and am not so sure direct democracy is a good idea at all, anymore.

Personally, in an ideal world (and it's feasible to test on a small scale like an organization election), I would advocate a certain kind of mass conditional democracy where everyone has the right to vote but must answer some very basic objective questions to verify they understand (e.g.) the candidate positions and election basics. The answers can all be found in an educational pamphlet published collectively with candidate approval prior to the election. The goal is to allow as many voters as possible, so long as they can demonstrate a basic awareness of the situation.

are actually very well defined

Eh, I can't quite agree with "very well defined". Even Nazism isn't really internally coherent, it's surprisingly nonsensical, let alone all the variants of fascism straying so far from classical fascism.

But that's me nitpicking academically. Fascist organizations are crystal clear about their association, beliefs and what they want. When they heil or wear neo-Nazi symbols in a political context, there's no longer any need to doubt.

It is a concerted effort to redefine or undefine them so there is no longer a word to describe them.

Absolutely. Nazis have been made very aware that most communities reject them on sight and so wolf-whistling and pathetic attempts of plausible deniability are used to pretend they're just 'regular' patriotic nationalists (see: Musk salute, and this related salute overseas a few weeks earlier). But even then, these are paper thin attempts. "You're the real nazis!" "Oh everyone's a nazi these days!" "Actually they were a specific party at a specific place at a specific time!", you just gotta laugh.

Well, in countries like mine there’s donation limits (with teeth).

Refreshing to hear!

That’s not really the issue so much as the majority of voters that barely know what they’re voting for

I haven't looked into this but I'm tempted to believe that immediately. Election awareness is amazingly low, even among people who do have strong political beliefs.

Sell it to who, Ben? Fucking Aquaman?

Good choice, no point throwing it away if it was too late for you to realize, but it's more powerful as a platform to disavow Musk and Tesla.

The US is collapsing and all I got was this lousy car

Protests are good to demonstrate a movement has real numbers, but don't just go to one to stand there. It's a great place to find political organizations which can work to create actual change.

For what it's worth. I suspect fed-run relays have sped up the Tor network substantially. I'm really mostly using it to avoid commercial tracking and passive dragnet so it doesn't really bother me...

but nobody can win without being slick and two-faced

And don't forget 'rich', or more importantly, supported by the rich. A national-scale campaign requires resources that a typical organization can't gather, and to win without such a campaign is miraculous in most systems.

So, you’re assuming we’re all American here.

Nah, like you said it applies to most democracies, even if America is an extreme example of these universal trends.

Nazism refers to a school of political beliefs. It's not some vague unknowable thing, a Nazi is perfectly capable of advocating for Nazism using speech and symbolism. So don't pretend they have no clue what a Nazi advocates.

No, killing a Nazi does not make someone "the Nazi". It would be nice if you didn't trivialize atrocities like the Holocaust.

People who self-identify as Nazis, as well as those knowingly in neo-Nazi organizations, are therefore perfectly valid targets of assassination. Historically, Nazi killers are seen as national heroes, so don't give me that 'winning people over to your side of history' junk.

When it is strategically effective to shoot a Nazi, and it often is, then I advocate you do so without hesitation. Where it is not strategically effective, I advocate the myriad of nonviolent techniques put in use by antifascists. These are preferred, not because of some silly claims that Nazis should not be harmed, but because they're safer and more sustainable than individual actions.

Listen closely to what a Nazi wants, yes even the 'cosplay Nazis', and think about whether their life is more important than stopping their goal of mass extermination.

I don't know what the culture is where you are, but I don't give people money for friendly gifts. If anything, that just implies our relationship is transactional and shallow, rather than a community who care about each other more than money.

What I do is return the favor by giving them free things later, just like they did. Like buying them a drink at a pub.

Yes. So what?

Law doesn't matter. Breaking the law is common. And if anything, Trump's first term is all the proof we didn't even need that laws won't stop this.