So the USA is turning into a fascist military dictatorship because of capitalism and misinformation campaigns swaying voters etc. etc. How do you (as a USian or not) view what is going to happen in the immediate-to-near future regarding civil liberties & disobedience, especially the current secret police and/or ICE (just getting a big, beautiful budget increase to unbeforeseen heights); and also thinking civil war and outside intervention?
For me, the current situation seems hopeless for the state. The bipartisan system is in its core a laughable excuse for an actual functioning democracy (then again are there any real democracies in the capitalist world?), as both parties are controlled by the same organizations and lobbyists, with governmental administration occasionally changing hands from one to the other only to unmake what little “progress” the currently “progressives” had made last time they were in the administration, forming but a pittance of what the people actually want. But the current administration seems to be too much akin to the Italian fascists or the German NSDAP of yore, and its attempts to control all media too see-through for some, who mostly seem to be in the bluer (richer and thus more better off) states. I think this stark divide between the population will be the force that rips the nation apart, as most people in the bluer more progressive states probably aren’t as big on the secret police appearing unmarked and unannounced and armed, ready to take people away to concentration camps in undisclosed places in foreign nations in unmarked vans as the people of the redder and more conservative states seem to be.
So the question becomes how will the people react? Civil disobedience probably sounds nice right up until they start gunning those disobeying down, and deploying the National Guard and Marines against them (which I think might be unconstitutional there? not sure though because it happened already). The US Armed Forces apparently have 1.3 million active members (without a draft mind you) and even though there are people in this group who aren’t as morally bankrupt as the administration is atm, I think they’d still have enough members positioned around the world in enough places that there isn’t a single force in the world to oppose it willingly and easily. I bring this up because if (or when) push comes to shove and the civil disobedience in the blue states becomes too much for DJ Dump and his christofascist capitalism buddies, and they start driving their military might against their own people with increasing force, who will be there to come in to save the (non-militant minded) people? I think the US administration would consider this a declaration of war, and respond to it as such. So as I see it the US is on a surefire highway to the danger zone to Civil War part II: Electric Boogaloo, and in the end will either rip itself apart or pull the entirety of the western (NATO) countries to war with it. So thank god my country just got in! Wouldn’t wanna miss this one, boys!
Anyway post your prophecies on the manifesting destiny of the US below, we’ll eventually see who got it right.
Economically like the post-Soviet states. Socially and culturally like Iran after the revolution.
I don’t think there will be a civil war. It seems like this is popular idea because the American narrative is programmed like Hollywood blockbusters that need to resolve itself between one to two hours. That means a setup, the big conflict, and the brief resolution. Where the righteous American hero prevails in the end as he walks away from the explosions without looking back.
Reality is slower. It’s not a linear point A to B story. There’s not necessarily the big event that immediately leads to victorious conclusion.
End stage capitalism is going to slowly get worse over the coming decades. The everyone for themselves mind-rot leads to the natural conclusion of economic decay for the lower majority as wealth and power further concentrates. There will effectively be commie blocks. Urban centers once the marvel of American economic and democratic might. Built when there was ample money, resources, and more functional civic systems to maintain it. The effects of the wealthy gutting social systems leaves a helpless population. This compounds a vicious cycle of urban decay.
The conservative supreme court supermajority is going to play out over the next several decades leading to deeply entrenched conservative backlash against secularization of the late 20th / early 21st century.
A saying I’ve seen a lot lately is that Americans have always had things work out for them. So they think it will continue to work out. It’s made them complacent. They sit at home and watch MTV / Youtube while their country kept on winning just like that.
Sometimes there are situations where there is no coming back from. That’s just individual life and world history. I think there’s a very real possibility America just fades away.