Asklemmy

I agree with you, the Democrats aren't going to reform anything, even if they wanted to (and they don't).

A financial collapse seems inevitable at this point, Balkanization may be a very good thing. There's no need for a civil war, we're nicely divided already and have functioning state governments that will quickly replace the Federals. That's best case scenario.

Worst case scenario? Civil War II, but really, "The South" has even less of a chance of winning now. This seems unlikely. Best to just cut them off and stop propping up their miserable states, within a generation or two they will learn that they need us (coastal cities) far more than we need them.

Jesus isn't going to come save the day, no matter what The Christian Broadcasting Network says.

Last time US suffered the pains of war in their land was late 1860's. I believe American politics are stuck in that era.

This is related to why I'm so nervous about teaching social studies next year. Can anyone help me think about how to teach US history without shoving a bunch of propaganda down middle school throats?

I would vote for a candidate that begins the process of devolving the Union so we can eventually divorce into separate countries. I think we are doomed for civil war either way. As a Californian, when they're doing stuff like systematically disenfranchising us, withholding our Medicaid dollars and attacking our public universities despite us contributing more to the treasury than we take back, it's hard to feel like an American. I'd prefer to be a citizen of California than share a country with these freaks. Winning elections won't make me feel any better after seeing how they despise and want to destroy us.

I've always believed that we were living through the collapse of the American Hegemony, but I could never describe the system until I read about the Imperial Boomerang and the Five Phase Lifecycle which captures the US' expansionist policies post WW2. Except we never needed war, we had the petrodollar.

The problem when you have a system that centralized, you have one major factor, and then the inability to grow leads to the empire turning within with its expansionist policies towards its people. Its the perfect system to have an incompetent boob turn cruel. And once that happens, everyone senses something wicked on the horizon. Soft power with allies completely vanishes. New allegiances are forged. A new hyperpower emerges. And the most defensive behavior is to protect your own interests -- which accelerate the inevitable collapse.

The US is a very big country, and any future shape will have it more like a confederation -- either officially in its successor states, or more likely by Balkanization. Whether or not its the New America we want, well, I'm not that clairvoyant.

I hope this makes sense, I'm not a political expert. All I am certain of, in my gut, is that Trump is the final manifestation of the decline phase, and this is the final act. The Roman empire went through many drastic 'collapses' in its span, this doesn't mark the end of America, but of the current post-WW2 hegemony? The one driven by the GI Bill and Technological progress? We aren't coming back from this.

I think you're right

There won't be real reforms from Democrats because they're complicit and invested in the system staying exactly as it is. Just "nicer."

I think the United States as we knew it is dying. I feel no kinship with the MAGA nor the Epstein Class, my desire to be kind and fair towards that lot has long since evaporated. Odds are, many folks in Tennessee and Minneapolis feel the same.

Revolution is necessary, because the bourgeois state cannot be dismantled and a proletarian state put in place via peaceful means.

The US has to go through the process of fascism only to be conquered or overthrown by socialists, something that didn't happen during the Interbellum or world war II.
Last time they went social democratic to preserve capitalism as US socialists were already drawing their pitchforks.
This time around however, the capitalists want to hold onto power even as their capitalist society is on the brink of collapsing. This time, like last time in Nazi Germany, the US merchants refuse to take any concessions during a crisis, so fascism it has already chosen.
This means the US is already going through a painful transition as fascism is known to be a unstable and (self-)destructive form of governance.

But what is fascism? I have my own take on it and on socialism by the way...

Here you see a table I made that lists all the standard socio-economic forms of governance.
All standard have three sets of people called estates.
The First estate sets the rules, second estate sets the direction of society and the third estate keeps the gears of society running.
This differs I think from the usual socialist picture (correct if I'm wrong) where Marx had in mind that all estates would become one.
It also differs I think from what capitalists think of themselves, because merchants are not mentioned anywhere in the constitution, are not in the government or anywhere in the trias politica and yet they get first row seats in inaugerations and VIP invitations during delegations.

To me, fascism is capitalism, but with a ruling class so powerful that the legitimizer (if that's a word, I make up words) class has become insignificant and with the first estate gone, the ruling class reigns with impunity.

It will collapse and when it does, we will enter a world with a majority of socialist states very soon.
If not, the world will go straight to communism.

As things stand, unfortunately, the far-right is significantly better armed and better prepared for a breakdown in government.

While I would prefer to peacefully reform the system, it's increasingly clear that there's validity to the saying, "If you want peace, prepare for war." The fact that the right is better positioned for a breakdown in order allows them to push further and further without fear. Civil war or revolution isn't going to be something the left chooses, rather, if current trends continue (and it seems like they will) we may end up in a situation where it's forced upon us and we are left but no choice to defend ourselves.

It's not necessarily an all-or-nothing deal. There are methods of fighting back that are more effective than relying on the Democrats but don't constitute full-on revolution, such as strikes. While strikes are non-violent, history has shown that they have potential to become violent, for example, if a boss hires mercenaries to force people back to work at gunpoint.

Likewise, if masked gunmen started showing up to people's workplaces, demanding some of the workers to be handed over to be taken as hostages, workers need to be prepared to deal with that emergency.

Practically speaking, even if you wanted a revolution, there's now way that would even be viable while practical steps for community defense have not been made. I'm not sure it's rhetorically necessary to go further than that, particularly on a public forum.