Authoritarianism

[abrown83]

So recently I have been thinking about how we are going from the most authoritarian President in US history to maybe some one who is even more authoritarian.

What has prompted this shift in the electorate? Curious what people think on this one?

Also if you don't think Obama is authoritarian


Dream Act
Targeting banks that do business with companies he doesn't like
Targeting conservative non profits via the IRS

I can go on but those three things alone are a middle finger to the Constitution that Obama doesn't give a fuck about.

[DonaldTrumpsHairPiece]

I often wonder what people in other far more oppressive countries think of our complaining. I watched another North Korean documentary I saw on reddit yesterday and it made me appreciate American police brutality, banking and drug policy.

no joke

[jsearles22]

I often wonder what people in other far more oppressive countries think of our complaining. I watched another North Korean documentary I saw on reddit yesterday and it made me appreciate American police brutality, banking and drug policy.

no joke

I'm not sure it's a great argument when you are having to say "at least we aren't as bad as North Korea"

[DonaldTrumpsHairPiece]

I often wonder what people in other far more oppressive countries think of our complaining. I watched another North Korean documentary I saw on reddit yesterday and it made me appreciate American police brutality, banking and drug policy.

no joke

I'm not sure it's a great argument when you are having to say "at least we aren't as bad as North Korea"

I see what you mean but how about not as bad as most of the rest of the world on a per capita basis.

No one is in fear of speaking their mind, sure there are over reaching laws and political BS but when our complaints are concerning taxes and things like markets and church vs state we could be a lot worse, no?

In fact remove our complaints and we have found a real shitty version of utopia lol Remove government control altogether and our biggest issue is really each other.

[hongkonger]

I'm not sure it's a great argument when you are having to say "at least we aren't as bad as North Korea"

I see what you mean but how about not as bad as most of the rest of the world on a per capita basis.

No one is in fear of speaking their mind, sure there are over reaching laws and political BS but when our complaints are concerning taxes and things like markets and church vs state we could be a lot worse, no?

In fact remove our complaints and we have found a real shitty version of utopia lol Remove government control altogether and our biggest issue is really each other.

EU, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ all far less authoritarian.

[DonaldTrumpsHairPiece]

I see what you mean but how about not as bad as most of the rest of the world on a per capita basis.

No one is in fear of speaking their mind, sure there are over reaching laws and political BS but when our complaints are concerning taxes and things like markets and church vs state we could be a lot worse, no?

In fact remove our complaints and we have found a real shitty version of utopia lol Remove government control altogether and our biggest issue is really each other.

EU, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ all far less authoritarian.

True but things balances out when you factor in certain "rights". For example if you love your guns you would not want to live in those countries. (And yes I know its a weak argument but just playing devils advocate)

And imo throwing the EU in there is hit and miss, don't mean to be picky

At the end of the day we have a lot of positives and a lot of negatives if the negatives were that bad you would have voted Hillary and moved to Canada.

[abrown83]

I see what you mean but how about not as bad as most of the rest of the world on a per capita basis.

No one is in fear of speaking their mind, sure there are over reaching laws and political BS but when our complaints are concerning taxes and things like markets and church vs state we could be a lot worse, no?

In fact remove our complaints and we have found a real shitty version of utopia lol Remove government control altogether and our biggest issue is really each other.

EU, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ all far less authoritarian.

All countries that still respect the rule of law. Our politicians literally don't even understand most of the Federal laws they pass are not valid under the Constiution without using a loophole.

[FPS_Russia]

I think a more accurate term would be corporate authoritarianism.
I think you're right about about Obama and Trump, no potus in history has cracked down on whistle blowers like Obama and Trump will be worse.

Did anyone expect Trump to fill his cabinet with Goldman Sachs bankers and lobbyists? I see no way some version of the the TPP doesn't get passed. It was written by the bankers and corporations for the bankers and corporations. Under Obama they spent six years meeting in secret penning these "free trade deals". Spent hundreds of millions lobbying and Trumps supposed to leave em hanging, yea right.

But Chris Hedges put it best in his latest article.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/...other_20161225
In the Time of Trump, All We Have Is Each Other

Trump and his Christian fascist minions, sooner than most of us expect, will seek to shut down the small spaces left for free expression. Dissent will become difficult and sometimes dangerous. There will be an overt campaign of discrimination and hate crimes directed against a host of internal enemies, including undocumented workers, Muslims, African-Americans and dissidents. The Christian right will be given a license to roll back women’s rights, insert their magical thinking into school curriculums and terrorize Muslims and the GBLT community. The Trump administration will hand our Christian jihadists a platform to champion a repugnant religious chauvinism that fuses the symbols and language of the Christian religion with American capitalism, imperialism and white supremacy.

Repressive measures, I expect, will be implemented swiftly. Speed blinds a captive population to what is happening. Already anemic democratic traditions and institutions, including the legal system, the two major political parties and the press, will crumble under the assault. Trump will use the familiar tools that make possible the authoritarian state: mass incarceration, militarized police, crippling of the judicial system, demonization of opponents real and imagined, and obliteration of privacy and civil liberties, all foolishly promoted by the political elites on behalf of corporate power.

Schrecker said the rise of Trump has been in the making for four decades. Corporations funded and established institutions to close the cultural, social and political openings made in the 1960s, especially in universities, the press, labor and the arts. These corporate forces turned government into a destructive power. America was pillaged and cannibalized for profit. We now live in a deindustrialized wasteland. This scorched-earth assault created fertile ground for a demagogue.

The late Lewis Powell, a general counsel to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and later a Supreme Court justice, in 1971 wrote an eight-page memo outlining a campaign to counter what the document’s title described as an “Attack on American Free Enterprise System.” The memo established the Business Roundtable, which generated huge monetary resources and political clout to direct government policy and mold public opinion. The Powell report listed methods that corporations could use to silence those in “the college campus, the pulpit, the media, the intellectual and literary journals” who were hostile to corporate interests."

Powell called for the establishment of lavishly funded think tanks and conservative institutes. He proposed that ideological assaults against government regulation and environmental protection be directed at a mass audience. He advocated placing corporate-friendly academics and neoliberal economists in universities and banishing from the public sphere those who challenged unfettered corporate power—especially Ralph Nader, whom Powell cited by name. Organizations were to be formed to monitor and pressure the media to report favorably on issues that furthered corporate interests. Pro-corporate judges were to be placed on the bench."

hagd

[hongkonger]

EU, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ all far less authoritarian.

True but things balances out when you factor in certain "rights". For example if you love your guns you would not want to live in those countries. (And yes I know its a weak argument but just playing devils advocate)

And imo throwing the EU in there is hit and miss, don't mean to be picky

At the end of the day we have a lot of positives and a lot of negatives if the negatives were that bad you would have voted Hillary and moved to Canada.

I am in favor of far greater gun restrictions so that doesn't bother me. And there are other rights in place in those countries that Americans don't have such as the right to health care.

There's no question America is among the greatest places to be in the world, IF you have some money. If you're poor or lower middle class you're far better off in one of the countries I named.

[hongkonger]

EU, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ all far less authoritarian.

All countries that still respect the rule of law. Our politicians literally don't even understand most of the Federal laws they pass are not valid under the Constiution without using a loophole.

To a large extent I agree. The Suoreme Court has unfortunately given its imprimatur to much of it. I expect with Trump nominees it will get worse.

[hongkonger]

I think a more accurate term would be corporate authoritarianism.
I think you're right about about Obama and Trump, no potus in history has cracked down on whistle blowers like Obama and Trump will be worse.

Did anyone expect Trump to fill his cabinet with Goldman Sachs bankers and lobbyists? I see no way some version of the the TPP doesn't get passed. It was written by the bankers and corporations for the bankers and corporations. Under Obama they spent six years meeting in secret penning these "free trade deals". Spent hundreds of millions lobbying and Trumps supposed to leave em hanging, yea right.

But Chris Hedges put it best in his latest article.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/...other_20161225
In the Time of Trump, All We Have Is Each Other

Trump and his Christian fascist minions, sooner than most of us expect, will seek to shut down the small spaces left for free expression. Dissent will become difficult and sometimes dangerous. There will be an overt campaign of discrimination and hate crimes directed against a host of internal enemies, including undocumented workers, Muslims, African-Americans and dissidents. The Christian right will be given a license to roll back women’s rights, insert their magical thinking into school curriculums and terrorize Muslims and the GBLT community. The Trump administration will hand our Christian jihadists a platform to champion a repugnant religious chauvinism that fuses the symbols and language of the Christian religion with American capitalism, imperialism and white supremacy.

Repressive measures, I expect, will be implemented swiftly. Speed blinds a captive population to what is happening. Already anemic democratic traditions and institutions, including the legal system, the two major political parties and the press, will crumble under the assault. Trump will use the familiar tools that make possible the authoritarian state: mass incarceration, militarized police, crippling of the judicial system, demonization of opponents real and imagined, and obliteration of privacy and civil liberties, all foolishly promoted by the political elites on behalf of corporate power.

Schrecker said the rise of Trump has been in the making for four decades. Corporations funded and established institutions to close the cultural, social and political openings made in the 1960s, especially in universities, the press, labor and the arts. These corporate forces turned government into a destructive power. America was pillaged and cannibalized for profit. We now live in a deindustrialized wasteland. This scorched-earth assault created fertile ground for a demagogue.

The late Lewis Powell, a general counsel to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and later a Supreme Court justice, in 1971 wrote an eight-page memo outlining a campaign to counter what the document’s title described as an “Attack on American Free Enterprise System.” The memo established the Business Roundtable, which generated huge monetary resources and political clout to direct government policy and mold public opinion. The Powell report listed methods that corporations could use to silence those in “the college campus, the pulpit, the media, the intellectual and literary journals” who were hostile to corporate interests."

hagd

Hedges is awesome but nobody can touch Chomsky.

Also there's a word for corporate authoritarianism: fascism. Both Hitler and Mussolini said corporations were an essential ingredient of their power structures.

[limitles]

I'm not sure it's a great argument when you are having to say "at least we aren't as bad as North Korea"

I see what you mean but how about not as bad as most of the rest of the world on a per capita basis.

No one is in fear of speaking their mind, sure there are over reaching laws and political BS but when our complaints are concerning taxes and things like markets and church vs state we could be a lot worse, no?

In fact remove our complaints and we have found a real shitty version of utopia lol Remove government control altogether and our biggest issue is really each other.

Yeah well let's just say you've come a long way baby and train wrecks happen

[blubbernuffle]

LOL Cool story bro

[limitles]

Chewing gum ban in Singapore

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There is a ban on importing chewing gum into Singapore which is strictly enforced. Since 2004, only chewing gum of therapeutic value is allowed into Singapore under the "Regulation of Imports and Exports (Chewing Gum) Regulations." The exception is made for dental or nicotine gum.^[1] Gum can be bought from a doctor, but must be prescribed.
According to the Regulations, "importing" means to "bring or cause to be brought into Singapore by land, water or air from any place which is outside Singapore ..." any goods, even if they are not for purposes of trade.^{[2][original research?]}
Under the rule, no gum is allowed to be bought or sold inside Singapore and there is a $700 fine for spitting out gum on the streets.^{[citation needed]}

[limitles]

LOL Cool story bro

The big difference of course is that in the U.S., to mention only one civilized nation, you'll live, but a good percentage of that life will be in a cell eating slop or if you have money you might beat it but will be bled dry financially.

[abrown83]

Mumbles thanks for the red but

The DREAM act even though it was first proposed in 2001 and brought before Congress like a dozen times never passed.

Obama was like, "fuck the law I am just authorizing that everything in the DREAM act legislation is how we are going to do things now. Laws are for suckers I'm in charge mother fuckers."

How is that not authoritarian?

[blubbernuffle]

LOL Cool story bro

The big difference of course is that in the U.S., to mention only one civilized nation, you'll live, but a good percentage of that life will be in a cell eating slop or if you have money you might beat it but will be bled dry financially.

The key to liberty is clearly to not get caught

yea, I like shitty old punk rock
anyhow... at least where I live, the one drug I partake in has been decriminalized (not yet legalized)

[limitles]

Mumbles thanks for the red but

The DREAM act even though it was first proposed in 2001 and brought before Congress like a dozen times never passed.

Obama was like, "fuck the law I am just authorizing that everything in the DREAM act legislation is how we are going to do things now. Laws are for suckers I'm in charge mother fuckers."

How is that not authoritarian?

Because it's designed to help people. The ignorant masses who govern your hillbilly home are too self interested or ya know just dumb enough to consider such oppression.

[limitles]

Anyone who believes Obama was an overall "bad President" well.....

[blubbernuffle]

oh fuck yea this thread already had this song in my head