This is one of the best posts of the entire thread.
Have you ever read the book by Erich Fromm, "Escape from Freedom"?
Basically, he writes about what you just posted. Every era features new freedoms, new economic opportunities, and a displaced group of people either socially or economically. He goes back to the end of the middle ages and how capitalism sprouted throughout western Europe. Breaking from the catholic dogma and feudal system found new freedom and opportunities either socially or economically. Many swam some sank. Those who sank, often found became scared and cynical at the new freedoms presented and desired "an escape." The escape was found in authoritarian religions and/or governments. This cycle repeated during the industrial revolution too.
Where Erich really digs deep is in the Weimar Republic and how it met its demise with the rise of Nazism. Hitler and the Nazi ideology gave security and identity to those displaced in Germany and weary of the roller coaster of the Weimar Republic. Instead of "dealing with" democracy, enough displaced people in German society threw it away in favor of one man who could "fix everything." Enough people placed security as a higher priority than freedom and it led to dictatorship. The book was published in 1942 so it has an interesting perspective since the Nazi regime was still in power at its publishing.
I see the very same thing playing out right now in America. Most Trumpers aren't benefiting from his presidency. His tax cut was a complete joke. As shown last year, Trumpers would be the biggest losers if Obamacare had been repealed and Trumpcare passed. But they don't give a ****. All Trumpers care about is the feeling of "safety" and being able to troll liberals. "Who cares if the tax cut doesn't help me as long as I can stick it to the liberals, women, and brown people!"
I'm really not sure how we recover from this if we aren't permitted to get rid of Trump. He needs to be impeached, indicted, and thrown into prison. Along with his criminal cartel. They all need to go.
Thank you. Yes, I'm familiar with Fromm's study "Escape from Freedom". It's going on 5 decades now, but in grad school in history, my focus, and degree, was Europe since 1789, or since the French Revolution. I was really interested in the intellectual currents that Hitler fed off of. Everything I studied seemed to come crashing down upon me when Trump arrived on the scene, and then won the GOP nomination. It's safe to say I've spent much of my spare time since trying to understand how such a demagogue came to power in my country at just this time.
And that focus of mine has been part of what I perceive as me falling short here. My too long comments, like this latest, I guess, lol. In the early Trump threads I think I waxed too ad nauseum to many here because I went on and on about what constituted a demagogue and why we should be alarmed that one such had attained the presidency of the United States. In classic style, he started out identifying scapegoats that the disaffected elements of American society could conveniently take out anger upon. Hispanics. Muslims. Immigrants in general. (And anti-immigrant hysteria has been a recurring theme in our nation's history. It's the reason I've said Trump, had he lived in the 1850's, would have been a logical candidate for the Nativist Party, or Know Nothing Party, which in that era focused anger on Roman Catholic and Irish immigrants.)
I do agree with what you are saying here, with the exception of sending Trump to prison. When all is said and done, that may be his just fate, but I don't think I would do that, and here's why. Like the masterful demagogue that he is, he has finely crafted the Big Lie, and builds upon it daily, to convince his followers, and even beyond his followers, that it is he who is the victim in the Mueller investigation. He has convinced his followers that the news media, rather then being the watchdogs of our society, are the enemy of the people. You and I may see through this Big Orwellian Lie, but, at this stage, it's likely even impeachment may generate civil strife like this country has not seen since the 1960's, if not the 1860's. Because of the Big Orwellian Lie cemented by the "Fake News" meme. Putting him in jail somewhere down the line would only make it that much harder to bring the country together again. It's hard to see a scenario where our divided nation is whole again, jailing Trump won't achieve that. I want him out of power, though.
I want to take the opportunity to say something here in response to
@Joe Bagadonuts suggestion that the left should spend less time in blind hatred of Trump the man, and more time on his policies. Well, I do in fact. I've signed every anti-Zinke(Interior Secretary) and anti-Pruitt(EPA) petition that has come my way. I am a long time member of the Natural Resources Defense Council(NRDC), and I am appalled by the anti-environmental and anti-science policies of the Trump administration. Those, and the policy toward refugees and undocumented immigrants(often they are one and the same) are the policies that engender anger and resistance in me more then anything else. I do not hate Trump. I do not know the man personally. I do indeed hate what I see he represents: bigotry, uber nationalism, denial and repression of science. These things I oppose in his administration.
I'll end this latest of my rants with a couple of articles some may enjoy reading. First, an opinion piece by Will Bunch, of The Inquirer of Philadelphia. It will be seen as more overreaction from the Left. Perhaps. But I recall conservative columnists were among the first to identify Trump as a dangerous demagogue:
http://www.philly.com/philly/column...ons-lies-obstruction-of-justice-20180603.html
"Hour by hour, lie by lie, dictate by dictate, Donald Trump is becoming an American dictator. And recent days have proved what many of us have long feared: That no one knows how to stop this. Not the Republicans or Democrats on Capitol Hill who, for different reasons, are too cowed politically to take substantive action. And not a news media that
doesn’t have the mechanisms for informing the public when a president is a compulsive liar. Maybe things will change after the November midterm election — but there’s no guarantee, and that feels like a long time away."
Last, a hint of where our next great war may develop. If Trump is given any kind of shiny thing he can take home with him from the summit with North Korea, I believe his war cabinet of Pompeo and Bolton may turn their full attention to Iran. Michael Klare, writing for TomDispatch.com, describes "The Road to Hell in the Middle East" that we may live to see in our lifetime. The fact that Bolton seems to be on the outs with Trump at the moment helps, but this is still a foreseeable scenario:
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176422/tomgram:_michael_klare,_the_road_to_hell_in_the_middle_east/
I don't "hate" Trump. I hate the forces he represents and stokes on a daily basis. The imperial presidency has been in ascendency for the last several administrations. But Trump is the climax of that authoritarian trend. He's brought a mean spiritedness to that office like no other. He has created "the other" for his followers to hate. He has alienated our closest allies. None of this can possibly be good for our country. Enough already.
