The Vessel of American Democracy in Danger of Shipwrecking in Authoritarian Storms
Parikia, Paros Island, Greece, February 15th, 2020
Salaroche


As the presidential elections of November 4th get closer, there already are some developing and very important events that we cannot afford to neglect paying attention to, for example, that the Republicans already have hundreds of millions of dollars in their 2020 campaign coffers and are already using them to collect personal information about voters (what do they buy, where do they buy it, what kinds of TV programs they watch, etc.) so that they can produce misinformation campaigns specifically targeted to specific groups.

In fact, it seems they already started the process of flooding Facebook and other social media with such micro-targeted misinformation ads, so that on election day the undecided electorate may opt to stay home and abstain from voting or just go vote for Donald Trump altogether.

This time Republicans won’t need the help of Vladimir Putin to win. They have learnt their 2016 lessons very well and actually appear to have mastered and perfectioned those Russian-style misinformation techniques. Now they’re getting ready to use them in full force as election time approaches.

This situation doesn’t look good at all. If the Democrats don’t wake up anytime soon, they won’t even know what hit them on November 4th as they find the morning after that their candidate was utterly defeated in an overwhelming electoral college landslide.

Sorry to say it, but this time around, if Republicans go low (which, as usual, most likely they will) Democrats shouldn’t go high, they should fight tooth and nail by whatever legal means they have available and even by some quasi-illegal ones if they can get away with it. Again, sorry to admit it, but this is a gloves-off fight. The future of American Democracy is at stake and the future of the Republic is in danger. No time for wishy-washying around.

You think I’m exaggerating? Open your eyes and open your ears. All the signs are already exposed in the open for everyone to see. The institutions of government cannot defend themselves by themselves, it is the people who serve in them who have to protect and defend them. But that IS NOT happening.

The Senate has basically abdicated its functions as guardrail against any executive abuse of power and the Department of Justice is no longer at the service of the best interests of the country, neither is the State Department. They are now both at the service of the corrupt whims of the president. What clearer signs of alarm do we need to see?

Wake up America! The vessel of American Democracy is in danger of shipwrecking against the steep rocks of authoritarian rule and popular indifference. There has to be something we can do about it. Get ready. A storm of misinformation is about to hit the country and the damage it may do to the nation’s political system cannot as yet be measured.

And all of this I say knowing that the majority of the American electorate hasn’t yet lost their moral compass and that they can still do the right thing for the country in the coming elections. I, for one, will see to it that a few months before November I manage to get my ballot over the Internet and then manage to send it back at the appropriate time via certified mail to Santa Barbara, California, where I’m registered as a voter. I have voted like this twice before, once from Barcelona, Spain, and another from Tiruvannamalai, India, and I’ll make sure I do it again.

May the universal forces protect the Democratic Republic of the United States of America.

Salaroche