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#demagogue

4 posts3 participants0 posts today
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Voegelin defines #stupidity as a “loss of reality.” The loss of reality means a “stupid” person cannot “rightly orient his action in the world, in which he lives.” The #demagogue, who is always an idiote, is not a freak or social mutation. The demagogue expresses the society’s #zeitgeist, its collective departure from a rational world of verifiable fact.

open.substack.com/pub/michaelm?

Michael Moore · American Idiot(s)By Michael Moore

A phantom #democracy

The endgame is a strangely new kind of #despotism: a corrupted state ruled by a #demagogue, backed by government and corporate #oligarchs with the help of pliant journalists and docile judges, a top-down form of government secured by the combined force of the fist and the voluntary #servitude of millions of ultimately loyal subjects who lend their votes to a Leader who promises a future in exchange for their obedience as a fictional “people.”

thebulletin.org/premium/2024-0

The People?

By this stage of the circus extravaganza, politics degenerates into #spectacles, #scapegoating, dirty tricks, and permanent campaigning by a government led by a #demagogue messiah. Ruling by lies and cheating spreads, but the Grand Redeemer promises “the People” improvements in their daily lives. There is much talk of solutions to the headaches and heartbreaks of unemployment, inflation, unaffordable housing, and poor healthcare—but much of that is only talk.
thebulletin.org/premium/2024-0

The Grand Redeemer?

The government led by the big-mouthed Grand Redeemer craves concentrated political power. Unchecked #ambition is the thing. The Great Redeemer prefers decrees. The point is to suck life from power-sharing #democracy and the #compromises that are committed to the principle of fair treatment. Gripped by an inner urge to destroy checks, balances, and mechanisms for publicly scrutinizing and restraining power, the #demagogue shows his/her true colors.
thebulletin.org/premium/2024-0

How to Organize an #Assembly
Preparing to Respond in an Era of #Disasters and #Despotism

#Crimethinc
2024-11-10

"There are times when people who have kept to themselves, counting on politicians and specialists to solve their problems, suddenly realize that their only hope is to make contact with others like themselves and work together. Perhaps a #hurricane has just torn through the state, or a #demagogue has just won reelection on an explicitly #fascist electoral platform. For many people, this is one of those moments right now. But how do we connect with them—or at least connect them with each other? One answer is to host an open assembly.

"Here, we’ll offer a brief guide, along with some sample discussion questions you could use to discuss how to prepare for the second Donald #Trump administration.

[...]

"If you want to organize with a modicum of confidentiality rather than turning out the largest possible crowd, you could limit your announcement to #handbills and #Signal messages. Generally speaking, you’ll want to maximize the number of earnest participants while keeping your assembly off the radar of people with bad intentions.

"Hopefully, you’re already connected to local projects that have some reach through which to make the announcement. These could include #MutualAid projects, #CommunitySpaces, #bands, #SignalLoops, #ReadingGroups, #DJs, #StudentGroups [I would include neighbors and folks already involved with #activism whom you know and can trust and rely on]. Consider approaching other groups at the outset and inviting them to help organize or at least publicize the assembly. The more different groups are on board from the beginning, the wider the range of people you will bring together, and the less the gathering will feel like the private property of any one group."

Read more:
crimethinc.com/2024/11/10/how-

CrimethInc.How to Organize an AssemblyIn an era of disasters and despotism, one way to get people connected and ready to respond is to host an open assembly. Here's how.

#politics #news
Washington’s greatest fear

.. that "an unwise, self-seeking politicians — even if fairly elected to public office — would tear down the central government and its constitutional laws for the sake of their own advancement and glorification.

For the steady, rational Washington, “#demagogue ”described a well-known class of political actors, known since Greek and Roman times, who obtain power through emotional appeals to prejudice, distrust and fear.

latimes.com/opinion/story/2019

@GryphonSK

In addition to Southern #slavery bullshit, the founders didn't trust the electorate, that they might vote for a #demagogue

So they also implemented the #ElectoralCollege as a filter where electors would change their vote and block a demagogue from gaining power

In 2016 #Hillary Clinton won the #presidentialelection by 3 million votes

And the Electoral College gave us a demagogue, Donald #Trump, as president

The Electoral College is a complete failure

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"Commissioner, Interplanetary Alloys has used figures like that in their campaign against Hilder, but you can't fight a tremendous, emotion-filled drive with cold mathematics.” —Asimov, The Martian Way, 1952

Damn that resonates hard right now.