It is indisputable at this point that we are losing our democracy. That includes whatever you want to qualify it with - constitutional republic, representative democracy, or just plain old reliance on a system of checks and balances.
Much of it has disappeared. What is left is quickly receding.
Many of us have used different terms to describe what is replacing it - authoritarianism, fascism, oligarchy, dictatorship. All are about the same thing - the consolidation of power into one person, and the wealthy, entrenched interests behind him.
What we may be less familiar with is how they're ushering in a new era of Colonial Empire.
It's very accurate to say that developed nations have always sought to exploit the resources of the less developed world. It often involves corporate interest, both American and multinational conglomerates.
But what is now happening is taking it to a new level. A raw, ugly level that barely hides its true purpose. The lust to control other nations' resources is no longer disguised. There is little pretense that is for the purpose of freedom or democracy. It is for acquiring resources. And it is not for the benefit of mankind, or even a nation. It is to enrich the greed and control of a small number of super-wealthy individuals.
The idea that we want to go into Venezuela to end drug trafficking or free the populace would be laughable if it weren't so deadly and dangerous.
Trump and friends want to control Venezuelan oil, the largest reserve on the planet. They also want more of their rare-earth minerals and elements that tech bros lust after. They don't care whether the daily lives of Venezuelans are improved - they would just as soon they were left impoverished and controllable. Because, yes, my friends, there is more to exploit than the earth's resources. They are also people, people who can do the dirty work necessary at as little as you can get away with paying them.
In the US, under the pretense of cracking down on undocumented workers, the idea is to actually imprison them (and others) and then reintroduce them into society as prison labor. They know Americans aren't doing fieldwork or other menial, physically intense labor, especially at the pay rates the wealthy want to pay them.
Another part of the New Colonial Empire is the perversion of the Monroe Doctrine - the US has the right to control and dominate the Western Hemisphere. That's what all the imperial mutterings mean about South America, Central America, Mexico, Canada, and Greenland mean. For many rational and decent Americans, these rantings seem insane. But we dismiss them at our peril.
We are no longer on the side of good and democracy. We are on the side of authoritarian control and exploitation.
