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The Empire Strikes First: Trump, Putin, and the Global War on Democracy -- Thom Hartmann [View all]
https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-empire-strikes-first-trump-putin-8d0What happens when the country that once led the free world becomes the enemy of Democracy?
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This sounds like a dangerously familiar — and ancient— story.
Western literature’s heroic mythic storytelling genres, having emerged during a time when democracies were active and evolving, typically feature heroes fighting for a democracy against an evil empire led by a radically evil, expansionist warlord.
Luke Skywalker against Darth Vader and the Empire; Frodo Baggins and the Free People of Middle Earth against Sauron and the Nazi-like Mordor empire; Dune’s Paul Atriedes and his Fremen against the ruthless Harkonnens, the brutal rulers of Arrakis.
Other examples that came from the early attempts at democracy in ancient Europe include Beowulf, Homer’s Oddyssey and Iliad, and Virgil’s Aeneid. In all of these stories spanning three thousand years, free people or a would-be leader of free people battle the forces of an evil, repressive empire led by violent warlords.
America has, for 250 years, always viewed itself as being on the side of Skywalker, Baggins, and Atriedes — until this past month. Preying on hate, bigotry, and fear-of-the-other, Donald Trump has now aligned the United States with the modern-day Empire’s Darth Vader: Vladimir Putin.
We now find ourselves on the wrong side of both history and three millennia of legends and peoples dreaming of and fighting for democracy.
...
This sounds like a dangerously familiar — and ancient— story.
Western literature’s heroic mythic storytelling genres, having emerged during a time when democracies were active and evolving, typically feature heroes fighting for a democracy against an evil empire led by a radically evil, expansionist warlord.
Luke Skywalker against Darth Vader and the Empire; Frodo Baggins and the Free People of Middle Earth against Sauron and the Nazi-like Mordor empire; Dune’s Paul Atriedes and his Fremen against the ruthless Harkonnens, the brutal rulers of Arrakis.
Other examples that came from the early attempts at democracy in ancient Europe include Beowulf, Homer’s Oddyssey and Iliad, and Virgil’s Aeneid. In all of these stories spanning three thousand years, free people or a would-be leader of free people battle the forces of an evil, repressive empire led by violent warlords.
America has, for 250 years, always viewed itself as being on the side of Skywalker, Baggins, and Atriedes — until this past month. Preying on hate, bigotry, and fear-of-the-other, Donald Trump has now aligned the United States with the modern-day Empire’s Darth Vader: Vladimir Putin.
We now find ourselves on the wrong side of both history and three millennia of legends and peoples dreaming of and fighting for democracy.
...