International Proletariat 18

There are 2 questions: one about rights another about socialist possibilities in present US. About the second question, you people living there are, supposedly, better equipped with the knowledge of the ground reality, I can make only a hunch. First question, I can answer. During Renascence itself with Machiavelli, the old basis of political authority and its theological basis of legitimacy through the grace of God was rejected and a new authority and new basis of legitimacy was urgently needed. Rousseau in the 18th century theorized peoples power and popular sovereignty that forced all the subsequent constitutions to begin their prelude by "We the people....." (Its different thing that we and the people are different, as the representative democracy is not the peoples' govt. only its illusion.) With French revolution and foundation of USA, the popular aspirations took a great leap and the bourgeois constitutions manipulated them by granting rights, for which people had waged protracted struggles.You do not get any thing for free but have to struggle for each inch of your rights. These rights are valid only as long as they do not matter. As soon as they begin to matter, constitutions have provisions to take them away. The provisions of extra-ordinary laws under exceptional conditions that are perennial. During the dark days of McCarthyism in the US, no one had any rights under the draconian laws like PATRIOT, anybody could be picked  up for being anti-national that is a communist or sympathizer and onus of proof was on the accused. We, in India to have many such laws. Emergency (1975-77) was a real fascism.  As far as the second question is, possibilities are there but look remote as yet.