Does Marjorie Taylor Greene know what an “autocrat” is?
Along with many Americans and certainly most Democrats, I believe President Biden’s speech on the anniversary of the January 6th assault on the Capitol was forceful, to the point and much needed. I hope that many of the public who don’t usually vote Democratic were also listening. It’s hard to imagine anyone who wouldn’t be impressed if not persuaded by his words.
And yet I think the American education system has failed us — especially in the subject of civics and history. I think a lot of Americans have no clue what an autocrat is. They don’t understand the term “strong man” and the appeal of strong men like Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Putin to the masses. And that’s what we’re seeing play out in our country.
That’s why I might have added a few things to Biden’s speech. So Americans could comprehend what’s truly happening. So they could decide if that’s what they really want for this country or not.
I would have kept repeating that the so-called election fraud, the expensive re-counts in numerous key states, the assault on the capital, the verbal assault on any members of the Republican Party who don’t toe the line — are all at the behest of one man. One man. One man. I don’t think that can be repeated enough. We used to live in a country where legislators represented their constituents and occasionally voted their conscience (who even claimed they had consciences); where an individual’s vote counted; where the courts attempted to practice the rule of law — now we have a country where one man’s whims rule over a large share of the population and a ridiculous number of politicians.
Yes, it is one man; yes, it’s his whims and, yes, he’s ruling. The country has become almost unrecognizable to a lot of people, like myself, who grew up several generations ago. We simply can’t understand either the voters or the politicians or the media pundits who revere this guy. Cause that’s all he is — ONE GUY — who happens to want to have as much power as he can get. And a whole lot of folks appear willing and even extremely eager to give it to him. Even when he’s done nothing to deserve it and, in fact, has shown clearly how much he’ll abuse it.
What has happened? And why has it happened? I won’t try to explain because I don’t understand. It may be comprehensible to some but not to me. Yet I’m glad President Bident came down as hard on Donald Trump as he believed he could — though I don’t believe he even mentioned the former president by name. And I bet the right wing media will castigate him for that omission — after all they have to find something to belittle him about. They have to find as many ways as possible to distract their followers from thinking about what the president was saying. Because if you really paid attention to what Biden said, you’d deplore everything Donald Trump ever said or did — especially since he’s left office. But for whatever reason only a handful of Republicans feel prepared to do that.
I’m afraid it is, as they say, Identity Politics, where some people or groups of people are hanging their identities on the desires and egoistic posturing of a TV reality show host. And others hate him so totally, they can barely speak his name without flinching. So where will we go as a country? There are some very scary scenarios out there. And I can’t deny the possibility of real violence if the Republican candidate (Trump or his proxy) is defeated in the next presidential election and the Republican-dominated state and local governments try to reverse the will of the electorate. What choice will we have but to pour onto the streets and attempt to right the wrong by any means possible? Civil war? Maybe.
