Heads up, Democrats. Your case for democracy needs some help. Donald Trump is now positioning himself to try for a second term in 2024. Democrats are asleep at the wheel if they assume naturally they will win because they support our traditional democracy and Trump is a wannabe autocrat. Recent polls should be a wake-up alarm. Republicans are far more passionate about believing democracy is under attack than Democrats. . The question that should be put to voters in 2022 and 2024 is "in what kind of a country do we want to live in the future? Is it the democracy as we have known it or an autocracy?" If Democrats make a strong case for democracy that contrasts the damage autocracies do to the freedom of voters to get their voices heard, the response should be clearly "democracy we have known". The follow-up response then would be " to vote the Trumpists out". However, making a strong case for Democrats' kind of democracy is still a work in progress and is not a done deal. The two political parties do not live on the same planet because democracy means different things to different partisans. Simply calling Trumpists fascists or autocrat lovers meant as slurs is not enough. Simply shouting we are the ones for true democracy by and for the people and the other side is not is also not enough. The astute Trump opponents fear Trump wants to turn US democracy into an autocracy, a fascist. who wants to keep opponents from voting by any means. Trump's supporters see Trump as a defender of democracy protecting us from voter fraud with "voter integrity laws". What we will be facing in 2022 and 2024 is which ones of these views of democracy wins out. Even more dire a question is" do we want to give forces of autocracy more time and ability to consolidate their power ?"
Truimpsters respond that liberals are trying to turn the US into a socialist state with the Biden agenda and socialism means the end of democracy.
I was asked on another site via a meme by a Trumpster, if socialism is so great, why did not the central American migrants go to Venezuela? Here is my answer: Because dictatorships come in all ideologies,, fascism to communism, and stops in between. They are by their nature corrupt, favoring cronies or demographics who put them in office and will keep them there. If you are not one of "them", you have no rights or ability to keep them in check, or peacefully overturn them. They are not a government based on ability but based on the whims of one ruler. That is why you hear liberals calling Trump a wannabe dictator and an autocrat. Some call him a fascist because dictatorships in cahoots with big capitalism is the definition of fascism. So far as Venezuela is concerned, and to a lesser extent, Russia, both countries used oil revenue money to buy the favor of the group that would support them. ..When the price of oil crashed, so did their ability to bring the same continued prosperity to the groups that supported them. In Russia's case, Putin is not threatened by the middle class he favored, but because absolute power corrupts absolutely his villas and self-financial dealing and the oligarchs who enable him have created an opposition using whatever few democratic tools they had left...It sometimes takes years for demagogues to become dictators, but suppression of opposition via abusing democratic institutions is more likely in current history than the old way of military coups and revolution. The problem is dictators can come to power and slowly suppress opponents so that when they realize what has happened, it is too late for the people to act. Even those wannabe dictators who truly think they are the best thing that happened to their country begin to enjoy the power, privilege, and monetary rewards, and then they do even more to suppress any opposition. That includes total control of media so that opposition messages cannot get exposure, throwing opposition leaders into jail on some pretext, controlling the mechanisms of voting, using threats of force and using the military to crack down on domestic opponents, stacking the judiciary with cronies, and turning the legislature into a bunch of yes nodding heads, using those tactics.
A mid-September poll should be a warning to Democrats .. .CNN Poll: Most Americans feel democracy is under attack in the US - CNNPolitics 75 % of Republicans say democracy is under attack, compared with 46% of Democrats.... . Among Republicans, 78% say that Biden did not win and 54% believe there is solid evidence of that, despite the fact that no such evidence exists.".Even the recent fiasco in the "Arizona forensic audit" conducted by their own GOP contracted Cyber Ninjas concluded that Biden won. That has not changed Trump's rhetoric to his devoted rally attendees immediately after the story was reported pointing to" what about" and " what ifs" while, counting on the ignorance of their supporters of the election systems and safeguards already in force.to believe him. Republicans still claim they are the ones who protect traditional democracy from cheaters now and in the future and the Democrats are the ones stealing it. Even if the elections system "ain't broke", they still want to fix it to their advantage. The good news in that CNN poll is that when Americans as a whole are polled, only " 36% of Americans say that President Joe Biden did not legitimately get enough votes to win the presidency. That 36% includes 23% who falsely say there is solid evidence that Biden did not win and 13% who say that is their suspicion only.".36% is a minority view, but it is a large minority and the battle is not over. The minority of the popular vote still can win control over the majority voters depending on which state the vote is close. Current forecasts are that Republicans will win back their majorities in Congress in 2022 and that Trump will still be the leading GOP candidate in 2024. Democrats need to do more than just win; they need to win big. It still takes more than simple majority wins of popular votes by Democrats in close elections to offset the success GOP-dominated state legislatures have had in gerrymandering House districts to their advantage and discouraging the other side from voting. The Senate is already 50-50, and one race could tilt the balance one way or the other.
When Democrats hail democracy and Republicans fear for democracy's vote integrity, they are not even talking about the same reality. Reality is shaped by demagogues, lies, media, and individual experiences. . The problem is explaining this difference in the practice of democracy in terms of life experiences instead of abstract concepts. Autocracy and fascism are political science kinds of words, easier to pronounce than concepts to grasp or explain in a battle of persuasion of independents, who can swing elections. Fascism is used more of an insult, but it is a dictatorship with capitalists as their partners and supporters, instead of communists. Its history with Hitler evokes emotions,, but being called a Nazi is still unnecessarily inflammatory, even if the shoe fits.
The challenge to Democrats then is to put their views of democracy in the context of something meaningful to those who are not hardcore Trumpists Perhaps one approach is " Your vote may not even count because the GOP is now in the hands of Trumpists who are making it hard for you to vote and be counted, especially if you are an assumed vote for the other candidate. " For example, the laws being passed by legislatures in red states are permitting legislatures to overturn the popular voter election results. Also officials determining which votes are counted are being put in partisans' hands instead of separately elected election administrators.
The beauty of democracy as we have known it for 250 years is that the will of the majority of people determines the direction of the country while protecting the rights of the minority views to be able to make their case to the public and win a future election. This is thanks to the observed First Amendment freedoms of peaceful assembly and media independence and derivative civil rights laws and amendments. Putting this in more understandable popular terms, defenders could say "Continued existence of our kind of democracy is threatened if allegiance is pledged to a ruler who is a person because they are given the power in terms in office to twist it to maintain and increase their personal power and control.". For example, those treasured protections can be circumvented by biased interpretation, appointments of loyalists, and selective enforcement of laws .. That would be the case up and down federal, state, and local governments in legislative, executive, and judicial power centers. It is very possible to happen within the next few years unless voters stop it when they still have a chance. As Ben Franklin has been quoted often. When exiting the Constitutional Convention, he said" We have a republic if we can keep it". We. the people, that's us, still have an opportunity to keep it by electing those who are pledged to keeping it.
Just promoting the value of the rule of law and an independent judiciary instead of a rule of a person needs to be put into terms of how this impacts people. For example Transitions of power to new winners had been peaceful until January 6, 2021, when even then the Constitution held in the end as the electoral count was certified. "Do you want a violent coup attempt after every election? Is that the kind of America you want? January 6 was a close call. Do you want more of this in the future? There is no guarantee that peaceful transitions will be the situation forever. It depends who you elect to power"..
The key to rule of the Consitution's longevity has been mutual respect by all parties to the rule of law until now. It has never been pledging loyalty to the rule of a person who determines how laws are interpreted and who enforces the law for the benefit of the ruler's loyalists. Those are the evil practices our founders had revolted against, the rule by such a tyrant. While the GOP tried to appoint enough judges they wanted to federal courts and the supreme court, even their appointees swore loyalty to the law while leaning to a more conservative ideology. They ruled in every instance that there was no evidence of the election being stolen. That independence of the judiciary is not a guarantee if both the legislative and executive branches are in the hands of a wannabe autocrat/dictator who can manipulate the provisions of existing laws and rules to replace vacancies with his loyalists he can depend on ruling as he wants.. One term in power is not enough to complete the takeover. Two terms could get an autocrat closer to there. Is this the country we want in the future?
The current attacks on Trump's anti-democratic tendencies have been limited to calling him an "autocrat" .. That is far too gentle an approach, yet calling him a fascist creates its own hysteria, no matter how true it is. Perhaps one way without getting in the weeds is to tag Trump as fear and hate rouser who wants to be a one-man ruler who tried to use the active military and judges appointments and federal prosecutors and inspiring violent actions to get his way. That sounds more like a wannabe dictator who wants another term in power to complete his agenda. That is never what this country was about. " Our political future will not be a corrupt one favoring his cronies if he wins. Is this the country you want?"
Biden's approach has been to make a case for democracy because it can get things done. He is demonstrating it by getting legislation passed that helps the middle class and lays the groundwork for a more prosperous future. That is well and good since it demonstrates "he cares about me" and deflects the old "what have you done for me lately" cynical view of voters, But it is also backhandedly admitting that "autocracies" can also get it done, if not for everyone, but at least for their loyal supporters. That is not enough of a plea to support the kind of democracy we have had for the past 250 years. Trump has always believed that the greater motivation in politics is "fear". Democrats need to throw that back at him ...that "more of him will lead to chaos and conflict, and the loss of popular will expressed in a ballot box with his big lies and restrictive rights for those who oppose him. Is this the kind of America we want for our future?" There will always be those who are radical and fanatical enough to answer "yes, bring it on". The task for those who want to keep the form of democracy we have had for 250 years is to keep them an even smaller minority of the electorate.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/gop-grave-threat-american-democracy/618693/
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