{"id":34757,"date":"2026-06-26T17:59:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/?p=34757"},"modified":"2026-06-28T15:09:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T19:09:26","slug":"ocracies-and-isms-how-the-usa-broke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/ocracies-and-isms-how-the-usa-broke\/","title":{"rendered":"-Ocracies and -Isms: How the USA Broke"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"King<\/a>O<\/span>nce upon a time, the USA was a democracy. While vestiges of democracy can still be found in the USA, it is being actively and aggressively eradicated at the federal level, <\/strong>and also in several Repugnican-controlled states like Texas. But what has the USA become post-democracy?<\/p>\n

Democracy is a portmanteau word<\/a> meaning, “government by the people, system of government in which the sovereign power is vested in the people as a whole exercising power directly or by elected officials.” It is conflated from from two ancient Greek words: d\u0113mos<\/em>, meaning “common people,” and kratos<\/em>, meaning “rule,” or “strength.” It first entered English in the 1570s, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.*<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Democracy in the USA has been eroding for many decades; the electoral college<\/a> has always been an anti-democracy institution that has propped up governments. But the erosion has been accelerating since the pro-corporation\/pro-rich Reagan was elected. Democracy struggled to exist during Trump’s first term, and survived, albeit wounded, thanks in part to him having some few advisors with a sense of morality and ethics to keep him in check. In the second term, his advisors are all unqualified sycophants appointed based on their willingness to grovel and praise him. Democracy was quickly eliminated at the highest level in Trump’s second term, mostly by it being utterly ignored and bypassed by Trump, his pet judges, and his lickspittle administration.<\/p>\n

Political commentators and pundits have other -ocracy terms to describe the American governance these days, like corporatocracy<\/a> <\/em>(government controlled or influenced by business corporations or corporate interests, which where Reagan governed), kakistocracy<\/a> <\/em>(government by the worst, or shittiest people), kleptocracy<\/a><\/em> (when those in power use their position to steal or exploit national resources for personal gain), oligarchy<\/em> <\/a>(power rests with a small number of rich people \u2014 oligarchs), plutocracy<\/a><\/em> (ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income), and, given the influence of the far-right pseudo-Christian evangelicals (aka Talibangelists) on elected officials and the administration, a theocracy<\/a><\/em> (rule by clerics or priests).<\/p>\n

All of these have merit in their usage, today. But perhaps the best and most encompassing -ocracy word to describe the USA today is autocracy<\/strong><\/em><\/a>: rule by one person with absolute power: the autocrat. As Wikipedia notes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Autocracies\u00a0are ruled by a single entity with absolute power, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regular mechanisms of popular control (except perhaps for implicit threat). That entity may be an individual, as in a\u00a0dictatorship\u00a0or it may be a group, as in a\u00a0one-party state. The word\u00a0despotism\u00a0means to “rule in the fashion of despots” and is often used to describe autocracy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since Trump got re-elected, the term autocracy has been bandied about a lot more than in the past, for good reason. Trump has openly and loudly acted the autocrat. He has illegally started wars, imposed tariffs, used government resources and agencies to target his opponents and critics, and openly grifted the public, taken money and bribes, insulted allies, and broken international treaties, while blatantly ignoring laws, Congress, the Senate, and the US Constitution. He mimics the contemporary dictators and despots he deeply admires and frequently praises: Putin, Xi, and Kim Jong-un. His publicly and frequently expressed affection for them is well documented.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Trump insults and demeans domestical political opponents, non-sycophantic media (especially women), as well as leaders of Western democracies and even former allies and supporters. He disdain and hatred of any opposition or dissent, including a free press, is also well documented.<\/p>\n

In his book, Cold War 2.0<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, Canadian attorney and writer George Takach describes an autocrat’s values and behaviour (taken from chapter 2 of his book). See how many of these apply to Trump:<\/p>\n