Lost in the Undercurrent: America's Rightward Momentum
Despite what politicians and influencers tell you, the U.S. is shifting hard to the right. And it's up to us to stop it.
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Here is a hard truth: the United States is rushing to the Right.
This may seem counterintuitive.
The Republican Party is historically unpopular and relentlessly off-putting. For the past eight years Donald Trump has been widely reviled. And surging energy among the labor, anti-war, and civil rights movements is seen everywhere you look. Support for the stolen Supreme Court remains at all-time lows.
And yet, it remains true.
Throughout American culture, there is a feeling that we are progressing in our ideas and the expressions of those ideas. A feeling that tolerance is growing and expanding.
And yet, we are still hurtling toward authoritarianism.
It might feel like the problem is relegated to the Republican Party, a giant disaster of a ramshackle coalition representing the wealthiest individuals orchestrating faux-shared interests between Christian Nationalists, white supremacists, and swathes of disparate but homogeneous communities. Their outright authoritarianism pushes the issue, but it is not isolated to the GOP and their antics.
Evidence is omnipresent. It’s there with the Democratic Party as it continues its seemingly inexorable march to unabashed corporate centrism. It’s there with liberal media normalizing neo-fascist ideology and the eradication of rights and protections. And, it is there for anyone willing to see it in the places that were supposedly evidence of “progress.”
This isn’t easy or fun or comforting. If it was just the GOP, a party that can be beaten in elections and rightfully mocked, we could rest easier. But it isn’t. It’s in the very bones and marrow of this country. And unless we address it, we are going to slide into authoritarianism like a warm bath.
We need to dive deeper and disentangle ourselves from the illusion that has kept us complacent. To begin, here are four entry points for further consideration that hardly anyone is talking about. These are the building blocks for our current situation, the lies and illusions that keep us from recognizing what is happening and where we are heading should we not fight back.
And, my god, it’s about time we face the facts.