The original thread went out when the hackers struck.
The title of the thread came from a book written by Anne Applebaum about the rise of authoritarian leaders in Europe, and of course the United States.
This is an excerpt from a new book Romney: A reckoning.
Now I know most here are not interested in a US Republican senator, but he is very concerned as to the survival of democracy in the United States.
Shortly after moving into his Senate office, Romney had hung a large rectangular map on the wall. First printed in 1931 by Rand McNally, the āhistomapā attempted to chart the rise and fall of the worldās most powerful civilizations through 4,000 years of human history. When Romney first acquired the map, he saw it as a curiosity. After January 6, he became obsessed with it. He showed the map to visitors, brought it up in conversations and speeches. More than once, he found himself staring at it alone in his office at night. The Egyptian empire had reigned for some 900 years before it was overtaken by the Assyrians. Then the Persians, the Romans, the Mongolians, the Turksāeach civilization had its turn, and eventually collapsed in on itself. Maybe the falls were inevitable. But what struck Romney most about the map was how thoroughly it was dominated by tyrants of some kindāpharaohs, emperors, kaisers, kings. āA man gets some people around him and begins to oppress and dominate others,ā he said the first time he showed me the map. āItās a testosterone-related phenomenon, perhaps. I donāt know. But in the history of the world, thatās what happens.ā Americaās experiment in self-rule āis fighting against human nature.ā
The title of the thread came from a book written by Anne Applebaum about the rise of authoritarian leaders in Europe, and of course the United States.
This is an excerpt from a new book Romney: A reckoning.
Now I know most here are not interested in a US Republican senator, but he is very concerned as to the survival of democracy in the United States.
Shortly after moving into his Senate office, Romney had hung a large rectangular map on the wall. First printed in 1931 by Rand McNally, the āhistomapā attempted to chart the rise and fall of the worldās most powerful civilizations through 4,000 years of human history. When Romney first acquired the map, he saw it as a curiosity. After January 6, he became obsessed with it. He showed the map to visitors, brought it up in conversations and speeches. More than once, he found himself staring at it alone in his office at night. The Egyptian empire had reigned for some 900 years before it was overtaken by the Assyrians. Then the Persians, the Romans, the Mongolians, the Turksāeach civilization had its turn, and eventually collapsed in on itself. Maybe the falls were inevitable. But what struck Romney most about the map was how thoroughly it was dominated by tyrants of some kindāpharaohs, emperors, kaisers, kings. āA man gets some people around him and begins to oppress and dominate others,ā he said the first time he showed me the map. āItās a testosterone-related phenomenon, perhaps. I donāt know. But in the history of the world, thatās what happens.ā Americaās experiment in self-rule āis fighting against human nature.ā