Elliott

It's not an authoritarian takeover, him and congress were elected for these changes, that's democracy.

What are they afraid of?

Elon is running a hail marry, Tesla is a fraud on the scale of Enron and he will actually face potential prison time when the Ponzi scheme musical chairs music stops. The valuation for Tesla is based on Autonomous Self Driving, something he promised completion on 5 years ago and he isn't appreciably closer to it today. His competitor in this frontier is actually Google that owns Waymo, whom have had successful technology for years and is about to greatly expand their market after extensive testing in select cities. The next phase of Google's deployment could easily tank Tesla if it's successful, I think good things can come out of the ashes of the dumpster fire, a lot of poor people are going to be hurt during all of this I don't think that's acceptable or necessary, but there are structural improvements that would not be as accessible as they will be after demolition. For example, it appears inevitable to me that the federal departments currently being dismantled will be built up at the state level, I think this will lead to more state level government ran healthcare. I think it would do good for the U.S. to be less centralized than we are, varying and more flexible state governments could bring forth some improvement. We definitely have a dumpster fire to endure, if not a recession then more extreme inflation from federal stimulus again to avoid a recession. And in the mid term, I'm thinking 10 to 15 years, this could make an impact on the position the U.S. has in the world. He is now going after Japan, this is more devastating than Canada, Japanese relations will be much harder to mend even with U.S. regime change. The most I expect with global conflict is China taking Taiwan, other than that just a lot of terrorist attacks. If you want to do something, run for any office and get more involved in liberal circles, help others run for office, stay involved in public discourse try to find groups you can stand, and contact republican representatives to give them your views.

Then what is the point of the name God, if it's not thinking about God? Just a name for what you don't understand, how you don't understand how everything is created? Sort of just giving up and co-opting the name God used by superstitious cultures? Would it have been more confusing for Jesus to just explain things this way rather than using the term father when referring to god, and heaven as a place rather than a state of being? It seems to me his rhetoric is more confusing and unbelievable than yours, to me it even seems misleading, like it would leave people in confusion for 2,000 years killing other people that claim another father God. Your rhetoric is simple and straight to the point.

So if someone is happy without acknowledging God, what would you say to them? "You're not truly happy"? What would the difference be between following God, and just doing what makes you happy without thinking about God? What's the point of focusing on God at all? Say someone just appreciates being and what is happening around them, why do they need to know about God? Is the following not judgment?

No. The rich, the military, and even most republicans would oppose not only dictatorship but the coming recession from the instability currently being created. Trump was elected to cut government programs, his support from most republicans ends there. Blue wave coming.

If God is everything, how could you not follow God, even 'evil' doings would be God, is it even possible to not follow God? Would you also follow this God if it didn't bring you happiness?

If God is everything then does anything matter? I presume you're believing in a purpose to your life, the reason for you to follow this God, or is there no reason to follow God? I don't understand what the point of your God is, is it just comfort? How would your life be different if you did not know this God?

So by God do you just mean a purpose to life, or how do you try to describe it? Is your perception of God just a hopeful belief, faith, or do you think it is a matter of fact and certain? How does believing in this God affect your life?

Do you not believe in worship or doctrine? Is the following not "looking without for signs"?

The Peterson Process

Would God be happier with us if we worship no God, given that we've not been presented with convincing evidence, obviously anyone would believe in God if God were revealed to them. Or would God be happier if we accidently worship the wrong God, possibly even leading others to the false God's teachings, in a desperate attempt to please God and avoid hell?

I'm amused by the Christian Pseudo-Intellectual arguments that all morality sets are from indoctrination, yet the fear of suffering such as from eternity in hell is assumed to be natural. All of following Christianity is based on avoiding hell, can someone fear suffering without Christianity, if so, can't they then also understand morality without Christianity given that morality is based on not causing suffering. If someone cannot fear suffering without Christianity, then why would non-Christians need to fear the suffering of hell, given that they don't understand suffering how would they suffer if they don't even know suffering. Either people naturally understand suffering and therefore morality, therefore they don't need God, or they don't understand suffering and therefore need not fear the suffering of hell, either way God has no purpose other than a scapegoat for community leaders.

What hegemony, there never even was one, the U.S. never compared to the British empire. What makes you think the U.S. ever had a hegemony? Who has the U.S. ever dominated, Puerto Rico?

I think Ezra Klein explains the current barrage of lunacy in his recent video. It's a tactic from Steve Bannon and has as little efficacy as you would expect coming from the Bannon think tank.

I find it useful for empathizing with other people. I can see the different expressions in my life, by thinking of how I probably was as a baby and small child I can even see the primal ones. I'm skeptical of categorizing by stage or thinking of this as a developmental process. By seeing the prominence of certain behaviors in people you have a better chance to understand their perspective, but to me it seems everyone has all of the traits throughout the spectrum just in different proportions. I don't think the different traits indicate development, I think it's more a result of circumstance and catalyst emphasizing and subduing traits.

To take over the world, for sure. Not for improving the lives of the people though, where would you want to live?

I think you're looking at history through rose colored glasses, just look at the civil rights movement, the Vietnam war, westward expansion of the U.S.. There's really nothing new going on, Democracy is messy, society is messy, look at the anti-communist propaganda and laws in the U.S. back in the 50s, the Kent State massacre. It's like when teenagers do stupid things because they're struggling to understand the world. Democracy doesn't compensate for the lack of ethics in the society, obviously, but just like letting a teenager experiment and have freedom society will make mistakes in the process of learning. This angst I'm reading from you all seems to come down to believing an embellished version of recent history, and possibly some naivety toward Republican sincerity with their beliefs. The U.S. has for the most part been a bit wild with just short periods of calm like we in our generations have experienced, something I attribute in part to Democracy, I mean look back just before Democracy, you have the Dark Ages. Democracy seems to have worked so well that many people now dissociate with their culture's not too distant past of savagery.

Ahhh, no way, it will all be okay. I think this could really re-energize coming generations of Liberals, something that is needed. We needed a bit of a recalibration as well, in my opinion, I hope this catastrophe will expose the risks of over-centralization to the people that lean socialist. National Republicans just have support for cutting funding, something pretty popular after seeing the current Progressivism with immigration assistance, tuition forgiveness, and limiting drug prices. Democracy is messy, but most Americans are good and many are intelligent. Trump barely even won against record inflation and arguably the largest conflict with Russia we've ever had, pair all that with the current male identity crisis being pumped by influencers right now. Liberals have just gotten too comfortable, a bit caught off guard.