General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This: Dems went from being party of the people to [View all]Hortensis
(58,785 posts)they do have strong feelings-based predilections, leaving them very vulnerable to manipulation by others who connect those feelings to their own goals and direct them against...us.
Right now, it seems that the attack-enemies political mode most conservatives have been in for so long has been forming, far more strongly than I guessed, into an anti-liberal and anti-secular movement (bizarrely) revealed by this election--and by the people come out of the shadows to gloat in Washington--that is truly frightening.
Scarily, both anti-liberalism and anti-secularism DO both come from the gut of most conservatives, and both support a genuine powerful ideology bent on destroying our liberalism-based republic. The replacement would be determined by whichever faction would win out, of course, a libertarian or an economic or religious fascistic pretense of a republic, turning us into the world's most technologically advanced, poor, underdeveloped nation.
From what I've read, for those specifically supporting this, this is what's behind the admiration for Russia -- now seen as an ally in a global battle against liberalism and secularism.
We have a huge job to do, but it may be that our greatest ally will be the extremist leaders themselves, for all their current victories. They're powerful in money and passion but fundamentally incompetent to run a large nation. And they are extremists, and the true scope of the revolution they plan is not something they can admit to even their own followers.
At least all this is the nightmare that keeps returning to mind whenever I wake up in the middle of the night. We came so close to hopefully being able to tamp discontent down with further growth of prosperity and personal security.