What's a path forward if Republicans succeed in making the US next Poland or Hungary?

[DocWatts]

With midterm elections approaching next year and the Democratic Party poised for a disastrous defeat in 2022, there's a very real possibility that the slow moving coup which failed to achieve its goals in 2020 may actually succeed in 2024.

The reason that Trump failed was due to his own incompetence and not having laid enough of the requisite groundwork for a successful coup. But it can't be assumed that this will necessarily always be the case in the future.

A radicalized anti-democracy Republican Party has been working hard to strategically put Trump sycophants in key positions in battleground states where they could use baseless accusations of fraud to throw out votes or refuse to certify results that don't go thier way. A majority of Republicans voters believe the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen, so they would have the support of around a quarter to a third of the country in thier coup attempt.

Even if things go better than expected  in 2022 and 2024, authoritarian Republicans are going to hold a majority in the House and Senate at some point, and will be using every tool at their disposal to accelerate the authoritarian backslide of the US's faltering democracy.

If the worst does happen and the US becomes the next Hungary, what's to be done in this scenario? How could democracy eventually be restored if the worst comes to pass, and what's an ordinary citizen's role and responsibility in this scenario?

Edited November 24, 2021 by DocWatts

[ted73104]

Not much anyone can do. Who people vote for has much to do with their world view, and that can't be changed easily. We can't even change our own views in a short time. It's really a survival instinct.

Probably only after disaster strikes will people wake up.

[Hardkill]

Yeah, I am honestly worried about the possibility of this happening. However, Leo says that he is optimistic about that not happening because the US is a first world democracy that actually kept evolving more and more into a higher level democratic and egalitarian society in the long-run, despite the number of and kinds of setbacks or temporary moments of regressions the country has had throughout its entire history. 

Otherwise, the US might end up having either another civil war or another massive culture war. 

Edited November 25, 2021 by Hardkill

[NatureB]

On 11/24/2021 at 9:50 AM, DocWatts said:

If the worst does happen and the US becomes the next Hungary, what's to be done in this scenario? How could democracy eventually be restored if the worst comes to pass, and what's an ordinary citizen's role and responsibility in this scenario?

Here are my unorganized first thoughts:

We'd need a spiritual leader to rescue us, a Gandhi type figure, in event of a Trump/Republican coup.

Peaceful protests are proven to be highly effective at around 3.5% of the population participation. If Trump loses outright, he will attempt a coup, in which case peaceful protests would be the most effective route. Violent protests rarely work.

If Trump wins outright, (1) he'll either destroy himself with incompetence and people will want to elect someone different, (2) he'll put the systems in place to effect a coup in 2028 and stay in power.

 

The only sokution I am aware of from a serious thinker, is Andrew Yang's 3rd party. On a state level, the Forward Party is trying to pass both Ranked Choice Voting and Open Primaries, which would decrease polarization overnight. Democracy is overheating, and there is no release valve in a 2-party tribal warfare system.

This is touch to think through. Thanks for the post.

[Raze]

They aren’t going too, it’s impossible unless there is a national divorce 

[Fleetinglife]

Do you know what the coalition of liberals, environmentalists, nationalists, and others who are not in the and are against the one-party ruling system here in Serbia did and are doing right now over a couple of days ago(also now effectively heading towards another Hungary or Poland in terms of the prevailing political culture and governing)? Organizing and trying to block major highway tracks and roads with a few dozen people in an attempt to emulate and show to the public what a general civil disobedience movement would look like and a national general strike to block the normal functioning of the economy in order to send the message to the regime that they are not insulated from the people and that they can't claim to represent the interests of them all in their populistic simpleton rhetoric - the current state holders are not the sole dictators and shapers of what the current interests and aspirations of the people are.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Fleetinglife

[Space Lizard]

First I would ask: what is so terrible about Poland or Hungary that you are presenting it as this specter that we should be worried about? Have you been to either place?

But more to the point, the time-tested way of solving irreconcilable political differences is divorce. Declare your independence, secede, separate; break the USA into more coherent political entities. There’s no reason under the sun why people who have such fundamental differences of values should share a government. The USA was formed by people who thought this way, who didn’t want to live under tyranny, so it would be the American thing to do, right?

[Preety_India]

I see segregation as a solution although I find it absurd. 

You could have a set of states ruled completely by democrats, top to bottom, the same for Republican states

It's like two halves, one ruled by democratic rules and the other run by Trump turds. Major divide.