i fear my fears are coming true

The US Government has seized control of the largest, most powerful insurance company in the country, along with the entire mortgage industry and large portions of the financial services industry.

The US Army is in training for domestic operations.

The Republican candidate for president suspends his campaign.

And all this must be seen in context of a Government that has been systematically expanding its powers and operating as an autocracy, a Government that was not elected by popular vote in the first place, then fixed elections to maintain its power.

I've been amazed - dismayed, horrified - as progressive people cheer on Obama seemingly without a thought to this context, as if the peaceful transfer of power from one party to another, based on a fair election, is a certainty. When that's not what we've seen for the past two elections, and nothing has been corrected. And those in power have continued to shut down the Constitution.

For a long time, I've been wondering if the White House junta would cancel the 2008 elections. Reading Naomi Wolf helped solidify the whole picture for me. (The archived wmtc posts I'm linking to are just samples. You could click on the category "election fraud" or "fascist shift" to see a lot more.)

[Correction. Shortly after I wrote this, I realized that my thoughts and fears about the United States becoming a fascist state were solidified long before I read Naomi Wolf's The End of America. In fact, it's fair to say that was the bottom-line reason we emigrated to Canada. Reading that book, however, gave me a clear historical context for thinking about how democracies become autocracies, and what it looks like when they do. It gave me better language to describe it. It helped me sum up my thoughts in a more concise form, and most importantly, it gave me something to recommend to others that would explain what is happening.]

In the history of civilization, has any powerful group of people consolidated and expanded their power, shut down and/or falsified all legal avenues of opposition, then willingly and peacefully handed over power to others?

Last night we were watching the Red Sox with our laptops in front of us. I saw the headline "McCain Suspends Campaign" in my CBC feed, and my heart froze. I read it to Allan and we looked at each other in shock. What is happening?

I fear my fears are coming true.