Wednesday, May 22, 2024 | 2 a.m.
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Oligarchy is the precursor to totalitarian dictatorship. We are in that phase, thanks to the Supreme Court’s irrational equating of corporations (artificial creations) with living humans, and of money as speech, leading to ever-increasing inequality, unbridled bribery of corrupted politicians (primarily Republicans), deregulation of polluting and exploitative businesses, and lobbyists overrunning Congress.
President Joe Biden’s administration is working to reverse our transformation to a kleptocracy initiated by former President Donald Trump’s bawdy gang of thieves.
Oligarchs use excessive profits, stolen wages and resources, unfair exemptions from taxes, insider-crafted favorable legislation, free and biased media, and bullying tactics to increase their wealth and power at the expense of the public. We will either stop them in November, or we will decline into a full-blown autocracy with Trump-style fascists destroying every facet of democracy that we have depended upon for nearly three centuries to give (most of us) security, dignity and liberty.
The rot has reached epic proportions. Fascism has a well-established playbook. Usurping the rights and obligations of communities to educate youth, right-wing operatives undermine and take over schooling, indoctrinating students with xenophobic propaganda, pernicious lies and false narratives. History is reinvented to glorify past atrocities. Tax breaks for the rich and corporations are obligatory. Rampant consolidation yields monopolies. Public agencies are gutted in hostile takeovers by private entities. Courts are transformed to favor reactionary ideology and obscene wealth. A police state crushes opposition. Racism no longer brings shame.
Now, it’s up to you and me.
