What safeguards does the US have left to protect its democracy?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45401300

by juliushuijnk • 10 months ago

40 29 10 months ago

news.ycombinator.com

Seemingly, Trump can hand out orders to police, judges, army, corporations, universities, news stations. And most are carried out regardless of law.

I'm aware this post might cost me my 10 year old HN account, but am willing to offer something up for the small chance of having any influence pro democracy.

To keep it 'on topic', what will protect US startups from being taken over from the government?

throwmeaway2223• 10 months ago

I saw your previous post that basically said - where's the revolt...

juliushuijnk12• 10 months ago

To quote the guy: "If you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore"

But I mean it in a non-violent-way.

throwmeaway2223• 10 months ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cskOJzEUq0Q

rolph3• 10 months ago

i think this falls squarely under the second amendment,

regulation of a militia.

regulation of militia, by way of the peoples right to bear arms, not being infringed.

juliushuijnk12• 10 months ago

A group of civilians with guns stand no chance against an army without enforced laws keeping it in check.

Violence is not the solution.

rolph3• 10 months ago

are you familiar with the war of independence.

genocide is not a solution either. when those that have been given consent to govern act in a manner that is an assualt against the people, the people are the last line of defense in such a situation, that is what 2A is about, enabling the people to have at least a long shot at regulating the militia that has been assimilated by a tyrant.

violence is not a solution until pacificm is a death sentence. every living thing on this planet has a right to defend itself and its posterity from attack. that doesnt mean laying down to be culled.

https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=WvOZs3g3qIo

https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=Y6ikO6LMxF4

toomuchtodo3• 10 months ago

Force always remains the last line of self defense, and history has proven it works when all other non violent, peaceful options have been exhausted [1]. This doesn’t require you agree with that, nor is anyone advocating for force other than self defense here. Laws only matter if respected and enforced objectively and in good faith, and they should matter in this context. Whether you acted in good faith when defending yourself will hopefully be decided by a jury of your peers, if needed, versus a kangaroo court or other rigged evaluation.

I see in other comments you’re not suggesting people be armed. I always suggest one be armed and have training, because words have no value when your safety is in jeopardy, and your safety is your responsibility; no one else will assure it for you.

Lawyer. Passport. Locksmith. Gun. (A Talk About Risk and Preparedness) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33509164 - November 2022

[1] (American Revolution, Civil War, etc)

k3102• 10 months ago

Epstein.

juliushuijnk12• 10 months ago

That won't save US democracy. Assuming JD Vance is of the same anti-democratic nature.

k3102• 10 months ago

We don't know which other extremely powerful people would go down as well. But the sheer desperation and increasingly spectacular distractions indicate a massive power collapse.

Vance and his crypto bros Thiel and Musk do not have the raw meat appeal of Trump with the masses, and even if they have blackmail on legislators, it might pale by an Epstein data dump.

Just my two cents.

estearum4• 10 months ago

Trump has a singularly cultish hold over a rather loose coalition of Americans. With the GOP fully bought in, none of the Constitutional safeguards are actually operable.

The good news is he’s old and unhealthy. He’s likely to die rather soon, and IMO I’d be very shocked if JD can hold the coalition together.

JD is already disliked by the economic populist right and the white nationalists.

There will be GOP infighting paired with the Democrats almost certainly holding Congress after 2026, and the whole thing will get bogged down.

After 2028 we can put a bunch of these people in prison for the crimes they’ve been bragging about on Twitter, and get to work rebuilding our government.

juliushuijnk12• 10 months ago

JD Vance is smart, he can make Trump Junior the face.

It's far from impossible he can hold the GOP and others together. He only needs to explain what you just wrote; If we stop being on top, we'll all die in jail.

Also, Musk is wild card in the mix.

estearum4• 10 months ago

Trump Junior doesn’t have what it takes either.

There is something legitimately wrong with Trump’s brain that makes him capable of this cult dynamic. It is a generational talent/curse and no one around him replicates it.

Voters don’t care about Pam Bondi, JD, Miller et al going to jail. Different factions of the MAGA cinematic universe care about different subsets, and would be more than happy to throw the others to the wolves.

Only Trump himself manages to hold it all together.

juliushuijnk12• 10 months ago

Like what would happen, if the army/FBI came and would lock up Newsom on charges of espionage for China.

Or if his plane would be shot out of the sky. Who would oversee the investigation? Who would accept that outcome?

Out of that a state of emergency can be called, postponing elections indefinitely.

That would be the last step. Not seeing many steps in between that need to be taken, or that can prevent it.

estearum4• 10 months ago

Postponing elections will not fly IMO.

Trump continues to lose supporters and that would lop off all but the most extreme.

Anyway arm the libs.

juliushuijnk12• 10 months ago

You don't need full support if you got the army, billionaires, police, FBI and supreme courts.

I'm not advocating arming anyone btw.

toomuchtodo3• 10 months ago

Mike Johnson, speaker of the House, refusing to schedule the swearing in of Adelita Grijalva (as she is the last vote needed to release the Epstein files) is putting us dangerously close to a failure of democracy. Hopefully it’s resolved in a timely manner.

https://electionlawblog.org/?p=152266

joules77• 10 months ago

Jan 6th showed everyone the level of competence they have to control the unpredictable.

And he is just making things more unpredictable for himself and the people who support him.

juliushuijnk12• 10 months ago

Flagged. I guess someone feels like US democracy is doing fine. If only we could stop people from talking about it.

What safeguards does the US have left to protect its democracy?

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