5 ms·

They can try, but it won’t go well in the US. The future looks like decentralized identity protocols.

majormajor 3y ago
Much of the US is pretty well-suited for an authoritarian regime. There are various groups, some of which tend to be highly geographically-clustered, with fairly high levels of trust of their own "team." And weapons are readily available to speed a transition to enforcement-by-the-local-majority vs enforcement-by-other-bodies (higher-level state or federal government). Breakdown of governance -> authoritarianism is a common sequence regardless of political lean of the new regime; and both sides think there's currently a breakdown of governance somewhere in the country. If you're Democrat-leaning, you'd read that as red states, of course, but even on the flip side: to some pundits places like SF are already starting to turn into a violent anarchy; a new, armed, local authority would be a logical followup step emerging out of that, sorta Mafia-style. I don't think this is likely - I don't think today's crises are unprecedented compared to the 1960s/70s or various earlier periods of American unrest - but there's nothing innate about America that would prevent it, and there are plenty of historical American examples of those in power using force to strictly control others.
- progrus 3y ago
  > Breakdown of governance -> authoritarianism is a common sequence regardless of political lean of the new regime; The second amendment is an uncommon law. I do hope we never find out who is right on this one…
  - tourmalinetaco 3y ago
    > The second amendment is an uncommon law Even better, it’s a human right, one the federal government has been eroding in both the courts of public opinion and the actual courts for decades. Thankfully in most states it’s still legal to produce firearms, but I suggest getting them and becoming proficient sooner rather than later.
    - dbspin 3y ago
      And this remorseless ideology masquerading as logic is exactly why the US is doomed to ultimately fall to political violence.
      - tourmalinetaco 3y ago
        Last I checked, Europe wasn’t much better on the “political violence” issue.
    - flangola7 3y ago
      Owning a gun is not a human right and I will never entertain any supposition that it is, no matter how zealous or contrived.
      - tourmalinetaco 3y ago
        Can you point out how self-defense is not a human right?
  - majormajor 3y ago
    Thing about guns is it doesn't matter who's right or wrong so much as who pulls the trigger first. Plenty of regimes out there that used guns to install an authoritarian government.

Much of the US is pretty well-suited for an authoritarian regime. There are various groups, some of which tend to be highly geographically-clustered, with fairly high levels of trust of their own "team." And weapons are readily available to speed a transition to enforcement-by-the-local-majority vs enforcement-by-other-bodies (higher-level state or federal government). Breakdown of governance -> authoritarianism is a common sequence regardless of political lean of the new regime; and both sides think there's currently a breakdown of governance somewhere in the country. If you're Democrat-leaning, you'd read that as red states, of course, but even on the flip side: to some pundits places like SF are already starting to turn into a violent anarchy; a new, armed, local authority would be a logical followup step emerging out of that, sorta Mafia-style. I don't think this is likely - I don't think today's crises are unprecedented compared to the 1960s/70s or various earlier periods of American unrest - but there's nothing innate about America that would prevent it, and there are plenty of historical American examples of those in power using force to strictly control others.

progrus 3y ago
> Breakdown of governance -> authoritarianism is a common sequence regardless of political lean of the new regime; The second amendment is an uncommon law. I do hope we never find out who is right on this one…
- tourmalinetaco 3y ago
  > The second amendment is an uncommon law Even better, it’s a human right, one the federal government has been eroding in both the courts of public opinion and the actual courts for decades. Thankfully in most states it’s still legal to produce firearms, but I suggest getting them and becoming proficient sooner rather than later.
  - dbspin 3y ago
    And this remorseless ideology masquerading as logic is exactly why the US is doomed to ultimately fall to political violence.
    - tourmalinetaco 3y ago
      Last I checked, Europe wasn’t much better on the “political violence” issue.
  - flangola7 3y ago
    Owning a gun is not a human right and I will never entertain any supposition that it is, no matter how zealous or contrived.
    - tourmalinetaco 3y ago
      Can you point out how self-defense is not a human right?
- majormajor 3y ago
  Thing about guns is it doesn't matter who's right or wrong so much as who pulls the trigger first. Plenty of regimes out there that used guns to install an authoritarian government.