What really gets me is the rank and file liberals who must, to some extent, realize that things have gone horrifically, horrifically wrong. But they act like some idiot British toff in the first days of World War I, honorably marching in to certain death because it's their duty as an officer. "The President can't just wield the power vested in his office! It would be uncivil!"
Exactly. I know it's kind of an overused term at this point but it's total West Wing brain. They're convinced that if they continue to do things by the book the greatness of the country and its system will prevail. They don't realize that it's rotting from the inside and they're just going down with the ship.
But they act like some idiot British toff in the first days of World War I, honorably marching in to certain death because it’s their duty as an officer.
At the start of the war, people simply didn't understand the pain they were going to be subjected to. They got a ton of pomp and circumstance, a bunch of commanders bloviating about how this was going to be a quick glorious victory for their side, and a bunch of hype about this or that latest military widget to awe the plebiscite into compliance.
It was only when people started coming back in body bags and rationing set in and the sounds the government made didn't line up with the experiences the people endured, they grew more radical. And even then, the immediate impulse of the liberals in their various states was to beg leadership to slow down and make the pain less acute.
Subsequent governments have learned their lesson. In the modern era, we don't do anything like the mobilization we had in WW1/2. We spend a great deal of time and energy insulating people from the consequences of idiots in leadership, or deflecting blame such that no major institution ever suffers the kind of hate or distrust that would bring it down.
rank and file liberals who must, to some extent, realize that things have gone horrifically, horrifically wrong
They see it on paper, but they still haven't really seen it in person. Bad economic news doesn't carry any more or less weight than any state issued propaganda.
Until you actually have a city destroyed by a hurricane or a local economy collapse in the face of de-industrialization or a state-wide power grid fail, there's no real recognition that we've fucked up. And even when these events do happen, there is no consensus as to how to fix it because we're all hooked up to the propaganda machines that fill our heads with crap.
What really gets me is the rank and file liberals who must, to some extent, realize that things have gone horrifically, horrifically wrong. But they act like some idiot British toff in the first days of World War I, honorably marching in to certain death because it's their duty as an officer. "The President can't just wield the power vested in his office! It would be uncivil!"
Exactly. I know it's kind of an overused term at this point but it's total West Wing brain. They're convinced that if they continue to do things by the book the greatness of the country and its system will prevail. They don't realize that it's rotting from the inside and they're just going down with the ship.
At the start of the war, people simply didn't understand the pain they were going to be subjected to. They got a ton of pomp and circumstance, a bunch of commanders bloviating about how this was going to be a quick glorious victory for their side, and a bunch of hype about this or that latest military widget to awe the plebiscite into compliance.
It was only when people started coming back in body bags and rationing set in and the sounds the government made didn't line up with the experiences the people endured, they grew more radical. And even then, the immediate impulse of the liberals in their various states was to beg leadership to slow down and make the pain less acute.
Subsequent governments have learned their lesson. In the modern era, we don't do anything like the mobilization we had in WW1/2. We spend a great deal of time and energy insulating people from the consequences of idiots in leadership, or deflecting blame such that no major institution ever suffers the kind of hate or distrust that would bring it down.
They see it on paper, but they still haven't really seen it in person. Bad economic news doesn't carry any more or less weight than any state issued propaganda.
Until you actually have a city destroyed by a hurricane or a local economy collapse in the face of de-industrialization or a state-wide power grid fail, there's no real recognition that we've fucked up. And even when these events do happen, there is no consensus as to how to fix it because we're all hooked up to the propaganda machines that fill our heads with crap.