push comes to shove, the Fascist Republicans are probably going to bowl over anti-fascist groups without breaking a sweat.
So, what does this mean?
It means that you have a few years to figure out what the fuck you believe. As I keep saying, the key to anyone’s success — or failure — in the coming years will be knowing what you believe in, what you believe in to the point that you’re willing to suffer for it.
I say this because things are going to grow existential starting far sooner than you might believe. Once Roe is officially overturned and Republicans take Congress….all bets are off. The United States is going to go through a very bumpy political moment in time that will stretch from 2022 to beyond 2025. Either we sink into the maw of autocracy, or we collapse into a civil war that will pit brother against brother and sister against sister.
And the only way to at least feel good about your fate is to know what you believe in the real world. No more angry Twitter threads. Now is the time to figure out what you’re willing to risk in the real world. What are you willing to risk your life and sacred honor for?
There is no middle ground anymore. Either you’re a Good German or you’re not. Either you’re with the autocrat, or your not. And there will be consequences to your decision one way or another.
And, what’s more, there is the other alternative of a civil war. Then things will really grow existential — your life could depend on making the right choice about what you believe at, say, a highway check on your way to a place in the county that better fits your political views.
I know that sounds “terribly negative” but I refuse to continue to participate in the Twitter liberal circle jerk that assume if we just get mad enough on Twitter and write a long enough, earnest enough Twitter thread that somehow magically the the thing that hasn’t happen — Trump being held accountable — will somehow magically happen.
And, what’s more, it’s not even about Trump anymore.
Even if Trump somehow is taken out of the equation, there are a dozen — a dozen! — would be autocrats chomping at the bit to finish what Trump was too stupid and lazy to finish.
Or, put another way, we can not longer to make some of the basic assumptions about political life in the United States. Things are about to change in a big, dramatic fashion — all we don’t know is what exactly it will be. Either it will be autocracy or civil war.
And, for the moment, it could go either way.
So, figure out what you believe in the real world now. You’ll thank me later.
