I'm as terrified of this plague as anyone, but I'm almost equally terrified of our little American Orbans and their orange Leader. War and pestilence are the great enablers of dictators. It is when We the People are the most fearful and beaten that we are willing to trade liberty for "safety". We will get neither - especially given that these new dictators worship the old Gods of the Gilded Age that mean more profits for themselves - but those of us who prize "security" over that liberty will surely be tempted.
And, given our recent history, I cannot be sure we can resist that temptation. Four of ten Americans have already shown they will gleefully support any amount of destruction to small-r republican mores if it means shuttering drag queen story hour and keeping the dusky heathens in their place.
It will be intriguing to watch the reaction to this from the EU. If the leader of a European nation can become an out-and-proud dictator without consequence, what will stop those others (looking at you, Poland...) who are teetering along the border?
Both Orban's political party (and Hitler's before him) had allied themselves with another party. That gave them super-majorities in their respective parliaments.
ReplyDeleteNo such political party exists here for Moscow Mitch the Moron to ally themselves with. I don't see them ever getting a super-majority in Congress.
In fact, I doubt they will be able to hold onto the Senate majority. However, a Covid-19 re-emergence in the fall of this year could easily dampen voting and largely outweigh my WAG prediction. We need universal vote-by-mail absentee ballots in all 50 states.
Meanwhile on the Western Front, Quiet reigns
ReplyDeletehttps://newrepublic.com/article/157119/joe-biden-wasting-crisis