Very hard not to be grim, watching Americans cheerfully vote to end their democracy.
What a fucking nightmare.
@GeePawHill No such question is before the voters, there is no mechanism to put such a question before the voters, it's just not going to be on the table anytime soon given the structure of the US government.
Folks who talk about ending democracy aren't being realistic about how government actually functions.
@volkris I am saddened that you do not understand what it means to a democracy to say that the law does not matter.
@GeePawHill what in the world? It's BECAUSE of law that democracy is protected.
It is because the law matters that we need to emphasize that the law would prevent such an option being on the table in any serious way.
We should be shouting that from the rooftops because the law, and it's protection of democracy, absolutely matter. Undermine both with this nonsense about democracy being on the ballot.
@volkris Or wait, no, is it the law that decided he can't release personal information about the people who are participating in his various trials? Is *that* the law that's protecting our democracy?
@volkris You are so sure.
Have a great night, I'll give you the last word, but after that, I fear, we shall not speak again.
@GeePawHill I am so sure because I know how the system works, I watch it all the time, I know about the laws and the procedures and we have seen how they successfully work over and over.
And heck, if Trump could have turned off democracy he already would have. He was president already, and he utterly utterly fell on his face trying to get that election victory, he gave it his best shot, but the system is so solid, so firmly established that it swatted him away like a gnat.
Look at the events leading up to January 6th. We know how hard Trump worked to stay in office, but all of the mechanisms the US government has in place to protect democracy just made it an exercise in futility. There's just no way to get around that.
So no, democracy is not on the ballot. It literally cannot be since we have such strong legal frameworks preventing exactly that from happening.
The law matters. The laws protecting democracy most of all. And it's because we have such legal frameworks that we can say firmly that democracy cannot be on the ballot.
We need to support those laws by recognizing them. They won't go away if we talk like they're not there, but it doesn't help.
@GeePawHill nope.
I'm referring to the enormous amount of legal machinery developed over the course of so many generations all aimed at protecting the democratic processes, ensuring that voting is that the core of the US system.
Democracy is not on the table. The democratic process is going to elect a jerk one way or another, but then, that's democracy for you.
@volkris Are you referring to the law that has already decided he committed financial fraud and sexual assault? The law that is currently WIP that he committed insurrection and election interference?
Is *that* the law you think will protect us? Cuz it didn't protect our democracy last week, and it didn't protect our democracy today.