Is the world coming to an end?

[petmoosie]

Some people are worried to the point of panicking about the Presidential election.

There will not be political violence of the type seen in Zimbabwe or Kenya.

Our leaders will honestly try to solve the problems using the tools of government. They will respond to the letters and calls of their constituents, not with a boot in the door and jail time, but with a "Thank you for your concern" type letter.

The habits of democracy and consultation are ingrained in our society. Pretending they are not just weakens them.

This fear feeds helplessness, feeds extreme articles in the main press and in the alternative presses. Then those articles feed the fear.

I'm seeing this in the middle class. Why oh why? It may feel like fun to pretend the sky is falling, but it actually weakens the supports to do it.

Comments

[ashtalet.livejournal.com]

You want to know why I lack faith in democratic (small d) institutions in this country? I'll tell you why.

It's because the executive branch says so. They say with their actions that Congress doesn't matter, that its subpoenas do not have to be honored, and that its laws can be selectively ignored through signing statements. And on the off chance someone in the administration should somehow get convicted anyway, they get pardoned.

It's because we have an offshore prison full of people who are being held without charge, subjected to torture, and thus far without recourse to habeas corpus, often for the crime of being in Afghanistan and only rarely for being an actual terrorist. And the military tribunals being used to judge them are so bad that prosecutors are resigning rather than proceed.

It's because there's a party which is strongly associated with voter suppression on a national scale, including admission of criminal guilt in a recent settlement in Michigan, and which established in 2000 in Florida that it will use violence (though not on the Zimbabwe/Kenya scale) to get elected. I'm not saying that Democrats are perfect and pure, because they aren't (especially here in Chicago) but there's a difference between occasional vote fraud on a local scale and a national campaign to eliminate people voting for the other side.

It's because the Justice Department really has been used to selectively prosecute Democrats to an unprecedented degree. To the point where I feel the need to confirm that a given case isn't being brought because of partisan bias before considering the possibility that a crime was committed.

It's because the chief maker of electoral voting systems isn't nonpartisan and actively opposes measures to ensure that votes are counted properly, and lots of places still have dubious systems for vote counting.

And frankly, I resent feeling like a nutbar conspiracy theorist (to quote Teresa Nielsen Hayden) just by saying what I think is occurring because it all sounds so ridiculous that it's happening in this country. Note that that's sounds ridiculous, not is ridiculous. Even if my preferred candidate (who should be obvious from the above) wins, the only reason things might get better is if he decides that he chooses to honor the law, not because he is compelled to.