(07-04-2020, 10:46 PM)Lucky2Last Wrote: Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think he was referring to you. I can't speak for Trump, but when I hear him say that, I think of the ANTIFA types. I think of the radicals. The people that hate this country. And they do. It is showing up with increasing frequency, and MSM just rarely covers it. If a person is not shown this side of things, they won't be able to get a feel for what's coming. NYC, if you aren't following the radical left, Trump's message won't make any sense. I don't really think east coasters are the crazy ones. Most people I know from the NE have a love of this country, even if they are quicker to point out the flaws and buy into some of the progressive lines. However, the progressives on the California, Washington, and Oregon coast have lost their mind. I think it's a good predictor of where we are headed. My sister in law included me in a group text that asked us all to question what we're really celebrating today. Super long message full of pretentious BS.

Now, I want to acknowledge that there are those on the right who just use scare tactics to rile up their base and boogieman the radical left. I am not that guy. Up until recently, I saw a thread, but wasn't concerned by it. Lately, I'm seeing the veil being torn away. I'm seeing defense of violence. Seeing justification for radicalism. Seeing censorship. Group think. To make it worse, I'm seeing more radicals gain institutional power, especially of editorial control of news. I'm seeing the funding pouring into openly marxist organizations. Combine that with my interest in history, and the signs are becoming clearer that American may be unable to recover from this.

I'm going to share a metaphor, which rarely works online, but I'll give it a shot. I was a pretty hardcore surfer for a while. I got pretty good. One of the hardest things to master is reading the ocean. You can tell how good a person is at surfing, more often than not, by how soon they start paddling for a wave. When you're out past the breakers, and you see the best guy start paddling, you follow him. To me, it looks no different that the rest of the ocean, but he sees it coming. Eventually, I can see what he sees, but if I had waited to paddle, I would have no hope of catching that wave. There would be a lot of people who were worse than me, that didn't move because they still couldn't see it, and they'd miss their chance. This situation feels similar. I am watching these events play out in the future, and I suspect there are some bad times ahead. Some folks, much smarter than me, were seeing it coming, but most are still sitting there thinking it's a calm day.

Also, the bolded point you referenced above may be rhetorical as I might be limited to anecdotes and historical examples to prove it. I agree that there are real issues we need to face as Americans. But, I don't believe the most vocal are really trying to solve those issues as much as they are trying to use them to divide us and gain power. Again, that's not all, but it's enough to be dangerous.

I agree a big wave is coming.  
Trump already took over the Republican party, but, that institution still works the way it did in 2012, it just talks different.  I think much bigger changes than that are in our near future. Institutions will actually change at the genetic level.
I predict the two major parties are going to dramatically change how they select delegates and organize their conventions during the next 10 years, and they may even coordinate their efforts.  I.e. they might reschedule things so that Iowa and New Hampshire aren't always first, or so that independent voters can vote in their primaries.
I see PR and DC becoming states before 2026. Perhaps USVI also. In fact, simple polling tells us that if the 20/20 election was today, the Democrats would win the White House and the Senate and DC would become a state. If the voters in the other territories want it, they can have it too.
I think Trump's abuse of the inspector General process will motivate the next president and next congress to change it so that so that Presidents cannot just fire those guys; they'll be appointed either by judges or by members of Congress, going forward, and the president won't get to say anything about it.
This country passed three or four constitutional amendments in the 1960s but only one since that time.  I think we're on the cusp of a realignment that will lead to at least one amendment in the next decade. But probably more. It might take a constitutional amendment to get the inspector general process right. And you might see ones that are meant to reduce corruption in Congress as well, like one that limits the types of private investments properties that members of Congress are allowed to have.
But I don't think any of that augurs a reenactment of Russian, Chinese, or Venezuelan communism.  
You worry too much.

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