U.S. added to list of "backsliding democracies" for 1st time

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(clicky)USA added to list of backsliding democracies for first time, starting in 2019
‘Visible deterioration’ in US civil liberties began in at least 2019, says an international thinktank's report which says: “A historic turning point came in 2020-21 when former president Donald Trump questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election results in the United States.”

Voter suppression, mechanisms to override vote counts, etc have all been instituted under the false pretense that the 2020 election was “stolen.”

these plotters on the right are using an old playbook, called "divide and conquer," whose first chapter is called "the big lie."

If Trump were elected to a second term, I believe we would have deserved, wholeheartedly, that designation. We were strongly veering that way under Trump.

The COVID mandates imposed by the Government does not mean that the Government is "backsliding." This is a public health issue, not a political issue. The vaccines are well known to reduce hospitalizations and deaths. They reduce the workload of the hospitals.

America still is though, the GOP has been taken over by people who are just as authoritarian as Trump and plenty of them got into power even if the Dems won overall. They're working to further rig things to avoid a repeat.

Beyond that it's not like the Dems are doing much to keep their base motivated so I wouldn't be surprised if they get spanked badly in 2022.

That's what I'm worried about.

am thinking , this is way beyond Dems and Rep. i believe much of what we are going through
has been , thought out for us .The One world order thing is being very slowly implemented .
All the national disasters and shortages of products and inflation is necessary to bring the USA in line with the rest of the world economies .It seems to me. Chinas has their current generation
moving inline with Social grading as to what you can do for work . Facebook here is already headed that way . New Social experiment . is not an experiment . People are relying on facebook for livilyhoods and free food giveaways. If your not on facebook , you might not be able to get food if your low income? A socialist society is on the horizon? The older generations will pass , on .
And the younger generations will not know a world that does not use wifi and websites and facebook , 5g internet can locate you within 3 ft.Regardless of the weather , not bad enough we have satellites that can read license plates from space.. i think this possibly only the tip of the iceberg . But only observations by me .
And i could be all wrong.

For all we can think of as of now, the US will reach full dystopian status at some point
or is already one and some of us may not even know it.

It's been interesting to read the different takes on the same question. Nearly all "yes," but not for the same reasons. We aren't going to be successful in addressing the problem if we can't agree on what the symptoms and causes are. We are completely ripe for political exploitation.

americans lack a consensus reality, just two competing realities with the right wing long-gaming to eliminate the left-wing reality, along with the left wingers. the new feudalism is the right's end game.

a step further beyond the idea of political parties or brinkmanship . If no one has noticed we are now under Corporate exploitation. Google , facebook etc. and all their influence and information is,available to the highest bidder . Which is not always operating in the best interest if people,
but rather the corporate well being ....or which company has the most "linked in "lobbyists with congress. It is almost unusual that thinking individuals are not seeing the difference . To me.

Finally we're on the list. The slide has been going on for a long time. As a student of history, I will try to be brief. The post war economy of the US was the foundation for our country's greatness. The top tax rate was 70 to 90% and, with all that money, the US created the greatest education and university system in the world and it was essentially free for all. Kids like me, first in the family to go to university, were able to contribute to the amazing growth of infrastructure the world has ever seen. Business and technology exploded. Middle-class growth changed the US and the gap between rich and poor was the minimum ever. Men landed on the moon and the world envied us. Then Ronald Reagan was elected and everything started going the other way. Jobs were shipped overseas to grow profits, etc., etc. and now the gap between rich and poor is the greatest in history. As the only advanced country without a universal health care system, our life span is about five years less than the rest of the advanced counties. Our roads and bridges are falling down and those airports from the 1960s are now an international joke. Speaking of the educational system, it is under attack from a larger and larger part of our society that scorns knowledge and enhancement. "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life," a book that won the Pulitzer Prize for Richard Hofstadter in 1963, has never been more relevant in understanding America today.

This remains the unaddressed conundrum in my view. Why populist anti-democratic leaders are now so appealing to millions of Americans?

At a time when social cohesion is more important than ever (due to external events), they want a leader who reflects a view of division, ignorance. fear and hate. It's the ignorance and hate that confuses me why millions of erstwhile decent Americans are willing to invest their future in?

In times of decline, a lot of people believe the prescription is a strong, no-holds-barred, commanding leader. A father figure that will force the family into shape. What they are ignoring, of course, are all the costs that come with such individuals. According to studies, the draw seems to be deeply imbedded in one’s psyche. People usually either have that instinct, or they don’t. Those of us who don’t have it have a lot of trouble connecting to the thought process of those who do.

I've been scared since Reagan. I calmed myself with the platitudes that people who rise to the level of the Supreme Court put away their polictics and put justice first. Obviously I was wrong about that one.

I thought with the development of RU481, the abortion debate would be over. I was really wrong on that one.

I've watched with horror as facts can have alternates? that science is just another opinion? that everything should be about me, me, me. What happened to compassion? I was just listen to a lecture by Cornel West (on MasterClass). He discriminates between pity and compassion. Compassion, per his definition, is when you are willing to do something about it.

I've watched people give away their personal information in exchange for being able to use Facebook, etc., etc. I suspect we will not have to worry about Dems and Reps because it is all going to be run by a few mega companies. If there are still political leaders, they will be puppets.

As a child, I watched a Robin die in my backyard as the result of spraying with DDT. When it was outlawed here, the companies just shipping it overseas.

The climate change disasters are real and are here. I live on one of the higher areas in south florida. I suspect we will be flooded with refugees. Should I live that long.

I have watched so many of the science fiction books I read as a child, come true in the here and now..

I fear it is too late. I think we are already past the tipping point.

It also reflects a republican party devoid/bereft of passion or talent. The candidates putting their hands up in the 2016 primaries put forward no vision for the future. The republican party has so many families who are worried about the cost of health, education, jobs for their children. I suspect a good portion of Trump voters are concerned about COVID and the state of the environment and global warming.

I know it's not an intellectual explanation of why these same people lived through 4 years of Trump would go back and vote for him again! But this Steely Dan song has some element of truth in why the compulsion people have to vote for Trump is based on their base emotions and not with their brains