by Shelt Garner
@sheletgarner
Some time ago, I had a intense conversation with my Traditionalist relative about who fucked up the live concert ticketing marketplace was. My relative fucking hates any form of regulation and sometimes I think he would like to outlaw stop signs just to “own the libs.”
I TRIED to prove a point with him — all his complaints about how fucked up the ticketing process was could probably be solved with government regulation.
But he would have none of it. The siren call of negative polarization was just too much. Even though I find myself succumbing to negative polarization a lot these days, I fucking hate it. I hate it because it’s a sign that the politics of our once stable democratic republic are all but dead.
I say this because imagine this scenario — instead of embracing fascism, Traditionalists were willing to join forces with people they despise like AOC just long enough to weather the storm of ascendant MAGA autocracy.
But that is just not to be.
We’re careening towards a very, very dark future. We’re past the Event Horizon for autocracy, civil war or military junta. Now, let me be clear — I’m always, always wrong. And what will probably happen is initially, once a fucking Republican fascist becomes POTUS, it will seem like nothing will chance.
And THEN, things will gradually change in ways large and small and about 1 million wealthy liberals will leave the country, never to be seen again. That, at least, seems to be our immutable fate at the moment. But something unexpected might step in to at least punt the problem down the road at least one more presidential election cycle.
But the point is — not even a bunch of Swifties being angry can overcome the corrosive nature of negative polarization. There is an extensive permission structure for Traditionalists to vote fascist rather than join forces with the center-Left and, as such, we’re fucked.
