Don’t mourn, fight – CounterPunch.org

Far be it from me to claim that the US government is a democracy. My understanding is that capitalism prevents true democracy because of the influence that money has in elections and elsewhere in the political system. This is particularly true in the current monopoly phase of capitalism that we call neoliberalism. Just ask Elon Musk, the billionaire Trump wants to implement his austerity program. The power of his wallet was a crucial element in the final weeks of the Trump campaign. This will continue until the printing presses that print money stop printing and the machines that run cryptocurrencies melt the ice caps. In the minds of the super rich, the US government is just another subsidiary and the people are employees, customers, and suckers.

I won’t spend much time here trying to figure out why Harris lost the election. There are others who are much more adept at this, including CounterPunch publisher Jeffrey St. Clair. I would like to say that, in my opinion, the main reasons for Trump’s victory are misogyny, racism and the ignorance that fuels these phenomena. As any honest observer can tell you, neither phenomenon is confined to any particular class or region of the country, but it is fair to say that there are populations in the South and Midwest in which such feelings may be prevalent majority of the population eligible to vote.

There is no easy way to defeat fascism in the context of a capitalist economy and a bourgeois electoral system.

You can’t sit in the living room and curse at the TV and hope it goes away. As history shows, fascists will not stop until they are stopped by the forces that oppose them.

This fact means organizing.

It means getting out and taking to the streets.

It means not compromising with those in your own union, your church and your community who are pushing fascist agendas of austerity and division.

If (or maybe I should say when) ICE comes to your town and starts rounding up immigrants for deportation, you can’t turn away because it won’t happen to your family.

When women are denied the opportunity to make a reproductive choice and are threatened with prison time for asserting their right to that choice, the authorities cannot be counted on to incarcerate these women.

When Medicaid and other government subsidies for health care are cut and people are left without health care, one can’t just be glad that they aren’t. These are just a few examples of when and where to oppose the programs that will almost certainly be implemented in the coming months.

There will be those who argue that Trump isn’t all that bad. They lie. One only has to look at his vice president (who became almost invisible in the final weeks of the campaign) to understand the Trump administration’s true agenda. As I write this, the leadership of the House of Representatives is uncertain, but the United States is very close to a one-party regime. From the Supreme Court to the White House, the right wing is in control. If the House of Representatives goes to the Republicans, we will live in a one-party state. I have no hesitation at all in calling it a fascist regime. I don’t think the reader should either. This describes the opposition’s loss of power. The current crises of capitalism require an authoritarian government. We recognize that our future requires dismantling government.

It’s time to take a risk. To put your body at risk. Go out on the streets and make noise. Cause a stir when the situation calls for it. To anger the fascists.

Don’t mourn, organize.