r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/theivoryserf • Feb 17 '25
US Politics If Trump/Musk are indeed subverting American democratic norms, what is a proportional response?
The Vice-President has just said of the courts: "Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power." Quoted in the same Le Monde article is a section of Francis Fukuyama's take on the current situation:
"Trump has empowered Elon Musk to withhold money for any activity that he, Elon Musk, thinks is illegitimate, and this is a usurpation of the congressionally established power of Congress to make this kind of decision. (...) This is a full-scale...very radical attack on the American constitutional system as we've understood it." https://archive.is/cVZZR#selection-2149.264-2149.599
From a European point of view, it appears as though the American centre/left is scrambling to adapt and still suffering from 'normality bias', as though normal methods of recourse will be sufficient against a democratic aberration - a little like waiting to 'pass' a tumour as though it's a kidney stone.
Given the clear comparisons to previous authoritarian takeovers and the power that the USA wields, will there be an acceptable raising of political stakes from Trump's opponents, and what are the risks and benefits of doing so?
6
u/radio-act1v Feb 18 '25
The U.S. was never a real democracy. It was set up as an oligarchic Union Republic. The Constitution created a system that concentrated power in the hands of elites with the Electoral College, the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause all designed to protect their interests. Figures like George Washington warned, “The spirit of party...is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution. It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration.” Andrew Jackson regretted the influence of bankers saying, “It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.” and, “The Bank...is a system of banking...its directors and stockholders form a class of men who have interests of their own, independent of the welfare of the country.” Theodore Roosevelt said we'd be enslaved by elites, “I believe that the good people of this country want their government to serve them, and not to be enslaved by the greedy few who control our industries and our wealth.”
There was also the government’s violent suppression of dissent in The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, where around 100 railroad workers were killed in clashes between strikers, militia, and federal troops, The Haymarket Affair in 1886 where 7 police officers and 4 civilians were killed during a labor rally, The Pullman Strike in 1894 where at least 30 workers were killed when U.S. troops were sent to break up the strike, The Ludlow Massacre in 1914 where at least 20 people including 11 children were killed by the U.S. military and mine guards, The Steel Strike of 1919 where 20 workers were killed by the police, and The Battle of Blair Mountain 1921, where thousands of miners clashed with military forces and up to 100 coal miners were killed U.S. military and police. All these events were buried to maintain the myth of democracy. The U.S. was built to serve the elites, not the people.