US Authoritarianism

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Hello, I am researching American crimes against humanity. . This space so far has been most strongly for memes, and that's fine.

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Sometimes You Don’t Get to Have Elders. In Their Place, Vicious Old People. (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

I agree. Nixon was simply a bad president, but Reagan was the start of "the government is bad by definition".

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Nixon was simply a bad president, yes, but Nixon's election campaign popularized the "Southern strategy". Republicans at the time weren't particularly popular in the South because--as they'll happily tell you--Lincoln was a Republican; so they started flirting with racism and courting Southern voters by openly hating black people. It allowed Nixon and others to win elections in the South and became a mainstay of Republicanism. It was the Republican party's first major foray into fascism which relies on misinformation and manipulation of people through their worst impulses.

Since that worked, they've only gotten worse. The Southern Strategy, which began before I was born, is where I peg the start of the collapse of progressive politics.

BTW, until that time Democrats were doing it. The parties pretty much traded places on their stances toward race over the course of a couple of decades. So you could also argue that things have gotten neither better nor worse. If so, that doesn't exactly fill me with enthusiasm for our future.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Also, Nixon sabotaged the negotiations to end the Vietnam war so that he could run on ending it. And then, when he won, didn't want to actually end it because he was worried about being known as a president who lost a war.

So first he caused more people to die so he could make a campaign promise. Then even more people died when his ego couldn't handle keeping that promise.

And then Ford was almost as big of a piece of shit for pardoning him.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

I was surprised to learn that Nixon carried the electoral college 520 votes to 17. Looking back now, obviously Nixon was a deeply unpopular president, so I was shocked learning that he was elected in one of the biggest landslide victories the US had ever seen.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

I'd argue a lot of our current problems are directly descended from Nixon being pardoned and facing 0 consequences for his crimes.