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Burning down the house — global environmental consequences of tyranny in the United States
As a nation we have passed a political tipping point. The effects of decades of divisive rhetoric from right wing media and craven zero-sum political manipulation of race and economics by the GOP will be with us for decades to come. With the election of Trump our nation has been consumed by the negativity of his corruption, denial of science, overt racism, outright lies, and steady stream of illiterate demagoguery.
The divisions in American culture are deeper than ever and unlikely to be healed by a general election. We have paid a horrific price for not standing up to tyranny when it became apparent that the GOP would do whatever is necessary to maintain minority rule and that major media outlets would support these efforts. Despite the political fallout from Black Lives Matter protests and the federal mismanagement of the pandemic, it remains entirely possible or even likely that Trump will be re-elected or that the November election process will be manipulated.
At this point in our history it is reasonable to think that the democratic republic of the United States cannot be quickly recovered. Should the GOP and Trump be turned out by this election, there will remain much to repair in our democracy because of decades of cronyism and gerrymandering. Although the…
