The next Dictator will be a Democrat.

[kentuck]

They are only setting up the table right now. George W Bush is only the predecessor to what is coming down the road, unless this country can change direction. He will be a populist, unlike George W Bush, with the support of most of the people. He will operate under the same rules and laws that have now been passed by Congress. He will spin the people like a souffle. The law of unforeseen consequences will never be more true.

[WilliamPitt]

1. Huey Long, anyone?

[Jackpine Radical]

6. Proot that a great mind and a mediocre mind can have the same

thought at the same time--see my post below.

[ThomWV]

2. What makes you think there will be a NEXT President?

More unintended consequences....

[borlis]

4. I totally agree with you.

Something will "happen" to make * declare martial law, cancel the 2008 elections and declare himself king.

[madinmaryland]

13. That is my biggest fear.

:scared:

pResident for Life?

:scared:

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. That was supposed to happen before the '04 elections, it didn't.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Meet Chancellor Jeb Bush!

Same as the old Bush...

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Demagogues come in all flavors.

I must acknowledge that your thesis here makes really good sense to me. It would be a "corporate Democrat," a Huey Long of the so-called Center, someone who advocates both minimum wage laws and the eradication of national boundaries on this continent. Maybe he would even be an environmentalist--backed more by the high-tech part of the corporate oligarchy than by the fossil fuel sector. But he would find a use for those Halliburton camps, and you and I would on the camp list just as surely as we'd be on Bush's list.

[aquart]

7. Obviously, NOT "unforeseen."

The inability to think in terms of long-term or any consequences is a litmus test for being a Republican.

Just as they thought it was brilliant to limit the presidency to two terms, and then they got Reagan.

But we are not Republicans and we know what is coming.

So it turns out that all the complex reasons for the fall of a civilization boils down to power in the hands of the rich and short-sighted.

[kineneb]

10. collapse

"So it turns out that all the complex reasons for the fall of a civilization boils down to power in the hands of the rich and short-sighted."

A nice summation of Jared Diamond's book Collapse. And something he was warning us about in said tome.

[madrchsod]

8. isn`t that ironic

yes huey long

[Leopolds Ghost]

9. FUTURE SHOCK: What Happens if The Republican Party Dissolved Tommorrow?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2196504

Note: this scenario assumes a war with Iran, followed by stunning revelations about the Republican Party promulgated by pissed-off supporters of the military.

Of course, certain Congressional Democrats SUPPORT going to war with Iran, viewing it as the "real threat", so that's not much of a caveat.
:eyes:

I'm not so sure Populism in the US is as authoritarian as it is in Venezuela. I suspect the DLC will eventually regain control of the party and become an absolute analogue of the McKinley-era urban Republican Party of 1900, forcing populists and civil libertarians to form their own party.

[PsN2Wind]

11. If the next dictator is a Democrat

and the House or Senate are still controlled by the Repubs, watch how quickly they begin to work to strip the presidency of all the power they have given it in the last five years. No Democratic "Unitary President".

[aquart]

12. Does that mean we get national healthcare?

[DavidDvorkin]

15. They're sure he'll be a Republican

That's why they were so ready to do this. The GOP is quite sure that either the voters will be easy to manipulate in 2008 or, no matter how the voters feel, when the official numbers come in, the Republican candidate will win the 2008 election.

Perhaps they'll be proven wrong, but I'm sure they have a carefully thought-out strategy in place to make sure it works out that way.

[TahitiNut]

16. kentuck - see ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2241037