Enlight21

Author: Editorial Board | Category: Politics National | Date: 10-31-2020

---by The Editorial Board,of Enlight21

Currently, Trump’s 4 years in office has shown us what an American model of fascism is. It can be neatly summed up in one word--Republican. The political movement represented by current Republican politicians creates corporate cronies that “contribute” to the election of politicians dedicated to the idea of business interests as the only public good. The pandemic under fascism has also shown us that life-giving options like masks and PPE have become collateral damage of Republican crony capitalism. Fifty years ago Nixon expanded the notion of American republicanism to include dog whistles to the country’s wild west white supremacists, giving them ammunition to justify their  land theft and slavery—unfortunately, Trump has given new life to these dog whistles as they have become another hallmark of the fascism Trump has wrought.

Crony capitalism leads to wealth inequality.  The bottom half of U.S. households now control only 1.3% of the country's wealth, according to Federal Reserve data. The pandemic in turn has wrought havoc in poor unrepresented communities. 

Inequality has led to a general disenchantment with both parties, allowing a moral monster like Trump to arise with promises of returning to a mythic past. 

Today the whole world looks askance at us as Trump can still count on a solid 40%  of Americans to vote for him and the violence-based fascist state that he represents.

One primary goal of Trump’s presidency is to undo the black stain on white-America caused by the Obama presidency. Along with his Republican enablers, he started by undoing Obama’s environmental laws. But his holy grail remains the dismantling of Obama Care—he has shown amazing perseverance in his pursuit of this goal and has continued to push hard for the elimination of health care coverage for many Americans, even as the greatest pandemic of the past 100 years rages on and acute health care demands are at levels not seen since the 1918 pandemic 

Violence against peaceful protest is another hallmark of Trump’s fascist tactics—a tactic that was on full display in Washington D.C,’s Lafayette park  and in Portland when peaceful protesters were attacked by a group consisting of military police, Secret Service, and army troops acting under orders from Trump himself.

 When Amy Coney Barret was being confirmed she was asked what five freedoms were protected by the First Amendment. She tellingly flubbed the provision that guarantees the “right of the people to peaceably assemble.” Trump has packed the courts with unqualified and grossly partisan appointees who adhere to a vision of an imperial right-wing presidency that uses the federal judiciary to support extreme income inequality, corporate and white supremacy, environmental destruction, and the dismantling of social safety nets.

The electoral college remains the great racist and classist heritage of the American Constitution. It allows a loser of the popular vote to become president. It justifies minority rule, and provides an opening for wannabe dictators who did not win the popular vote to ascend to the presidency so that they can terrorize and intimidate allies and citizens, commit treason, and upend our democracy.  It is ironic that this electoral college structure set up by the “founding fathers” may result in the end of the American experiment in democracy.  

Most of all, the electoral college system currently threatens a Biden victory.  By giving citizens in states with small populations a much greater weight in selecting the American president than those in more populous states like California, the electoral college is a travesty and contravenes the most minimal requirement of democratic elections--the principle of one person, one vote. 

A Biden win will give us at least a fight chance to begin righting the many wrongs that currently plague America.

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