Thread by @sunnshiiny

The desperation in Kurt Eichenwald’s thread is unnerving.

But there you have it. The US is no longer a democracy as of Friday’s vote to give Trump a pass. The rest is just theatre.

Trump has been given absolute power. He now has no limits.

https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/1223717860310167558

That is exactly what Canadian conservatives are after.

Endlessly chipping away at institutions that protect the public from totalitarian dictatorship, the CPC is following the lead of US counterparts and instigating a slow moving coup d’état to remove democracy in Canada.

Sad thing is, NDP and GPC are assisting. Just as Bernie Sanders is assisting Trump. By offering anarchy on the opposite end of the political spectrum.

The far right and far left are proposing anarchy as a solution to the problems inherent to pluralist social democracy.

There are limited ways to interpret the events of the last 5 years.

Populist leaders in both ends (read fringes) of their political spectrum have tired of democracy and want revolutionary change. One seeks totalitarian control and the other seeks totalitarian equalization.

Democracy has never been more fragile than it is at this moment in history.

Because the fringes of society want total control and are no longer sated by gradual organic change.

Both want their demands for political structural change to society met immediately and are applying pressure to effect revolution. Neither are satisfied with the limits of democratic social change. It’s slow, difficult, painstaking and long lasting.

Both want the immediate fix. The far right can’t wait to return to total control and homogenization of society. The far left can’t wait for immediate upheaval of institutions they no longer trust or respect.

The rest of us are caught up in the centre. Neither desiring an immediate switch to a new system of governance, nor desiring much to return to past disparities.

In Canada, that is the majority of the population.

I don’t know enough about US to comment confidently.

But in Canada, that gives the centrists an advantage. We are the majority. We desire social equality, but not revolution. We prefer moderate changes to make room for adaptation over time, not radical and extreme changes.

There is only ONE political party in Canada that proposes moderate change on a progressive trajectory.

That isn’t a partisan statement. It’s fact. All other political parties propose radical changes upon winning governance and apply pressure daily to effect that change.

It wasn’t always this way in Canada. Progressive Conservatives of the past still believed in moderate change. But at a slower pace than Liberals, who were slower than NDP. But all political parties proposed changes that were at a reasonable pace.

That’s no longer the case.

Now we have three opposition parties pushing for immediate adherence to demands. The fourth party is making moderate changes. Too progressive for the regressives and too slow for the further left progressives.

Canada could easily be in US like political scenario.

The pressure from the fringes of the political spectrum have been eliminating moderation in political parties for about 20 years. Unless your over 45, you may not be aware of this phenomenon.

This is not how democracies function.

It’s how they are torn apart.

That is what has been happening in Canada and every other western social democracy for the past 20-40 years.

Incremental moves towards radicalization.

If you support the current iteration of opposition parties, you support radical change.