All the progress we have made in my lifetime has been eradicated and then some. Including racism and vaccinations.

I am really old, and truly pity our later generations.

These RepubliCONs must not have children or grandchildren......or most likely don't give a shit about anything but themselves.

Lincoln once said: A statesman cares about the next generation, a politician only about the next election.

I honestly think that we have now passed the point of no return...............

We might not see it in our lifetimes, but the US could turn around, too.

It can't happen and won't happen, though, if everyone takes the same attitude as the OP. When I read it, the first thought that came to mind was, "Then why are you here on a site that promotes political resistance if you've given up? Trying to convince everyone else to give up, too?"

It's discouraging, to be sure. It's eye opening about human nature and how awful so many people are. We'll likely see more of it. But the fascists are not the only people in the country. Trump's win was not a landslide. There are still nearly 50% of voters who did not vote for him.

Will be wild, but also no violence


https://www.mobilize.us/womensmarch/event/742704/

I quit watching television because it was clear that the corporate owned McGreedia were fully in the tank for Republicans .
I read the book, "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television" by Jerry Mander, which talked about the consolidation of media outlets by conservative owned corporations. Liberal voices were being silenced.
And today, here we are. Facing the destruction of our democracy and its replacement with oligarchy.

...the Cons played the long game and we fell asleep.

This actually started in the 70's as a backlash to the 60's but really accelerated under RayGun. He was the perfect smiling TV pitchman for the coming Con Superstorm.

Gingrich put the nasty face on it. And the Rapist finished the job - the antichrist TV pitchbot to RayGun's kindler gentler fascism.

The lumpenproletariat is so subsumed by the disinformation cloud that they don't even realize that the Rapist coaxed them into the van.

We are completely fucked here. Down is up. War is Peace. Oceania has always been at war with eastasia.

There is a reason I choose this screen name 20 years ago on DU, right after the theft of Al Gore's election victory.

At that point, this current environment seemed inevitable...

what a great pen name for a political writer.

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Jerry_Mander

Jerry Mander - Wikipedia
Jerry Irwin Mander (May 1, 1936 - April 11, 2023) [1] [2] was an American activist and author in San Francisco, known for his use

I borrowed my copy from the library. I will have to check and find out if they still have it.

Thanks for the reply. He really was ahead of his time.

capitalism of Madison Avenue much like Wendell Potter has turned against the health insurance industry.

We need lots more truthtellers and whistleblowers.

Because someday they will be rich too

Is people.
People create the problems for other people
People are the only creatures capable of evil behavior.
We People will be the cause of our extinction. Our history on earth will be but a tiny tiny blip in time.

The planet doesn't care either way

coupled with a global economy that requires continual growth, & all this in a closed system. What could go wrong?

JFK said it. Paraphrase of course. We created all of these problems, so it is possible to solve them.

These MAGA cultists aren’t indifferent or asleep; they’re belligerently ignorant. They have the same access to information we do, yet they choose to accept the grievance filled rantings of a conman and grifter because it resonates with their own dark feelings and grievances.

I really don’t know how we’ll survive all of this as long as this vast group of selfish, ignorant, mean-spirited people support and enable the architects of our destruction.

Very hard foe me to believe what i'm witnessing. NEVER EVER pictured Americans turning on our country like they have.

Last edited Thu Dec 19, 2024, 01:25 PM - Edit history (1)

There is no GOP without racism since Lee Atwater and the “Southern Strategy” a.k.a. Racism.

The hate machine has brainwashed many into a cult fantasy world.

They even replaced God with one of their own.



Culture change is needed.

For Christians, a blinding Saint Peter on the road to Damascus light.


For atheists, a visit by Extraterrestrials to clean things up.


For Buddhists, keep working on Human Revolutions.


Others: act accordingly.

We have returned to the 60’s, and need the courage and fighting spirit to remove the stain of racism from our country.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219813493

Edited to add misogyny. Thanks to hlthe2b, but the entire list is too long to post.

You don't have one without the other among most MAGA.

Especially if the majority consists of MAGA idiots and everyday idiots.

They want this.

Healthcare, education, safety nets, etc.

my country is gone

Last edited Thu Dec 19, 2024, 07:02 PM - Edit history (1)

They fell for a con job by a convicted felon backed by the elites of wealth and power they believed they were voting against.

Our education system failed to prepare them to be good citizens with critical thinking skills, and too many religious leaders inspired fear of others instead of love and understanding.

Perhaps only the real world consequences of the coming fascist kakistocracy will shake them out of their programming.

Makes me wonder if we’ll survive it with our democracy still intact.

It’s a new feeling. I’ve never been there before.

But climate change has all of humanity on a deadline. I've said for awhile that democracy will just get harder & harder to hold onto as climate chaos increases & democracies around the world took a HUGE blow in November when our democracy freely elected a man who said he wants & plans to be a dictator. JFC.

As a collective, we're afraid, but apparently we're too afraid to turn the reins over to anyone other than the same fucking group that got us here—rich, (mostly) white men. It's happening all over the globe. They will consolidate their power & be kings of a charred planet.

One of the big complaints you see are about MAGA followers obnoxiously trying to spread their MAGA views by setting up kiosks on sidewalks or pontificating at the dinner table. They just won’t leave us alone in terms of trying to spread their views.

Yet, on this Board you mostly see complaints about such actions or the blaming of scapegoats such as the Democratic Party, the Media, etc., but not much in terms of trying to share our views. Indeed, the common argument is that are fellow citizens are too stupid or racist to learn, thus progressives have fallen into a learned helplessness where we just curse the darkness, rather than turning on the light. And, preaching to the choir on DU does not count as spreading the word.

But sometimes a rant about the situation,while preaching to the choir, is our only outlet. I like this OP and the thread. I’m here with like minded people giving me hope and advice on how to cope with it all.
And look around. This place is OUR place with a bit of everything. Feeling bad, visit the lounge or pets or something else. I don’t do therapy, probably should, but I do get it here.
Right now I’m cursing the darkness. I’ll turn on the light soon enough. It does make the roaches scatter.

Instead, they take the next logical step, and show up on street corners, and local school boards to protest DEI or the teaching of critical race theory even though most school districts do not teach CRT:

become reality. No one on DU would have thought that this nation would re-elect someone as vile as Trump to a second term - no one. There is a feeling of helplessness after not only losing an election to someone who is clearly a crook, a felon, and a con-man but now witnessing him name the people equally disgusting to his cabinet. And more than likely most be confirmed.

It is hard to accept a neighbor, or a family member that not only support this way of thinking but also views you as the enemy. It seems our system of government and our justice system is unable to deal with the MAGA crowd. They use religion, racism, to push their agenda and then when that fails use the justice system and in many cases their deep pockets to get their way - they know that most people will not be able to fight them economically.

My point being - don't be too harsh with us for venting our frustrations - at this point we need to heal and try and figure out how to beat a system of government that appear to be more of a oligarchy instead of a Democracy.

We need to acknowledge where we are and not fool ourselves about how bad it really is.

It will take us a while to heal. It does help to know that Agolf Shitler didn't win in a landslide and his "mandate" is as fake as his hair, faux tan, lifts, etc.

What is hard to deal with is that more people chose to not bother to vote then those who did. Either they were incredibly uninformed or were fooled into downplaying the danger.

The most daunting thing is that now we face an even more "Mission: Impossible", then we did this cycle. Lots of people are saying don't give up, but most of them are quite short of details on how to fight back.

The one person I watch who does have concrete ideas on how to cope with what is coming and also how to support the resistance is Texas Paul. You can find his podcasts on YouTube. They are free. And he has been counseling people to take a break from politics. Rest and recharge during the holidays, enjoy time with friends and family if you can. Spend time in nature. And, create a plan on how to cope with the coming economic and social chaos. He also suggested going out and getting involved with your local Democratic party. Have pot lucks and barbecues. Find out what activities they have that you can get involved with.
My phone needs recharging, so good night for now.

I agree.

It is time for him to board a one-way rocket ship off this blue marble.

And wonder why she hasn't been given an "appointment" by tsf. Assistant Ambassador to Greece would be nice.

We still have Obamacare, we still have Gays in the military, we still have marriage equality to name just a few.

Yes we are a divided Country. Sometimes were gonna win and sometimes were gonna lose. We are still an unfinished Country, this Country will never be finished & thats by design.

I will probably get a ton of hate for this but I feel most of our problems stem from the last two generations. Our course can always be righted, you just have to have hope.

Go in peace brother.

Last edited Thu Dec 19, 2024, 06:00 PM - Edit history (1)

The problems stem from Gen Z and Gen Alpha? Alphas are still kids.

Or the Silent Gen and the Boomers?

I should have just listed them.

1. Millennial's
2. Generation Z

I myself am a Baby Boomer.

Check it out sometime. You can find villains and saints in every generation. The times change, consciousness changes. The times show us what our collective unconscious wants us to deal with.

My hope is that we're on the verge of a radically better way, but I don't know....

Every word rings true.

Well said.

Every day since the election I have prayed that my mother will live to see what her willful ignorance has wrought. She needs to watch her children lose their social security and medicare. She'll need to take out a reverse mortgage when Musk cuts her civil service pension from the budget.

She needs to watch while her grandchildren struggle to keep jobs and move back in with their parents. Maybe she'll have to take in boarders at the age of 88. Hoping that Musk doesn't cut her health care too soon so she can live to see my brother lose his Veteran's health benefits.

Sorry if you think that is cruel--but the woman that raised me is not the same woman that has voted for the sick fuck 3 times--she let herself be brainwashed by fox and their fucking friends. All of us will be suffering....she needs to live long enough to join us all.

I have the same anger as you do.

These effing idiots need to see what they've done but my only income is my social security. I was able to start getting it this year (when I turned 66 1/2). I simply won't be able to live without it.

They'll make changes that impact the younger generations.

That they can sell; not impacts on current beneficiaries. They'd lose everything in 2026.

since Raygun.

The School of the Americas was a training center at Ft Benning who trained many staff of dictators all over the world, so it a dark way this is Karma. But instead of the pampered class getting their just desserts the working class, the educated and activists will pay. I just hope this puts the rest of the world on a better track and that this madness collapses and is as impotent as t45 stumbling around and blathering.

https://soaw.org/about-soa-watch

it to happen.

They are in now and it will be very hard to get them out until an overly oppressed society rises up against them.

I have lost pride in our people for corrupting those ideals.

There is a very good reason the 1st amendment starts with "Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" - because
the founding fathers, with all their flaws, knew that religious doctrine
enforced by government equals failure. It will continue unless we constrain
the religious extremists. Remember Timothy McVeigh ?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/13/oklahoma-city-bombing-20-years-later-key-questions-remain-unanswered

Maybe a few did, but for the most part, it's worse than that. They chose it. They saw racism and xenophobia and actively chose that. They didn't want racial progress, less misogyny, or a more equal society. They want racism that puts them on top; misogyny that restores patriarchy; and socio-economic inequality that benefits them and only those like them. They would be "Hitler's willing executioners" given the opportunity. "There are many who do not know they are fascists but will find it out when the times comes.”

But unless you have also lost faith in cold hard facts, the facts tell us some interesting things.

First, the election was very close. The gop won the presidency without a majority. The late deciders were extremely misinformed. They did not vote for hate. They voted for lies.

This is an information war that we can still win although it is definitely going to take longer and cause more of us pain than a democratic victory would have.

We need to declare the truth often and with the facts before us.

Since at least the 1920’s

The economy (& jobs) grow under democratic presidencies just as former president Bill Clinton said. This is a verifiable fact.

Our country’s debt grows under republican presidencies. This too is a verifiable fact.

We need to preach these truths until they sink into the brainpans of our fellow citizens who live right now solely inside the gop false frame

where tax cuts for the rich trickle down (they never do)

helping another hurts you (helping rarely hurts)

and everything is a “business” that needs deregulating (an absolute crock pushed by the Seagull mine! mine! mine! Caucus who never ever will have enough because of the black holes they nurse instead of their souls).

... affect them unless a message wasn't given or it was completely ignored.

I'm going for the first, the M$M didn't explain tariffs like they are now ... its disingenuous for the M$M to act like it was peoples fault when they focused on Trumps more stupid shit during the election.

I admit it isn’t easy. The number of deluded folks is breathtaking and most are not interested in facts or numbers right now.

Nonetheless, if we hold our rooted in reality ground and repeat the truth as nauseum (like the gop repeats so many lies who knows the count?) it will have an amplification effect.

We need to try and avoid the circular firing squads!! and focus on the plain old facts.

Talk to your neighbors too. Talk to the guy at the gas station and the bank! Weeks ago I fretted to a banker based on the GOP’s rhetoric that the gop would come after the FDIC. She said no way that happens.
What must she be thinking today? See how that works ?

Be like those old shampoo commercials— and she told two friends, he told two friends and so on and so on ad infinitum.

Have faith. We are still the kind, decent people we have always been — look at how much we give and how hopeful we almost always are. Some of us are seriously deluded. Some of us are in fact hateful, misguided bigots and lonely misogynists, too. This is true. Most of us, though, are not. We are simply so busy we can hardly think straight and are ergo, easily played (sadly).

The late voters probably "did not vote for hate. They voted for lies." - gives me a shred of hope for our fellow citizens

said by actor Michael Douglas playing Gordon Gekko

It's difficult to see it for what it is, and that is so discouraging.

the result of the Dumbing Down of America which we can thank the rethug inhumanes for.

So well put - but I hold onto the possibility that we can experience an awakening - we need to work together for this

... and reach conclusions.

This is why I and mine are the only members of our families that escaped the Abrahamic blood cult of 'Christ' in which we were reared.

This is why I and mine are the only members of our families that are not
GOP Nat-C's.

It is those that embrace delusion that embrace fascism.

It is those that reject delusion that are not.

Those of us that embrace reason will always resist fascism, we will never desist, because we know that in reason's absence indeed delusion does rule and our freedoms cease to exist.

Here's to reason's rule.

Sorry, couldn't help myself. 😉 I was just thinking about "Rusty" Limbaugh roasting in hell.

So did I. The election of President Obama showed me how wrong I was.

In the Lyceum address Lincoln said, "At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

"The inmates have taken over the asylum!" ('One flew over the cuckoo's nest'. Nurse Ratchett, possibly?)

And:

"Isolate him!" (Dustin Hoffman in 'Outbreak'.1995 movie.)

Yeh, but puking inside your protective suit is always an option.

Advice for 2025: Wear your metaphorical protective suit and try not to puke.

The only way it will change is when people like Trump, Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, and their ilk are hanging at hanging at the end of ropes.

With their votes, they made a conscious decision to attack our country and everyone in it. They KNOW that trump is reckless, dangerous and unqualified. But for whatever reason, they turned their metaphorical guns on the US and pulled the trigger. Why? It hurts, but we have to be cleared eyed about the fact that it was intentional sabotage.

destroy the planet and people.

I don’t think there is an end point anymore. Simply insane monsters smashing things for fun.

Like the snake eating its tail.

representation of the human race.

And if food isn’t being grown

And guards revolt

And the plague seeps through the airlocks

There is no safe place.

After I am homeless and with no health care and I am not exaggerating.

Ma, you don’t really believe all 77 million trump voters are bad people do you?
And I looked at him and said, yes I do.

The values you speak of have always existed. Now that street crime is lower, white-collar crime (political corruption, too) is a bigger problem.

We have a better spotlight on those things than when you and I were yoots. And a wider choice what to view. But those in American values have always existed. Except now, those who make profit off of those negative values can sponsor shows that make them money. 💰

A definite threat is an eroded value system. But even more, an uncontrollable business system that cannibalizes a stable society’s wealth, values, and liberalism that allows it to flourish in the first place. And entire networks selling advertising next to that 24/7 shitshow?

I can’t even…

Pre-Reagan, the country was welcoming Baby Boomers, the Woodstock Generation, the Pepsi Generation, etc. into Society. All they wanted were decent wages and self-fulfillment.

Reagan et seq.: All of a sudden, there were Yuppies who became addicted to status, power, money, and stuff. They outdid their parents, whom a decade ago they eschewed and condemned. They became their parents on steroids.

And these Yuppies reproduced. Their children became a worse reincarnation of themselves. Less and less dedication to improving the imperfections of this country. No guiding star except for "Get what's mine before someone else gets it!"

Add to that Gingrich preaching the Gospel of "Republicans stick together no matter what!" And the Contract with America. The House became infested and rancid. Perhaps rudderless, save for cutting social programs.

Add to that the massive redistribution of wealth. And that's not enough. The oligarchs want THEIR money back that was unjustly given to us.

"We have met the enemy and they are us". (Calvin & Hobbes)

I remain hopeful and still have faith in my fellow citizen.

I think Elon will weaken the power and sway Trump has had over his base and in Congress. Elon is unlikeable, ignorant, arrogant, greedy - totally lacking in the qualities needed to step into the limelight. He will become a public enemy.

Politicians do not fear him. Average Americans will develop a hatred of him as he attempts to destroy safety nets and programs they depend on.

At the same time, we see new life, new ideas, new hopes spring up all around us. There are talented and wonderful people in every generation. And they are everywhere.

It's not that the American people are stupid, being they don't know their own best interests. It's that they've been trained to tune out. Plus our media's ownership, wants us to be stupid. Why would I give up on the US. Our Constitution locks out a chance of reform and our owners have the power to manipulate us . Unless we get so alienated that they can't control us.