Just seen on a social feed that the GOP has removed the above from the Congress website displaying the Constitution.

https://constitution.congress.gov/search/article%201/searchfacet/Article_I///100/1/1

Why might that be?

Edited August 6Aug 6 by StringJunky

Because we are in the midst of a dumb and dumber version of 1984?

38 minutes ago, CharonY said:

Because we are in the midst of a dumb and dumber version of 1984?

Yep. His niece Mary Trump thinks he's just a political puppet, now that she thinks he's in cognitive decline. She's a clinical psychologist, I think.

Just now, StringJunky said:

Yep. His niece Mary Trump thinks he's just a political puppet, now that she thinks he's in cognitive decline. She's a clinical psychologist, I think.

It would be a bit of a relief if it was only Trump. The issue is that the whole system is in cognitive decline.

28 minutes ago, CharonY said:

It would be a bit of a relief if it was only Trump. The issue is that the whole system is in cognitive decline.

My guess it's the powers that be in the Heritage Foundation up to no good and prepping the field for the execution of Project 2025.

17 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

My guess it's the powers that be in the Heritage Foundation up to no good and prepping the field for the execution of Project 2025.

Hold on, what do you mean with prepping the field? It looks pretty much bulldozed and concreted. That looks more like flourishing touches.

Granted, not all proposed actions have been taken yet, but I am not sure whether there are a lot of substantial barriers left.

What is fascinating that in many cases the maliciousness is hidden behind sheer incompetence. It is incredible how folks who like to use racism/sexism meritocracy as an argument are really bad at their job (but good at wrecking stuff).

35 minutes ago, CharonY said:

Hold on, what do you mean with prepping the field? It looks pretty much bulldozed and concreted. That looks more like flourishing touches.

Granted, not all proposed actions have been taken yet, but I am not sure whether there are a lot of substantial barriers left.

What is fascinating that in many cases the maliciousness is hidden behind sheer incompetence. It is incredible how folks who like to use racism/sexism meritocracy as an argument are really bad at their job (but good at wrecking stuff).

At what point in this demolition will it be a fait accompli, and authoritarianism rules? What do you think will be the definitive action(s) that will send America irreversibly towards dictatorship?

Coding error is blamed. Wikipedia has an entry on it, and points to a post on Xitter, which I won’t link to

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_One_of_the_United_States_Constitution

I think these are at least two questions. One is about whether the structures are de facto authoritarian and the second is at which point these structures cannot be remedied.

To some degree, it will come down to definitions and semantics. I think one thing that is different from past forceful authoritarian regimes is that many patterns we see arises from societal factors that are successfully leveraged by the government, rather than necessarily due to government action as such. For example, evading accountability really only works because there is a cult-like belief among followers who are unlikely to switch votes. And that in turn is connected to the lack of political pluralism in the US, extreme partisanship and related factors. And these are also exacerbated by modern media consumption patterns. IOW, I think we have to think of modern authoritarianism in practice and action as a bit of a different beast than authoritarianism of the past.

However if we don't focus on the mechanisms but at the outcome I think we can see at minimum the following:

• The power is concentrated in an unprecedented way (see also the unitary executive theory) and the separation of power as well as checks and balances are diminished or dissolved.

• There is virtually no accountability

• Non-governmental checks (e.g. media) are cowed and incentivized into collaboration and pre-obedience

• Dissent is increasingly met with forceful actions by governmental agencies (LA being an example using ICE and the military, other branches such as DOJ and FBI are similarly weaponized).

• Attempts to control economy, including tariffs and targeted support of allies and again, threats against enemies

There are also other patterns that align with authoritarian governments and I think we also see a continued attempt to dissolve remaining barriers for full control. So if we don't see authoritarianism as a fixed threshold but rather a gradient, I would say that the US is pretty deep in it already and it looks beyond preparation at this point with actual actions underway.

I think the reversibility is a huge questions and the midterms will give us the first hints on it.

Just now, swansont said:

Coding error is blamed. Wikipedia has an entry on it, and points to a post on Xitter, which I won’t link to

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_One_of_the_United_States_Constitution

That aligns with the maliciousness vs incompetence argument, I think.

1 minute ago, CharonY said:

That aligns with the maliciousness vs incompetence argument, I think.

It becomes hard to just assume incompetence when both traits are so strong, and the goodwill of offering benefit of doubt has long eroded away. “It wasn’t malice…this time” is hardly an endorsement .

22 minutes ago, swansont said:

Coding error is blamed. Wikipedia has an entry on it, and points to a post on Xitter, which I won’t link to

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_One_of_the_United_States_Constitution

Right.

19 minutes ago, swansont said:

It becomes hard to just assume incompetence when both traits are so strong, and the goodwill of offering benefit of doubt has long eroded away. “It wasn’t malice…this time” is hardly an endorsement .

Maybe best to assume both.

23 minutes ago, CharonY said:

.....

There are also other patterns that align with authoritarian governments and I think we also see a continued attempt to dissolve remaining barriers for full control. So if we don't see authoritarianism as a fixed threshold but rather a gradient, I would say that the US is pretty deep in it already and it looks beyond preparation at this point with actual actions underway.

I think the reversibility is a huge questions and the midterms will give us the first hints on it.

Do you think if the indications at the midterms are strongly indicate dictatorship, that would be the trigger for widespread civil disobedience/violence You can't bring dissenting words/demonstrations to a gunfight. This is a first afaict because America is/was a fully functioning democracy, which has been maliciously and systematically eroded by the likes of McConnell rigging the composition of the Supreme Court since Obama, and possibly before him.

18 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

Do you think if the indications at the midterms are strongly indicate dictatorship, that would be the trigger for widespread civil disobedience/violence You can't bring dissenting words/demonstrations to a gunfight. This is a first afaict because America is/was a fully functioning democracy, which has been maliciously and systematically eroded by the likes of McConnell rigging the composition of the Supreme Court since Obama, and possibly before him.

I have no idea. To me, the crux is how society and its norm is developing and for a combination of reasons I don't think that I have a good sense how folks behave, much less Americans (I lived and worked for a decade there, but even some of the folks I know seem to have changed markedly over time).

Sadly, only my most cynical predictions became true, not those I thought most likely, suggesting a deep disconnect to how I view the world and the way many others are. I think it could be a mistake to view things too much through a lens of political norms or maneuvering but it has become more about capturing the emotions and feelings of folks in the moment. Going viral has more impact on the population than well thought-out policies. A freak outrage situation has the power to change political norms and so on. Society has moved from potentially building on sand to full-on bouncing castle and I am not sure what predictions are worth anymore.

So with that as basis my prediction is the following: whatever the most stupid outcome we can think of at this very moment, the reality will outdo it. It won't even matter if Trump goes or not- the ultimate check in democracies is the population and even outside of the US, I am not sure how long societal norms will hold and what a replacement would look like.

And I worry that it will likely be memes.

59 minutes ago, CharonY said:

I have no idea. To me, the crux is how society and its norm is developing and for a combination of reasons I don't think that I have a good sense how folks behave, much less Americans (I lived and worked for a decade there, but even some of the folks I know seem to have changed markedly over time).

Sadly, only my most cynical predictions became true, not those I thought most likely, suggesting a deep disconnect to how I view the world and the way many others are. I think it could be a mistake to view things too much through a lens of political norms or maneuvering but it has become more about capturing the emotions and feelings of folks in the moment. Going viral has more impact on the population than well thought-out policies. A freak outrage situation has the power to change political norms and so on. Society has moved from potentially building on sand to full-on bouncing castle and I am not sure what predictions are worth anymore.

So with that as basis my prediction is the following: whatever the most stupid outcome we can think of at this very moment, the reality will outdo it. It won't even matter if Trump goes or not- the ultimate check in democracies is the population and even outside of the US, I am not sure how long societal norms will hold and what a replacement would look like.

And I worry that it will likely be memes.

I thought you were still there. Online, people aren't being subtle and the same with the politicians in many countries.

4 hours ago, StringJunky said:

I thought you were still there. Online, people aren't being subtle and the same with the politicians in many countries.

Oh, not anymore left the country a while ago but still have friends and collaborators. Though federal partners all but vanished.

The issue, I think, is that we old folks still think online and real life as separate things. In the younger generation, things are increasingly mixed.

1 hour ago, CharonY said:

Oh, not anymore left the country a while ago but still have friends and collaborators. Though federal partners all but vanished.

The issue, I think, is that we old folks still think online and real life as separate things. In the younger generation, things are increasingly mixed.

From the kids I know, they would be in a state of mortal grief if they were disconnected. That game 'Second Life' is a reality now, it seems, for a lot of people and they willingly give up their privacy, allowing companies to track them 365 days a year. Perfect for budding authoritarian regimes.

Add to that the declining ability to pay attention and remember.... what was I talking about?