Douglas Edwards :neurodiv:<p>In the face of the present onslaught against everything decent, people are mindlessly, nostalgically clinging to elements of the old order as comforting woobies, with no serious reflection on how we got into this mess. In particular, they LOOOOOVE the <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/JackassParty" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>JackassParty</span></a> and the <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/Constitution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Constitution</span></a>, both of which contributed directly to making the present <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/dictatorship" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dictatorship</span></a> possible. If we had had a <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/constitution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>constitution</span></a> that unequivocally supported democracy and human rights, and an opposition party that truly represented the interests of everyone outside the plutocratic class, the <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Trump</span></a> regime wouldn't have had a chance.</p><p>The <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/Constitution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Constitution</span></a> is, in Seth Ackerman's words, a charter for plutocracy. And the <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/JackassParty" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>JackassParty</span></a> is a fake opposition, a political lightning rod designed to divert opposition energy into channels where it cannot seriously harm the interests of the plutocracy. It MAY be possible to convert it into a real opposition through a hostile takeover. But as its response to <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/BernieSanders" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BernieSanders</span></a>, <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/AOC" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AOC</span></a>, and <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/Mamdani" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Mamdani</span></a> has shown, that isn't going to happen without a fight; and at this point in the progression of the <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/dictatorship" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dictatorship</span></a>, it may be too late for serious change through electoral means anyway.</p><p>Would we be better off at present if <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/KamalaHarris" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>KamalaHarris</span></a> had won? Yes; which is why, as a last-ditch desperation move with <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/dictatorship" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dictatorship</span></a> at the gates, I voted for her, and even contributed hundreds of dollars to her campaign. But there's a reason why she didn't win, and that reason is directly related to the systematic betrayal of the popular interest by her predecessors <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/BillClinton" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BillClinton</span></a>, <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/BarackObama" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BarackObama</span></a>, and <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/JoeBiden" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>JoeBiden</span></a>. And if she HAD somehow won, she would have perpetuated that betrayal, and created further opportunities for a fascist takeover in another four years — which is why supporting her was a desperation move.</p><p>The <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/JackassParty" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>JackassParty</span></a> plays a different role than the Republican Nazis in the plutocracy's game of "Heads I win, tails you lose" — and in the very short run is indeed far preferable. But every one of its successes has been purchased at fearful cost, and its powerful backers hate us every bit as much as the ones backing <a href="https://zeroes.ca/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Trump</span></a>. Unless it can be transformed beyond recognition, it is a dead end.</p>