Editorial Rights purchased from iStock. Photo by Timofey Zadvornov.
Authoritarian regimes are all the same
When no one listens to the people on the ground, the people at the top do stupid things.
It’s the same with companies. If you’ve ever worked for a company whose CEO is so eager to show investors how much money he can make that he puts on blinders when people try to tell him to slow down and solve problems in real time, you know what I’m talking about.
When leadership isn’t interested in the truth, you can forget about solving problems — you’re lucky if you can figure out what’s actually happening from day to day.
When people offer the truth to you, and you shun that truth in favor of a lie, you are condemned to operate on faulty assumptions. The nature of the lie doesn’t matter, what matters is that it blocks information — which is problematic because the only way to solve problems is to look clear-eyed at them.
A few have told Trump the truth, but he ignored them. If the Republican Party takes over Congress, the Republican propaganda machine will ensure the truth stays buried. If you want to know how bad it will get just look at Russia today.
No one tells Putin the truth
Do you want to live in a country where a political protest could easily send you to prison for 10 years? Or would you prefer to be “mobilized” and sent to a foreign country to die for a cause you don’t believe in, and may not even understand?
Will you be okay losing your health care? What about the Social Security benefits you’ve spent your entire life paying into?
There will be no climate change legislation to combat the horrors we’ve all experienced recently if Republicans gain power in the midterms. And don’t expect the federal government to come to your rescue if your home is wiped out by a hurricane.
You can forget about the various programs the Biden administration has already successfully pushed through Congress too. They will all be a pipe dream if Democrats don’t maintain control.
This isn’t about politics anymore. It’s about survival. Will you vote to save yourself or become part of a suicide pact? It’s one or the other — there is no middle ground.
Place your bets.