In one week the most important election of our lives will take place, and regardless of the results we will be forced to decide if we are a democracy where the rule of law has meaning or if we will dive in to Autocracy and Thugocracy where the “rule of law” means whatever those willing to go to the most violent ends says it means.

The Night of November 8th 2022 will be like no other night in U.S History, as a nation we have never actually voted on democracy or if we want to remain a liberal democracy.  At different times we have had those with Fascistic or Dictatorial ambitions, they have all been fringe outliers until the last 6 years, and now we have half the American government dedicating itself to those ends and the destruction of the American democratic experiment.  Our for profit corporate media is driving the country in this direction.

For months now we have been hearing and reading the endless droning about a “weak” economy because of higher than usual gas prices and grocery prices, Right wing pundits bloviating about the signs of a “deep coming recession” while citing increased corporate taxes, inflation, and an inverted yield curve in the bond market (you can count on one hand the number of people that truly understand the market and how yields are calculated, there are more people that understand how sporting events are handicapped and odds generated) they try to sound intelligent, like they know what’s going on but they’re mostly actors reading a script given to them by their corporate benefactors that pay to advertise on their programs, making their programs possible, the same people that are looking for ways to skirt their tax liabilities.  It is the very definition of “conflict of interest”.

For more than four decades Republicans have run on the idea that they are better stewards of the economy than Democrats, and for more than four decades we have yet to see any proof of that, other than their say so.  Republicans have repeatedly caused recessions and blown gigantic holes in the budget deficit and increased the debt with tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans they promise will always lead to increased wages and job growth lowering unemployment making more people economic contributors and thereby “paying for themselves” it has never materialized in any form.  However in 2022, Republicans are actually running on lowering employment, eliminating jobs, and lowering wages to control inflation, they are running on the ideas of dismantling Social Security, and phasing out Medicare within a five year period to pay for their proposed tax cuts for their wealthy donors and to stimulate economic growth.   Their logic is that our economy is currently weak because of high gas prices, record job growth, record internal revenue and low unemployment, all the things they have been promising to bring about for decades.  The question that must be asked is “How will our Capitalist economy grow if we do not live in a functioning democracy?”  How will the U.S compete if we have no trading partners?  How will we buy the materials we need to manufacture if we have no trading partners?  Who would sell materials to us if we are using a worthless currency, after defaulting on our debts?

The American way of life is on the ballot that people are handing in and mailing in to their county officials now, are we a nation of laws?  Or are we a nation of men and those willing to do the most damage decide what the laws are at the moment?  If people are allowed to take over the government by force, what’s to stop them from taking whatever else they want by force, including yours or my property?  If they do take the government over by force, what is to stop someone from taking it over from them by force?  If you set the rules for the game, everyone will end up playing by those rules, and private gun ownership will end in the U.S.