• SwingingTheLamp@midwest.socialEnglish
    32·
    3 months ago

    I have a question from a fatalist for the “vote blue no matter who” folks:

    Suppose we all turn out and vote hard for Biden, and he wins another term. The fascists aren’t just going to give up, and say, “Oh well, they beat us, we might as well pack it in.” Right-wing populism is a meme, in the original sense that Richard Dawkins coined it. It’s like a mind-virus that bypasses a person’s critical faculties, and makes them run on fear and resentment, susceptible to crazy conspiracy theories. It swept through the world in the 20th century, and it took the traumatic paroxysm of a world war to knock back. That is to say that it’s not going away without a fight of some kind.

    What’s the endgame, then? Why won’t another fascist win in 2028 (or the same one, if he lives that long) when the Democrats don’t have incumbent advantage, the populist mind-virus has continued to spread, and the historical pattern is already a swing to the other party?

    I was afraid, as were a few media commentators, after 2020 that the American centrists would act as if Biden represented a return to normalcy and the end of the threat. And that’s kind of what happened. Props to the House Democrats for forming the a committee to investigate the January 6th attack. A year and a half later, but at least they did it. Their findings finally pressured Biden and his AG, Merrick Garland, to act on prosecuting the instigator of the attack… almost 2 years later. And on a different charge. The delay was long enough for a verdict in the trial to plausibly not come until after the next election. That is to say, I don’t foresee Biden facing the fascist threat.

    And not just Biden: The trial in Georgia nearly fell apart because the media and its consumers are so easily distracted from the real issues by a whiff of sex, and the evergreen opportunity to tear down a powerful Black woman. The Democratic AG here in Wisconsin declined to prosecute the fake electors, without ever explaining why. President Obama decided against prosecuting Bush administration officials for their various crimes, saying that we should look to the future instead. Bill Clinton—back when the fascist threat was less obvious, to be fair—steered into it, “triangulating” with his New Democrats to win by stealing Republican positions from them.

    I’ve heard the accusations about leftists having doubts about Biden helping the fascists to win, so enough of that. I’m asking about your game plan: What’s going to be different this time?

    • morphballganon@lemmy.world
      61·
      3 months ago

      You’re right that a Biden win will not eliminate fascism. But neither would a Trump win.

      Eliminating fascism is a pipe dream, so that’s not the goal. The goal is to get 4 years that aren’t filled with terror.

      Do you remember what it was like with a maniac in the white house? Every week, there was another good thing he dismantled, or another terrible thing he started. Do you remember when he stole shipments of medical supplies from hospitals, and then sold them back to the hospitals? How about selling presidential pardons for $2 million apiece? It was psychologically tiring. At times, it was horrifying.

      We’re trying to minimize how much more of that we have to face.

      Every time I see one of these fascism-enabling posts, my first thought is “did you fucking forget?”

          • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.socialEnglish
            23·
            3 months ago

            Then I’m not sure what you are saying. That does seem to be the logical implication of not wanting a fascist in the White House for the next 4 years, but accepting that it’s likely that we’ll have one after that.

            • SweetBilliam@midwest.socialEnglish
              2·
              3 months ago

              The flight against authoritarianism doesn’t end. Ever. We could be in an anarcho-communist eutopia, there would still be those who seek to wield power over others.

    • Empathy [he/him]@beehaw.org
      1·
      3 months ago

      Perhaps I’m being a bit too optimistic, but access to information isn’t the same now as it was in the 20th century.

      Although we have a lot of false information to filter through out there, we don’t have to rely on what’s available at the local library or what our friends and family believe. I hope that it’s going to be increasingly difficult to spread misinformation and fear mongering.