A glance into the mind of a Liberal Democrat.
Conservatives- Are they being out-flanked?
In my continued efforts to understand the MAGA cult, I've spent more time this week watching right-wing podcasts and TV (painful? - yes - but necessary to understand them? - I would say yes too).
One of the big themes to come out of watching is that they continually talk about the threat of communism. That is of course their standard fodder, but noticing how often they beat that drum started me thinking more about how their propaganda works and how it leaves conservative voters exposed to manipulation.
That leads me to ponder how conservatism is being 'out-flanked' by Russia and various criminal elements. For those not familiar with the phrase, 'out-flaking' is a military maneuver in which you engage your enemy face on, but then use some of your forces to sneak around the side and then attack from the side. Because the enemy is focused on the frontal assault they are caught off guard by the attack from the side (the flank). Typically in a military formation the sides are weaker than the front and hence a flanking attack can do a lot of damage with fewer forces.
Taking that idea and applying it to the conservatives - The frontal attack on which they are all focused is the threat of communism. The flanking attack is then the attack on democracy by the greedy (Putin, the oligarchs looking to launder money, tRump and his ilk who are more than happy to betray their country for a fist full of dollars).
So busy are the conservatives voters facing down the frontal assault (the battle against communism), that they haven't realized that those who would like to establish an American kleptocracy are attacking America's flanks by dismantling democracy. If those forces were to be successful, then you'd get an authoritarian leader (tRump of course has already submitted his application for that job to the Kremlin long ago) supported by domestic oligarchs. They would form an alliance with Russian or any other similarly structured countries and the America's democratic experiment would be at and end).
While the Democrats have spotted the threat, the Republican voters haven't recognized the flanking attack because the flanking attackers continue to control the right wing propaganda and are keeping the republican voters focused on the fight against communism.
Of course there is always a threat from all forms of extremism (including communism), but in the big picture, communism is yesterday's threat. As such conservatives need to wake up to the fact that the threat right now is the threat of an American kleptocracy.
If the above has some sound footing, then does that suggest that to save democracy we need to be pointing out to conservatives that they are being out flanked by those that seek to establish a kleptocracy? Much as the right has hammered the communist threat into people's minds, is it now time to rally the nation to defend democracy from the Kleptocrats? The Dems in DC are of course on this, but maybe at the grass roots level there is more that can be done to explain what a kleptocracy is, how it destroys democracy and how it leads to an authoritarian dictatorship.
Granted some GOP voters don't care (in fact some support it), but I think around the edges there are some who would wake up to the threat and join the fight against the kleptocracy. How many would switch and fight against the kleptocrats? Well that depends on how well the message is crafted and communicated.
Thoughts anyone?
Just more ramblings of - The Hippo.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215521792