Comparing the US global role to the Roman Empire is an old hat. Today we are seeing the “declining” face of this comparison. Trump is selling off “offices” to the highest bidders and drawing power around him self and his family.
The White House will be filled with toads and hangers on, the “court” made up of greed distracted by “reality TV” display with power politics hiding its ugly face behind this show.
In the US the left is lost/divided/bickering with out any alt when/if Trump “dynasty” plan fails it is likely to be challenged by the next demagogue who will be more miltitent and corrupt.
In the UK the “open’ish” left wing Momentum (http://www.peoplesmomentum.com/) failed in its foundation to embody “openness” growing out of the shadows of the labor party left/right trench war. Ones a project is in motion it becomes hard, soon, impossible, to have openness at its core. The first lies, the first power politics used to shape outcomes, each is a step, that closes openness as an organizing option.
The undead left have nested and are now ripping at the core of the Momentum project tearing and dispoling to draw all power around their shadow selves. The “open’ish” crew are likely to flee leaving the innocent youth drown into the ones bright surfaces and shadowing interea shell of “Momentum”. This idalistic flow will be drained of blood and energy in till momentum, broken and dull, is used up and discarded.
The predatory undead left move on, every seeking, young blood to fill their dusty/empty veins. Dogmatism (magnetism) and manipulation of power (mysticism) bureaucracy to grab, gut and drain the possibility of the left.
Am actively working on two projects based on commons and open process, the first is self defined and drawing interest the #OMN with the #4opens at its core could stand up to the “closed” negative. The second the Activist Expo and Archive has been setup with the #4opens but they were not strongly embedded. As new people arrived the opens fell away, were pushed away, “closed” was a process that became normal.
It is now a challenge to bring #4opens back into place, ones “closed” has a foot hold and the pushing and pulling, grabbing and ripping starts it blocks open because in an open space “pushing and pulling, grabbing and ripping” can be seen, people are naked in their power plays. Shit stinks and nobody won’t to be seen covered in it.
Open has the power to keep the left from “ripping apart” what we do then is up to us. This would be a nice place to be.
I don’t have solutions for the USA. Unless Momentum has a squad of vampire slayers to pull the shade away and let the sun in, its future is likely to be drained into an empty husk. The #OMN if the first raft of tech works could be a part of the world we wont. The expo is in crises, shit is seeping in from the old cracks, the course we have: paper them over and carry on to NGO burn out little outcome/failer or lay a soled foundation of “open” to build a real left on.
If the left in the UK cannot #reboot into something useful we are facing our own “Trump” as the climate crisis hits home. The undead “left” vampires are a tiny number and powerless in face of sunlight (open). The OMN hopefully will embed the #4opens strongly unf from the #bootup that the commons can be sustained as it grows. The expo is tilting between “closed” and “open” the is an obvious need for mediation, am going to keep opening the “curtains” lets see what out come can be achieved.
The left failed is sad and bad, and will be fatal for million of people over the next century.