beginning of a more indepth post on the sheer stupidity of referring to trump as a "nazi".
Or for that matter, an "authoritarian" in any way.
Trump has said many things that sit poorly with those that believe in some things like freedom of religion and freedom of the press. Most of the time, they weren't things he actually *said* per se, they were times when he replied "yeah, sure, whatever", or "we're going to have to look at that" to leading questions from "journalists", or things along those lines, but he *did* tweet that the media is the enemy of the American people, and I don't think that he should be completely given a pass for not disavowing completely the more exotic leading questions. So, it is with some reason that people fear him becoming authoritarian, and treading upon the bedrock freedoms of our republic.
Now, people that have talked to me for a while know that before the election I was no fan of trump. I found him inconsistent, embarrassing, many of his policy suggestions absurd or counter-productive. I preferred him to Hillary on the basis that while he was what I referred to as a fair coin, Hillary was wrong on almost every important issue. So, there was that.
During the transitional period, when he was making appointments, I came around to being cautiously optimistic. The people that he appointed for various positions were people on record as desiring to reduce the authority and reach of the departments they were slated to run. That's *not* something that an authoritarian does. Ever. At all. And it is very much needful at this point. Studies indicate that our economy would be 4 TIMES the size if regulation had been held at 1950 levels. that means that every program in the united states could be funded at 4 times the level were it not for those regulations. And regulation is inherently regressive, so the bulk of that benefit would have gone to the poor and middle class. We are all HUGELY worse off due to over-regulation.
During his first 50 days, I have come to become an actual *fan*. There have been cringe-worthy moments, and some things with which I disagree. However, the general thrust of his orders and actions has been to reduce the reach and powers of the executive branch agencies. Again, something authoritarians *never* do. In fact, one of the things that is in the offing, that the GOP is pushing forward is specifically a bill to limit the powers of the president. It's called the "reins" act, and what it does is mandate congressional approval of new regulations put in place by executive fiat.
On *top* of which, he's *rock* solid on the right to bear arms, and one thing that all authoritarians, particularly the oppressors have in common is that NONE of them can countenance an armed populace. An armed populace is capable of actual real world resistance, so that alone would have served as a "litmus test" for determining whether he was a true authoritarian.
Ultimately, what he has shown is that the "bad things" aren't going to materialize, and what we have *actually* elected is a real, honest to god constitutional conservative. The first of my lifetime. I didn't expect to be happy. But I am.
Trump has said many things that sit poorly with those that believe in some things like freedom of religion and freedom of the press. Most of the time, they weren't things he actually *said* per se, they were times when he replied "yeah, sure, whatever", or "we're going to have to look at that" to leading questions from "journalists", or things along those lines, but he *did* tweet that the media is the enemy of the American people, and I don't think that he should be completely given a pass for not disavowing completely the more exotic leading questions. So, it is with some reason that people fear him becoming authoritarian, and treading upon the bedrock freedoms of our republic.
Now, people that have talked to me for a while know that before the election I was no fan of trump. I found him inconsistent, embarrassing, many of his policy suggestions absurd or counter-productive. I preferred him to Hillary on the basis that while he was what I referred to as a fair coin, Hillary was wrong on almost every important issue. So, there was that.
During the transitional period, when he was making appointments, I came around to being cautiously optimistic. The people that he appointed for various positions were people on record as desiring to reduce the authority and reach of the departments they were slated to run. That's *not* something that an authoritarian does. Ever. At all. And it is very much needful at this point. Studies indicate that our economy would be 4 TIMES the size if regulation had been held at 1950 levels. that means that every program in the united states could be funded at 4 times the level were it not for those regulations. And regulation is inherently regressive, so the bulk of that benefit would have gone to the poor and middle class. We are all HUGELY worse off due to over-regulation.
During his first 50 days, I have come to become an actual *fan*. There have been cringe-worthy moments, and some things with which I disagree. However, the general thrust of his orders and actions has been to reduce the reach and powers of the executive branch agencies. Again, something authoritarians *never* do. In fact, one of the things that is in the offing, that the GOP is pushing forward is specifically a bill to limit the powers of the president. It's called the "reins" act, and what it does is mandate congressional approval of new regulations put in place by executive fiat.
On *top* of which, he's *rock* solid on the right to bear arms, and one thing that all authoritarians, particularly the oppressors have in common is that NONE of them can countenance an armed populace. An armed populace is capable of actual real world resistance, so that alone would have served as a "litmus test" for determining whether he was a true authoritarian.
Ultimately, what he has shown is that the "bad things" aren't going to materialize, and what we have *actually* elected is a real, honest to god constitutional conservative. The first of my lifetime. I didn't expect to be happy. But I am.