We Need To Say It Out Loud...
One of the things hindering us, in a way that is counter intuitive, is that leadership which should be oppositional to an authoritarian remaking of US government and society, in terms of institutional politics (Democrats) and the news media (who should always be holding any power to account), haven't been capable of imaging the worst. There's a social taboo against imagining the worst. We call it catastrophizing. From the time we're young, we're warned against it, and for good reason. It's rare for worst or the best of what human beings can imagine to happen. There's certainly a taboo against political leaders and/or "responsible/respectable" news media publicly acknowledging the worst possible outcomes, as if they are indeed possible. There's also a degree to which American Exceptionalism plays a role here. We love to believe we're exceptional, which means the worst couldn't happen here, we're just too darned good, too darned smart and...
