15 hours ago, MigL said:

Ideology can be a dangerous thing; all people who have one, are convinced it is right, and will do whatever it takes to acheive that end.

Indeed +1, but ideology can achieve that end, if we don't fear it...

42 minutes ago, dimreepr said:

Indeed +1, but ideology can achieve that end, if we don't fear it...

And what if you don't share in the ideology?

 

16 hours ago, MigL said:

Even the US, over the past 5 years, although heading in the wrong direction, it is still only a minority that support MAGA/Trump.
If half the eligible voters ( 240 million ), voted in the 2016 election, and roughly half of those voted for D Trump, that gives roughly 1/6-1/5 of the total US population supporting D Trump; almost a fringe element ( although it increased slightly in the 2020 election ).

Hence the very strong push to make sure that opponents have difficulty voting, and that a majority representation can be elected with a minority of votes.

On 11/15/2021 at 3:11 AM, StringJunky said:

Putting it all together: the US was heading towards authoritarianism. 

The movement towards authoritarianism is a global trend. Xi Jinping, Putin, Lukashenko, Erdogan, Aliyev, Maduro...

Fairly certain he meant the US heading that way IN ADDITION to those others, not that the US was somehow alone in this path. The US is, however, not historically known for it which is part of the issue being discussed. 

1 hour ago, iNow said:

Fairly certain he meant the US heading that way IN ADDITION to those others, not that the US was somehow alone in this path. The US is, however, not historically known for it which is part of the issue being discussed. 

Yes.