Sometimes it is a drag being correct

[Belsnickel]

(06-04-2019, 12:26 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: I'm going to have to completely disagree here.  Name a country with a long history of democratic government that eventually slid into fascism, or any other form of autocracy.  The Framers sank the foundations deep on our form of government.  

You really aren't disagreeing with me with this response. Those foundations are deep, which is why the guardrails are still in place. But we are an established democracy, a long history of being one, which does make us stronger against the threat, but not at all immune. With each norm eroded, with each failure of the legislature to perform oversight, the guardrails become weaker.

I don't think we will reach a point of fascism, I think we will hold up, but that doesn't mean the threat isn't very real. And make no mistake, this isn't just about Trump. This has been going on for a century or so as we have seen the expansion of executive power that has created the situation in which a president could do this much damage. The people's branch, Congress, has steadily given up powers over the years as it has become increasingly less representative of the people it is supposed to serve. That is a hallmark stepping stone around the world, one that has been more gradual here than in other places, but it has occurred none the less. The failure to engage in oversight over the executive is one more step along that path.