Sweden’s V-Dem Institute warns that the US is no longer a liberal democracy. And autocracy is creeping across Europe too, says writer Martin Gelin
👉 Remark: The article is about the U.S. and Europe, despite the title.
Being outside and soaking wet, I can now say, with caution and reservation, that the transparent liquid falling from the sky, MAY be rain… thanks
But what is this “rain” composed of? Water? I don’t think so. Let’s ask the National Weather Service.
The number you have dialed has been disconnected
I mean… it might NOT be rain… was it yellow at all?
That smell… is that… could it be… asparagus?
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It’s insane to me that over the past few decades we allowed the state to construct an entirely parallel national police and judicial system subject to total executive authority, and that very few people objected to this in any major way until 2025.
I mean the underpinnings of this system, even before it was dramatically expanded and abused by Trump seem so blatantly unconstitutional it’s shocking. How can you have a separate judicial system for certain classes of people nested within the executive branch? Is that not a clear violation of separation of powers? How can we arrest and forcibly imprison or deport people without warrants? What happened to the 4th amendment? What the fuck were people thinking? Was it not obvious where this would lead?
For myself, I can only plead ignorance. I really did not investigate how our immigration system worked until I had cause to, and now that I’ve become educated I’m just incredulous that our elected leaders and judges created such a blatantly authoritarian system. And that no one who knew about it seemed to care for so long. Or at least no one with any power or influence.
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The main problem being that most Americans are one paycheck away from starving.
Without reforms they will always be one paycheque away from starving.
Yes, it’s a real catch-22.
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Again, there’s no support structure, so even striking in unison means that most people end up with nothing almost immediately.
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🙄
Those who make pacific change impossible risk violent revolutions.
Don’t forget that there is no healthcare without employment.
The U.S. Constitution is total shit and should be completely scrapped and re-written. The problem is I don’t trust any of these partisan fools in congress to be educated enough to draft a new one.
The fervent worship of the founding fathers and the document itself as a holy-adjacent collective/artifact is absolutely why we have problems adapting our laws to the 21st century.
We objected to it. We also quickly realized that it never ends as a democracy, and a republic in name only.
We know. The problem is a lot of idiots want trump as a dictator.
it really makes you miss the german neoclassicalism of the previous administrations
The wobbling tub of walking gonorrhoea that said they were going to be a dictator from day one is being a dictator? Wow, really? Wow!!! That’s truly a revelation.
“wobbling tub of walking gonorrhoea” WOW! Classy! Can I use this name too? =)
Of course.
Another fave of mine is “stumbling human shaped pile of syphilis”Both are apt as descriptions of the mushy brained, dementia riddled, child rapist.
You got a fan!
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This was pretty clear in 2016, glaringly obvious in 2021, and Trump himself explicitly said being a dictator on day one was a goal in 2024.
But I’m sure another think piece won’t hurt!
Well I’m SHOCKED. SHOCKED to hear this revelation. If only there has been some way to know ahead of time.
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You are giving us the finger?!/j
Good remark though. This autocratisation proces is a global phenomena unfortunately.
Trump is a current threat to the world. He’s also a warning to everyone, yours could go this route next. Don’t let it.
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It’s not about the population, it’s about the legal system. In the USA, the president has massive powers, much, much more than heads of governments in practically all other democratic countries. The more power the executive has, the easier it is for them to set up a dictatorship.
Is this any news? The USA will also change its name to Banana Republic of DonnyT…
The difference is Europe had kings before.
You point out something crucial. Americans have no sense for autocracy or fascism like Europeans do.
Europe also goes the wrong direction, just with some delay
Americans did know oppression. First the Native Americans, then the European settlers seeking refuge from all kinds of persecution in Europe. Finally (at least that’s the story they told), the American revolutionaries tried to shake off what they portrayed as oppression by the British.
But unfortunately, illiberalism, autocracy, fascism and genocide seem to behave on a macro level like viruses behave on the micro level: like them, a society can - by way of surviving a previous infection - acquire a certain level of immunity. But over time, the pathogen can mutate and transform, and the concentration of antibodies in the organism can degrade over time so the defensive response is weakened. I fear this is where we are now: our societies have started to forget or deny the horrors of where this road has led us in the 20th century, and are becoming susceptible to the trappings of autocracy again. Let’s hope we don’t have to go through the natural process of immunisation again - because the pathogen is deadly and has the potential to kill its host.
And yet there’s no shortage of people pursuing fascism today in those European countries that haven’t already gone fascist. For example, you’d expect the UK and Germany to know better, yet they both have popular fascist movements.
America had a king before too… Kinda why we are the way we are.
He also might settle for a Kingdom.
A king is just a dictator with another name.
I could have saved them a LOT of time and trouble.
