Orban absolutely rigged the system against voting out of their situation. And they’re not there yet, either. This vote was the first step, but they’ve overcome a huge hurdle.

Well, first of all, no I’m not just talking about America. There are tons of leftists on here who argue that voting is hopeless any time an authoritarian rises to power, and seem to believe the only solution is a violent revolution that they are not planning (not that I’m trying to bait anyone into fed-posting, but I doubt the people spending 16 hours a day debating Neo-Marxism versus Anarchist Communism are also forming a militia).

Second of all, you’re saying that the American system is set up to prevent voting out fascism, but what you’re describing is learned helplessness, not institutional restrictions. Learned helplessness is powerful, but I’m rapidly seeing it being unlearned since Trump took office. Republicans who’ve been ignoring economic issues for identity politics suddenly seem sick of hearing about wokeness. Liberal wine moms who held up, “But her emails,” signs in 2017 want Chuck Schumer’s blood. The other day I saw the fucking Mueller She Wrote account slamming Dick Durbin for saying, “reform,” ICE instead, “abolish.”

In terms of the institutions, there are a lot of measures against direct democracy that make reforms more difficult, but the structure of our elections have huge advantages. The constitution gives power of our federal elections squarely with the states, which is why Trump is having so much trouble rigging the elections. His current plan seems to be, “send ICE to intimidate voters,” and based on Minneapolis, that’s not an effective strategy.

Even the bigger obstacles are mostly imaginary. Congressional gridlock can easily be overcome by leadership willing to abolish the filibuster. Supreme Court members can be impeached, and the Court can be expanded by Congress. There are institutional, Democratic solutions to this, we just have to stop pretending they’re too difficult.

So “voting is irrelevant”, the (less than) two-day-old account implies

Seriously, can we have a “cool-down” period, between registering an account and posting a comment? It’s not a perfect solution, but fuck… it might make shit like this less persistent. One should at least have to work/lurk for it; my fucking god these divisive comments from brand new accounts are pathetic

Agreed, but I see a lot of supposed leftists that seem like they just want to do the first one.

Right wing? It is smack in the center.

The tisza party has published their policy plans. (full version pdf: https://magyartisza.hu/program)

Here are the left-wing ones:

Economic Justice and Redistribution

Reduce minimum wage tax from 15% to 9%.
Lower income tax for workers earning below the median wage.
Tax the super-rich with a 1% annual wealth tax on assets over 1 billion HUF.
Cut VAT on firewood, healthy food, and prescription medicines.

Expanded Social Safety Net

Double family allowances, maternity support, and childcare benefits.
Guarantee a minimum pension of 120,000 HUF per month.
Provide "Pensioner SZÉP Cards" with up to 200,000 HUF in annual support.
Increase home care fees by 50% for family caregivers.
Give a "Newborn Kit" worth 50,000 HUF to every baby.

Labor and Public Sector Support

Increase pay by 25% for social sector and educational assistants.
Strengthen union rights and rebuild national social dialogue.
Enforce equal pay for equal work between men and women.

Public Goods and Equality

Establish independent ministries for Healthcare and Education.
Maintain tuition-free first university degrees.
Build social rental housing and more student dormitories.
End period poverty by providing free hygiene products in state schools.
Fund Roma integration through school buses and new scholarships.

State-Led Public Services

Nationalize debt enforcement and make it non-profit.
Take over company liquidations to ensure a non-profit, transparent process

He’s mostly been described as centre right, but we’ll see. If he’s not beholden to Russia and not massively corrupt, then that’s a huge step. If they then undo the damage done by Orbán to the constitution and institutions of Hungary, then there will be a way forward.

True, and I don’t mean to imply that Hungary will magically be transformed into a thriving democracy as soon as Orbàn is out. It’s gonna take years to rebuild the judiciary alone, and we’ll see how committed Maygar is to restoring inconvenient aspects of democracy like press freedom and fair elections. Still, Hungary took the first step towards reestablishing democracy by voting, and I’m getting tired of hearing how voting doesn’t work from people who’s only political activities are sharing the, “You’re Finished,” meme and telling people to read theory.

right wing has a lot if colors. He’s far from a republican right wing extremist

I agree that you shouldn’t rely on elections alone, and mutual aid/community organizing are a huge part of any resistance to authoritarianism. I’m mostly criticizing leftists who claim (or at least imply) that violence is the only possible resistance to a authoritarians.

I really believe that we are capable of turning back the tide of authoritarianism through the levers of democracy. When South Korean politicians scaled the fence around Parliament to vote down martial law, I fully expected the President and military to ignore them, but it worked for them, and it could work for us. If we continue to excise weak-willed centrists from the Democratic party and show Republicans that authoritarian rule will not be tolerated (as the people of Minnesota did), I really believe we can dismantle American fascism with our current institutions. (Dismantling the oligarchy and strengthening those institutions will be a longer, harder battle, but I think clearing out the current fascist regime is well within our immediate grasp.)