So, Where Do We Go From Here?
It ain’t gonna be short, or easy.
I guess before I can talk about the future, I oughta establish something about the present.
Right now, in the US, we’re a mess. In part because of the timidity of the Democratic Party, we’re fighting for our democracy like most of my generation never imagined we’d ever need to do. The reasons I say it like that are myriad, but suffice it to simply state that we wouldn’t be here if people like Pelosi and Schumer had bothered to look past their corporate donors’ checks and examined what the GOP’s been doing since Gingrich.
But we are, so what do we do? Without getting into specifics, those of us on the left need to get tough. We’ve allowed people like Alito, Thomas, and yes, John Roberts, all of whom lied to Congress to get where they are, and an entire generation of Republicans probably starting with Reagan, to lie to the American people about just about everything they stand for, cheat their way into controlling state legislatures, and turn their entire Party into a mirror image of the Nazi Party we fought over 75 years ago.
It is far past time to realize that they no longer stand for “comity”, or respecting others’ beliefs, and still “conserve” the ideal they’ve always stood for — the rights of ONLY rich white males to have an economic stake in and thus, control over, our country. Look back at every single time our people have expanded voting rights, and who was opposed. Always the conservatives.
Without, again, getting into the weeds, those of us opposed to authoritarianism, whether we’re Independents, Democrats, or Progressives, every damn one of us needs to stand up and oppose the GOP, to the point of its total destruction. Not a remaking, not making them back off, but the complete and final dissolution of that Party. Its time in history is ended. But we do need two parties (at least) in this country, so what then?
How about a Progressive Party? Instead of allowing the conservatives to get their feet under them, let’s undercut them completely. Give them a choice — Progressives or Democrats. After all, the leadership of the Democratic party DOES accept corporate donations, right? Maybe by combining the two sides into a single party, they can come to some agreement to be reasonable moving forward.
And let the progressives use the popularity of the ideas and proposals put forward by Sanders in his historic primary battle which accelerated all of them into a majority of Americans supporting those ideas, thereby giving both the ideas and the Progressives a chance to guide us into the future.
One without an authoritarian set of people threatening us. Well, one can hope.
But wait, that’s not the end, is it? What are we missing? What other element is there that was complicit in the rise of that authoritarian threat in this country in the first place?
Russia. Yeah, yeah, I know, the MAGAts are gonna have a cow over this one, but dammit, it’s a fact that without Russian money and social interference, not only would Trump have been unable to get as far as he did, but the NRA wouldn't have, either! Remember that pretty Russian spy? You know the one, who was screwing that Congressman (GOP, of course) and passing along all that equally pretty Russian cash?
Yeah, that one. Well, yeah, we did manage to get rid of her, and she got celebrated, too, arriving at home. I’m sure she checked off most of the boxes they’d set for her to accomplish.
But, yeah, Russian. And, talking about Russia, which country is it in the last, say, 80+ years, who’s been exporting all that lovely authoritarian BS around the world? Could it really be? No, it can’t…
Ok, ya got me. Yes, Russia. And for decades, they’ve gotten away with it. Why? Because for decades, they’d been seen as the #2 superpower in the world, alongside the US.
Ok, stay with me here. It’ll come to me. Gimme a moment…there’s something tickling at the edge of my consciousness. Something about…no, that’s not it. Doggone it, you’d think… Oh, wait! U! That’s it! Ukraine!
Geez, how could I let that slip? Yes, Ukraine, the formerly third rate Eastern European country that’s barely out of their freedom from the USSR that is showing the world exactly how poorly we’ve understood — Russia! Yep, that’s the one, currently kicking Russian ass and is determined to take back Crimea. With, of course, NATO’s help, that’s critical.
Fun to watch, isn’t it? Yep. But if you hang in there, we could take this further. I did mention that Russia is the formerly major exporter of Authoritarianism. Or maybe current, I guess China wants to edge them out.
But, again, if we (and not just the US in that “we”) intend to defend our democracies, we’re going to have to get tough. No more “nice guys & gals.” I know a lot of Progressives are singularly opposed to war, and believe me, I’m not eager to see it going on anywhere.
But the fact is, authoritarians use force and violence as part of their thing — both claiming power and keeping it. If you oppose them, force and violence at some point is impossible to avoid. You’ll either need to defend yourself or use it to finally end their reign.
So, what’s next? Or, in this case, “next” is going on right now, and we’re involved. As I mentioned after my mental hiccup, Ukraine is kicking Russian ass thanks to NATO’s help. Frankly, we do need to get off our asses and push it. Ukraine may be doing well now, but at some point, the manpower thing is gonna kick in, so in reality, we need to ensure Russia loses sooner rather than later.
And by “lose,” I do NOT mean just licks their wounds and goes home. No, I do mean “lose” as in the Russian Federation ends up dissolving, falling apart. Even if somehow, we (as in NATO?) helps things along. I say that unless we stop them now, they’ll nurse their wounds, build up their anger and rage at losing, and will try again. We cannot, as a world, allow that to happen.
In the past, one of the things the UN has always had as a rule is that the UN doesn’t interfere in countries’ internal affairs. Countries have always been left to “decide” for “themselves” what form of government they’d “like.” I put those in quotes, because it is rarely “the people” of those countries who get to “decide,” isn’t it?
Well, given its history, I’d like to say, the Russian people have virtually never had that power. But it’s time, I do think, that the people of the world need to put our collective feet down and make our governments enforce democracy. Russia has for centuries, had a very similar kind of government, one that has literally denuded the people of that land from anything even close to good lives. Economically, politically, socially, Russians’ lives just suck. Even the rich, dammit, they’re as victimized as the rest, they just get more stuff.
So, what we should do, even as just NATO, is to force the dissolution of the Russian Federation. Tell the other constituent nations as long as they choose democratic forms of government moving forward, they’ll get our political, economic, and military support as independent countries. If they go authoritarian, they lose that support.
As for Russia, force a “caretaker” government. One that can slowly introduce democracy, starting at the lower tiers of the country, allowing the people directly to gain experience with democracy. Over a ten to fifteen year period, gradually allow that self governing to grow to regional entities, then to some oversight laden federal form. (Yes, that’s another entire article.)
Our reason? To stop the Russian export of violence and authoritarianism. I think that’s justified, given their history.
This would give the world a breather. A chance to sit back and dare anyone else to step up and give it a try. We should warn China. While we certainly have no issues with them competing with anyone else for economic superiority, allowing any other countries to echo Russia’s past by exporting authoritarian forms of governance will not be tolerated.
Then enforce it.
I know this won’t be a popular idea. In fact, few people even try to think this far ahead. We just go with “next week,” or next month. But that’s how we got here in the first place. Reacting, instead of being proactive. Letting the bad guys take the initiative, and letting our morals get in the way of practicality.
Yes, I do agree, the people of a country need the right to decide for themselves how they’ll be governed. But when the bad guys force their own desires on a population, we cannot sit back and let them claim that our rule prevents us from preventing that atrocity, especially when we know for a fact, that just by existing and being successful without the world community stepping in, that encourages other bad guys in other countries to emulate them.
If we don’t do something like I’m suggesting, future generations will just keep on fighting those bad guys. But if we can show, definitively, that the world will make them lose, every time, at some point, the urge that rises in some people to gain that power will lessen over time, and become hopefully, a thing of the past. We can teach future generations of humans the right way to govern, and how to improve human living conditions, something that, by itself, should limit future desires for authoritarianism.
And maybe, just maybe, those aliens who are sitting back watching us may decide we’re worth more than the label of barbarian. Ya think? Yeah, I’d love a vacation on another planet. As long as I could come home, that is.
