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Frankly, I am not at all convinced any further elections in the US will be free or fair given who is currently in power and what they've openly said about elect

Frankly, I am not at all convinced any further elections in the US will be free or fair given who is currently in power and what they've openly said about elections and what they want to do to them. The only real functional way forward at this point is some form of mass protest or resistance, which I see as unlikely to occur (and which I am not necessarily advocating for here on HN). Barring that, the reality is that scientific progress will move away from the US and towards our enemies, and we will just have to live with the consequences of the choices we made.

motorest 2y ago
> Frankly, I am not at all convinced any further elections in the US will be free or fair given who is currently in power and what they've openly said about elections and what they want to do to them. The last one doesn't seem to have been as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_efforts_to_disrupt_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_efforts_to_di...
bbor 2y ago
I appreciate the perspective, and I know it's trite, but it's important: how would you feel about a resident of 1933 Germany writing your comment? Some good people fled, true, but staying and complying because mass protest seems "unlikely" is almost definitely something posterity will frown upon -- not to mention the rest of the world. I think that's something that should give one pause. Remember, mass protest to (push congress to) oust an authoritarian executive has never happened before in the USA -- but we've also never had an authoritative executive to anywhere near this extent before.
- btilly 2y ago
  FDR was more extreme than Trump so far. For instance consider banning private ownership of gold by executive order. Mind you, Trump could still declare himself dictator. But based on what's happened so far? FDR was more extreme.
  - IAmGraydon 2y ago
    FDR's order regarding gold was part of a broader effort to combat the Great Depression by stopping gold hoarding, allowing the government to inflate the money supply and stimulate the economy. It wasn’t a total seizure — people were compensated at the then-official rate of $20.67 per ounce. The comparison doesn't hold water whatsoever.
    - btilly 2y ago
      Name me 5 executive orders by Trump which, combined, disrupt normal economic affairs by as much as that single one. As for the broader efforts, the New Deal required various things like reinterpreting the Commerce Clause. Look up "the switch in time which saved nine" for why the Supreme Court went along with it. Not to mention things like the internment of Japanese-Americans during WW 2. No, FDR was the closest thing we've had to a king. There is a reason why the 22nd amendment was passed so quickly after he died.
      - throwaway48476 2y ago
        Closest since Lincoln.
        throwyouaway 2y ago
        Lincoln held the Union together and led to a USA that saved Europe and beyond. He also advocated letting the defeated South “up easy” in an effort to rebuild some sort of national unity after the greatest loss of life we have ever experienced in this nation. Could you imagine Trump doing the same? Lincoln guided us through a national disaster as best as possible for a person to do, I don’t recall him enriching himself either.
        throwaway48476 2y ago
        Guided us through a national disaster by starting a war? You don't get credit for guidance if you were the cause of the disaster. The history of America was one of political compromise, that he threw out in favor of war. A lot of people got fabulously rich off the war and then the carpet bagging. And for those that believe it was about slavery then why did the emancipation proclamation free 0 slaves? He exempted the slave counties the union controlled because the goal wasn't an end to slavery. He could have freed the slaves but chose not to.
gedy 2y ago
> The only real functional way forward at this point is some form of mass protest or resistance, Maybe, just maybe, the opposition party could quit offering these shit sandwich candidates as an alternative? I can't believe there's no Democrat politicians out there who could've beat Trump handily. But the DNC seems totally disfunctional in picking candidates.
- IAmGraydon 2y ago
  Dean Phillips could have been their easy ticket to a victory, but they decided to make the worst possible choices. This is simply a result of hubris and incompetence.
- ivraatiems 2y ago
  Now you're living in real fantasyland! Seriously, I agree with you, but I don't know how to solve that problem either. The DNC is just completely bereft of good ideas and at this point seems about as useless as the Mitt Romney-era Republican party was.
- throwaway48476 2y ago
  I think it's parliamentary syndrome. In Canada MPs aren't allowed to tweet anything at all until it's approved by the leaders office. Instead of unique individual persons representing constituents there's effectively 1 dictator with a hundred faces. Same issue for the democrats where everyone has to be sanded down to fit the mold. Americans don't actually understand how the government works either. We pretend there's an election but in reality it's already happened. The majority of districts are 'safe' so whoever wins the primary in a safe district automatically wins the election. The person who wins the primary is almost always the person the party endorses. In practice the party endorsement is the election. The endorsement process is controlled by party insiders so the net effect is that they pick the government, not the voters.
energy123 2y ago
Protest will happen only if inflation goes up. We are in a techno-dystopia where control over attention bandwidth is the only thing that matters.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

motorest 2y ago

> Frankly, I am not at all convinced any further elections in the US will be free or fair given who is currently in power and what they've openly said about elections and what they want to do to them. The last one doesn't seem to have been as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_efforts_to_disrupt_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_efforts_to_di...

bbor 2y ago

I appreciate the perspective, and I know it's trite, but it's important: how would you feel about a resident of 1933 Germany writing your comment? Some good people fled, true, but staying and complying because mass protest seems "unlikely" is almost definitely something posterity will frown upon -- not to mention the rest of the world. I think that's something that should give one pause. Remember, mass protest to (push congress to) oust an authoritarian executive has never happened before in the USA -- but we've also never had an authoritative executive to anywhere near this extent before.

btilly 2y ago
FDR was more extreme than Trump so far. For instance consider banning private ownership of gold by executive order. Mind you, Trump could still declare himself dictator. But based on what's happened so far? FDR was more extreme.
- IAmGraydon 2y ago
  FDR's order regarding gold was part of a broader effort to combat the Great Depression by stopping gold hoarding, allowing the government to inflate the money supply and stimulate the economy. It wasn’t a total seizure — people were compensated at the then-official rate of $20.67 per ounce. The comparison doesn't hold water whatsoever.
  - btilly 2y ago
    Name me 5 executive orders by Trump which, combined, disrupt normal economic affairs by as much as that single one. As for the broader efforts, the New Deal required various things like reinterpreting the Commerce Clause. Look up "the switch in time which saved nine" for why the Supreme Court went along with it. Not to mention things like the internment of Japanese-Americans during WW 2. No, FDR was the closest thing we've had to a king. There is a reason why the 22nd amendment was passed so quickly after he died.
    - throwaway48476 2y ago
      Closest since Lincoln.
      - throwyouaway 2y ago
        Lincoln held the Union together and led to a USA that saved Europe and beyond. He also advocated letting the defeated South “up easy” in an effort to rebuild some sort of national unity after the greatest loss of life we have ever experienced in this nation. Could you imagine Trump doing the same? Lincoln guided us through a national disaster as best as possible for a person to do, I don’t recall him enriching himself either.
        throwaway48476 2y ago
        Guided us through a national disaster by starting a war? You don't get credit for guidance if you were the cause of the disaster. The history of America was one of political compromise, that he threw out in favor of war. A lot of people got fabulously rich off the war and then the carpet bagging. And for those that believe it was about slavery then why did the emancipation proclamation free 0 slaves? He exempted the slave counties the union controlled because the goal wasn't an end to slavery. He could have freed the slaves but chose not to.

gedy 2y ago

> The only real functional way forward at this point is some form of mass protest or resistance, Maybe, just maybe, the opposition party could quit offering these shit sandwich candidates as an alternative? I can't believe there's no Democrat politicians out there who could've beat Trump handily. But the DNC seems totally disfunctional in picking candidates.

IAmGraydon 2y ago
Dean Phillips could have been their easy ticket to a victory, but they decided to make the worst possible choices. This is simply a result of hubris and incompetence.
ivraatiems 2y ago
Now you're living in real fantasyland! Seriously, I agree with you, but I don't know how to solve that problem either. The DNC is just completely bereft of good ideas and at this point seems about as useless as the Mitt Romney-era Republican party was.
throwaway48476 2y ago
I think it's parliamentary syndrome. In Canada MPs aren't allowed to tweet anything at all until it's approved by the leaders office. Instead of unique individual persons representing constituents there's effectively 1 dictator with a hundred faces. Same issue for the democrats where everyone has to be sanded down to fit the mold. Americans don't actually understand how the government works either. We pretend there's an election but in reality it's already happened. The majority of districts are 'safe' so whoever wins the primary in a safe district automatically wins the election. The person who wins the primary is almost always the person the party endorses. In practice the party endorsement is the election. The endorsement process is controlled by party insiders so the net effect is that they pick the government, not the voters.

energy123 2y ago

Protest will happen only if inflation goes up. We are in a techno-dystopia where control over attention bandwidth is the only thing that matters.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]