Too many Americans want authoritarianism. Let's just be honest about it. There are tons of Americans who hate Putin only because he leads Russia, they'd love to have someone like him leading the US. There's many more who just flat out like Putin.
There's Nazis who think an authoritarian will support them in doing the things that average people find abhorrent. There are religious zealots who think the same thing. In their minds, only an authoritarian can do the "big changes" that our society is repelled by.
They talk a lot about "draining the swamp" and the "enemies within" but what do they mean? They mean anybody who stands in the way of their idealized, religious, white, patriarchal monoculture. They mean you and I. We are the "swamp." We are the "enemies within."
So I'm not voting for Harris because I love Harris. I'm voting for myself. For my rights. For the rights of my friends and my queer loved ones. I'm voting to stop that part of the country that "democracy" is a hurdle to their agendas. Nothing else matters to me in this election.
The role of the president makes the election of special importance.
But We the People need to vote Democrats down the ballot.
The alternative is that Trump enablers (or straight Trumpites) will serve as a roadblock to good policy without some of the taint of Trump while doing so.
Not much mention about what we elderly want. I'm the same age as Donald Trump. The difference is that my brain still works perfectly well.
I'm one of those white folks who had to hide my homosexuality from the public and, especially, from the state and national lawmakers. The hiding wasn't necessary until my Ma and first stepfather decided to move us from my beloved Michigan to segregated Florida. Culture shock! We arrived there Christmas Eve, 1959.
I was in highschool in 1963, just to give you a hint of what Floridians were and are like. Let me tell you about the day President Kennedy was assassinated.
I was in homeroom class when it was announced on the PA system. I thought the building would collapse. The teacher, my best friend, and I were the only ones who were silent and unbelieving.
It was like a night when the hometeam won a game. Students and perhaps teachers were cheering, stomping their feet, and pounding on the walls.
Already packed cars were driving up and down main street, horns blowing and everyone cheering until they were hoarse. It went on until late in the night.
I went straight home. Ma and the stepfather were separated. Ma and I sat and cried in front of the television for 3 days. Seeing little John Boy following on the street was the most heartbreaking.
That was what the minds of Florida and the rest of the South were like. Still are from what I hear.
I moved a lot in my life. I managed to find good people everywhere. In May, 1969, I was back in Detroit, so happy to be home!
Also in that month and year I had to hide who I was/am. I was drafted into the US Army. Just a highschool graduate, the written test showed me to have a 2nd year college IQ. I was offered Officers Training but, another hiding game was that I was married to a woman. Officers Training was then out of the question. They gave me a long list for me to choose special training with. I chose Signal Corps in New Jersey, just a train ride from NYC. Oh boy!
That training didn't save me from going to Vietnam. I don't believe in killing and wars but off I went.
At the transfer point where men were sent to the killing fields we all stood quietly waiting for assignments. The Sergeant asked if anyone could type. My hand shot up and I was chosen. Queer that I am, I was assigned a Secret Clearance. During the year I was there I made' it to the rank of Specialist E-5, equal to Sergeant but with special training elsewhere.
I somehow wound up in Los Angeles. I went to Legal Secretary school in Beverly Hills and passed with a 96% grade. In California I haven't had to hide who I am. Home at last!
A wonderful thing happened! A new President named Obama came along and actually worked for the people. He set my people free nationally. Same sex marriage was granted.
I retired in 2011. I was ready for it, so I thought.
What I learned then was that politicians don't give a damn about the elderly. Indeed, the Greedy American Landlords got together, raising rents nationwide.
Rent is outrageous in California as it is. This horror came during the pandemic. I, a Veteran, was forced to live in my car for 2 years. So many innocent Americans became homeless not by choice.
Politicians overlooked the problem and created a situation where no one wants beneficial housing for homeless even near their neighborhoods.
The heatwave of 2022 put me in the hospital. The Veterans Hospital in San Diego is terrific. Three days after I was released I was admitted to a special Veterans village where the staff worked to get me Section 8 apartment. As of July 8 last year I was received into an apartment building in the middle of San Diego's beautiful LGBTQ COMMUNITY. The population is a great mixture of LGBTQ folks and hetero folks, all friendly and nice.
So there, Donald Trump! Now I just have to wait to see how quickly you and your cult clean out our communities and throw us into concentration camps where your special hate group soldiers will torture us to death.
Along with so many millions of Americans I worked hard to keep this country a place where so many wonderful diverse people live or want to live.
If Americans choose Trump to botch up our nation, our Constitution, our Democracy, all I can say is, what in the hell is wrong with you people?
My generation built on and added to all the negative traits that had people begging for the rights that were already there for them. Your hatred for wonderful human beings not white destroyed everything this country was meant to be.
The treatment of the indigenous when the IMMIGRANTS came in from elsewhere was just a sample of how shitty the treatment of others they thought beneath them would be until this day. It was easy for me to hide from the bigots because I'm white. I became an Atheist so I wouldn't have to sit and listen to the ways preachers twisted the true meaning of the Word of Jesus Christ. Words to live by if you're smart enough to stay away from the churches.
All of our negatives came from who stole our governance early on. Who knew our voices and rights would be stolen to the point that they may be gone in less than two weeks?
I suspect the American people broadly prefer democracy to authoritarianism, but they prefer having more money to either of them, and that's the problem.
They don't want the election to be about that choice, because then there's only one option, and they demand having an opposition party that one can safely vote for to register their frustration.
I think people in other countries or at other times in history would consider the American people privileged, spoiled.
TBH, at least half the American voters either desire or would be untroubled by a quasi-fascist regime taking charge...but as it's been said, "we all vote, we win", and this horrid spectre won't come to pass.
It is as if the institutions have rolled over and surrendered to Trump. And the Republican elected folks and his base seem to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. It will take generations for our country to recover from this crisis, if ever. I know those of us who are older fear what our children and grandchildren will face without our protection.
You can’t change one part of the equation without other parts changing, so your question is not a real one — and I think suggests a big misunderstanding of what I’m saying. No, I would never vote for Stein or West, and, in any foreseeable future, I would be backing the Democratic nominee for president. (This is also literally the least important part of the piece, so this is a one-and-done response.)
The point is: I have issues with Harris, I’ve regularly discussed them over time in the past during the 2020 primary, but here I am voting for her in 2024 and it’s not a question. That’s really it. The point was, in fact, the opposite of what you’re asking; it was that none of that matters now.
Then we face it. (Well ya'll, I'm not in the US right now) Is a threat of violence if we do the right thing a good reason to just roll over and say "Ok, you win, go ahead and take everything I love?"
If it does come to something like that (and I sure hope it doesn't!) then it's up to people to defend the constitution to whatever extent they can. Because the people doing a Jan.6 will be attacking the constitution, no matter what rhetoric they say about rigged elections or whatever.
It's scary, but the world sometimes just moves in scary directions. I don't know what else to tell you, frankly.
Too many Americans want authoritarianism. Let's just be honest about it. There are tons of Americans who hate Putin only because he leads Russia, they'd love to have someone like him leading the US. There's many more who just flat out like Putin.
There's Nazis who think an authoritarian will support them in doing the things that average people find abhorrent. There are religious zealots who think the same thing. In their minds, only an authoritarian can do the "big changes" that our society is repelled by.
They talk a lot about "draining the swamp" and the "enemies within" but what do they mean? They mean anybody who stands in the way of their idealized, religious, white, patriarchal monoculture. They mean you and I. We are the "swamp." We are the "enemies within."
So I'm not voting for Harris because I love Harris. I'm voting for myself. For my rights. For the rights of my friends and my queer loved ones. I'm voting to stop that part of the country that "democracy" is a hurdle to their agendas. Nothing else matters to me in this election.
The role of the president makes the election of special importance.
But We the People need to vote Democrats down the ballot.
The alternative is that Trump enablers (or straight Trumpites) will serve as a roadblock to good policy without some of the taint of Trump while doing so.
Not much mention about what we elderly want. I'm the same age as Donald Trump. The difference is that my brain still works perfectly well.
I'm one of those white folks who had to hide my homosexuality from the public and, especially, from the state and national lawmakers. The hiding wasn't necessary until my Ma and first stepfather decided to move us from my beloved Michigan to segregated Florida. Culture shock! We arrived there Christmas Eve, 1959.
I was in highschool in 1963, just to give you a hint of what Floridians were and are like. Let me tell you about the day President Kennedy was assassinated.
I was in homeroom class when it was announced on the PA system. I thought the building would collapse. The teacher, my best friend, and I were the only ones who were silent and unbelieving.
It was like a night when the hometeam won a game. Students and perhaps teachers were cheering, stomping their feet, and pounding on the walls.
Already packed cars were driving up and down main street, horns blowing and everyone cheering until they were hoarse. It went on until late in the night.
I went straight home. Ma and the stepfather were separated. Ma and I sat and cried in front of the television for 3 days. Seeing little John Boy following on the street was the most heartbreaking.
That was what the minds of Florida and the rest of the South were like. Still are from what I hear.
I moved a lot in my life. I managed to find good people everywhere. In May, 1969, I was back in Detroit, so happy to be home!
Also in that month and year I had to hide who I was/am. I was drafted into the US Army. Just a highschool graduate, the written test showed me to have a 2nd year college IQ. I was offered Officers Training but, another hiding game was that I was married to a woman. Officers Training was then out of the question. They gave me a long list for me to choose special training with. I chose Signal Corps in New Jersey, just a train ride from NYC. Oh boy!
That training didn't save me from going to Vietnam. I don't believe in killing and wars but off I went.
At the transfer point where men were sent to the killing fields we all stood quietly waiting for assignments. The Sergeant asked if anyone could type. My hand shot up and I was chosen. Queer that I am, I was assigned a Secret Clearance. During the year I was there I made' it to the rank of Specialist E-5, equal to Sergeant but with special training elsewhere.
I somehow wound up in Los Angeles. I went to Legal Secretary school in Beverly Hills and passed with a 96% grade. In California I haven't had to hide who I am. Home at last!
A wonderful thing happened! A new President named Obama came along and actually worked for the people. He set my people free nationally. Same sex marriage was granted.
I retired in 2011. I was ready for it, so I thought.
What I learned then was that politicians don't give a damn about the elderly. Indeed, the Greedy American Landlords got together, raising rents nationwide.
Rent is outrageous in California as it is. This horror came during the pandemic. I, a Veteran, was forced to live in my car for 2 years. So many innocent Americans became homeless not by choice.
Politicians overlooked the problem and created a situation where no one wants beneficial housing for homeless even near their neighborhoods.
The heatwave of 2022 put me in the hospital. The Veterans Hospital in San Diego is terrific. Three days after I was released I was admitted to a special Veterans village where the staff worked to get me Section 8 apartment. As of July 8 last year I was received into an apartment building in the middle of San Diego's beautiful LGBTQ COMMUNITY. The population is a great mixture of LGBTQ folks and hetero folks, all friendly and nice.
So there, Donald Trump! Now I just have to wait to see how quickly you and your cult clean out our communities and throw us into concentration camps where your special hate group soldiers will torture us to death.
Along with so many millions of Americans I worked hard to keep this country a place where so many wonderful diverse people live or want to live.
If Americans choose Trump to botch up our nation, our Constitution, our Democracy, all I can say is, what in the hell is wrong with you people?
My generation built on and added to all the negative traits that had people begging for the rights that were already there for them. Your hatred for wonderful human beings not white destroyed everything this country was meant to be.
The treatment of the indigenous when the IMMIGRANTS came in from elsewhere was just a sample of how shitty the treatment of others they thought beneath them would be until this day. It was easy for me to hide from the bigots because I'm white. I became an Atheist so I wouldn't have to sit and listen to the ways preachers twisted the true meaning of the Word of Jesus Christ. Words to live by if you're smart enough to stay away from the churches.
All of our negatives came from who stole our governance early on. Who knew our voices and rights would be stolen to the point that they may be gone in less than two weeks?
Thank you for reading.
Richard La France
I suspect the American people broadly prefer democracy to authoritarianism, but they prefer having more money to either of them, and that's the problem.
They don't want the election to be about that choice, because then there's only one option, and they demand having an opposition party that one can safely vote for to register their frustration.
I think people in other countries or at other times in history would consider the American people privileged, spoiled.
We may be severely punished for it.
TBH, at least half the American voters either desire or would be untroubled by a quasi-fascist regime taking charge...but as it's been said, "we all vote, we win", and this horrid spectre won't come to pass.
It is as if the institutions have rolled over and surrendered to Trump. And the Republican elected folks and his base seem to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. It will take generations for our country to recover from this crisis, if ever. I know those of us who are older fear what our children and grandchildren will face without our protection.
Chris, whom would you be voting for if you didn’t think Trump was an existential threat to our democracy? Not Harris? Whom? Jill Stein? Cornel West?
I’m confused.
You can’t change one part of the equation without other parts changing, so your question is not a real one — and I think suggests a big misunderstanding of what I’m saying. No, I would never vote for Stein or West, and, in any foreseeable future, I would be backing the Democratic nominee for president. (This is also literally the least important part of the piece, so this is a one-and-done response.)
The point is: I have issues with Harris, I’ve regularly discussed them over time in the past during the 2020 primary, but here I am voting for her in 2024 and it’s not a question. That’s really it. The point was, in fact, the opposite of what you’re asking; it was that none of that matters now.
I already basically wrote this when she became the nominee as well: https://www.lawdork.com/p/it-happened-its-harris-now-lets-do
What about after she wins, if she does, and there is a national 1/6. What then?
Then we face it. (Well ya'll, I'm not in the US right now) Is a threat of violence if we do the right thing a good reason to just roll over and say "Ok, you win, go ahead and take everything I love?"
If it does come to something like that (and I sure hope it doesn't!) then it's up to people to defend the constitution to whatever extent they can. Because the people doing a Jan.6 will be attacking the constitution, no matter what rhetoric they say about rigged elections or whatever.
It's scary, but the world sometimes just moves in scary directions. I don't know what else to tell you, frankly.
Glad to hear it. I am merely pushing people to prepare.