What we are now living in, due to the fact that our Constitution, laws and regulations are violated with impunity by quite a large percentage of those in positions of power, is a fairly benevolent dictatorship, with the mere trappings of democracy/the Old Republic still there to give comfort (and put to sleep) the populace.
The next step, if the Dims get their way with the courts, or immigration, or via a digital currency (or any combination thereof) is a less and less benevolent dictatorship as time goes on. Oh, those trappings, those fig leaves, will continue on for many, many decades and perhaps even centuries (if either the Chinese or our own profligate spending doesn’t collapse the entire (now rotten) edifice altogether. Why less and less benevolent? First, because anyone or any group with power ALWAYS wants more (or they perceive the need for more due to paranoia). Second, less benevolent = more efficient. It allows less time to be wasted, less kow-towing to the niceties of the Old Republic and certain key players in that Potemkin Village of a government, and also more open and greater corruption.
All of this is, of course, tragic on a grand scale. Someone young enough may be alive long enough to see the literal fall of this nation, which will be similar in effect to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 400s. I don’t want to live so long...and, anyway, I am sure to piss off some government official who will be able to send a van full of armor-clad ninjas to get rid of me.
That paragraph hit home.
I have taken the time to read some about the Roman Empire, and the similarities are just too depressing for me to consider. Reading Gibbons' "The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire" made my heart sink. The comparison to today is unavoidable.
Sigh. No Republic lasts forever. But I thought I would be long dead and gone before this one fell.
I am not so sure now. They seem to be greasing the skids.