Is the U.S. Still a Democracy?

This is question that's been on a lot of people's minds lately--personally, I'm of the opinion that the U.S. became a civil war state on January 23rd in Minneapolis, and it will spread slowly. California should sure be fun.

NPR, itself a funding victim of the Sentient Cheeto regime, has posted an article featuring input from people significantly more steeped than myself in the details of what's going on and the conclusion is..not good.

"I would argue that the United States in 2025-26 has slid into a mild form of competitive authoritarianism," Levitsky said. "I think it's reversible, but this is authoritarianism."

he goes on:

Levitsky said this is the kind of language dictators in South America used in the 1970s — leaders like Augusto Pinochet in Chile.

Lest we underestimate the comparison, remember that the Pinochet regime ended with thousands (probably tens of thousands) of people disappeared. We should also not forget that corporate interests aligned with Pinochet and, in many cases, actively assisted. Ford was just one of them. I highly recommend reading Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine if you haven't.

So the thing about "...it's reversible..." above is that change is hard, and the longer the U.S. stays in this current state the harder it will be to go back. If there are even elections held in 2028 there is absolutely zero change the Sentient Cheeto regime won't interfere with them to the point of making them irrelevant.

A bit doom and gloom, but as I've said a bunch of times it's hard to see this ending with anything other than a civil war, and a United States that doesn't reflect its current form. It's the 250th year of the founding--not a bad run, but may it's time for something new. I just hope we aren't bycatch in the process.