democracy

This post is going to be extremely disjointed--consider it a collection of data points with one overarching theme. Today's Republican Party knows that its policies are unpopular and that the only way they can stay in power is to destroy our democracy. The LAST thing they want is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Instead, many of them want our country to become a White Christo-nationalist one-party state where the Republicans maintain a permanent lock on power. In other words, they want our country to become a tyranny of the minority. A common talking point among those who want to destroy our democracy is to say "We're a republic, not a democracy." If you hear someone say that, then shove this column down their throat.

And now, without further ado, ten signs that Republicans want to destroy our democracy.

Whenever I tweet that we are in danger of losing our democracy I almost INEVEITBALY get a response from some Trumpanzee or Putinista saying "America is a republic. It is not a democracy." This pablum is intended to be Novocain for the brain. It is designed to confuse the issue and cause us to lose sight that the Founders wanted a government that represented the will of the people, and not the will of an autocrat. True, the Founders defined who "the people" were far too narrowly. That is why we have had to work to form a "more perfect union." But we must not lose sight of the aspirational goal that President Lincoln set forth in his Gettysburg Address--that we should have a "government of the people, by the people, for the people." 

I wrote a column two weeks before the 2016 electon entitled "Donald Trump Is An Existential Threat To American Democracy."  I not only stand by that claim; I will double down on it. We are well on our way towards autocracy. Donald Trump has launched an unrelenting assault on the institutions that support our democracy, and his fellow Republicans are either looking the other way or they are rooting for democracy's demise. Mike Lee, a Republican Senator from Utah, let the cat out of the bag. He, at least, would not mind seeing our democracy die.

Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prospefity are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.

— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) October 8, 2020

Donald Trump has launched an assault on our democracy on multiple fronts.

1. He has politicized the Justice Department to help his friends and attack his enemies.
2. He has attacked our courts and judicial system.
3. He has attacked the free press and made it more dangerous for reporters to cover him.
4. He is a stochiastic terrorist who has endangered the life of Michigan's Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and others
5. He has refused to commit himself to the peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election

Dear Congressman Reed:

I call on you to ask Donald Trump to resign from the Presidency in order to save our democracy. Please let me explain.

Your Pre-2016 Election Support For Donald Trump: Get Tough On Russia!

Donald Trump was riling up the crowd at a rally in August 2016 over the possibility that Hillary Clinton would appoint Supreme Court Justices who would take away their Second Amendment rights. He stepped over the line when he made a statement that some may interpret as a call for assassinating Clinton or the Supreme Court Justices. "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people — maybe there is, I don’t know." Even if you argue that no sane person would interpret this as a call for assassination, not all of Trump's many millions of followers are sane.

During the second Presidential debate on October 9, 2016, Trump told Hillary Clinton that he was going to have his attorney general appoint a special prosecutor to look into Clinton’s emails and throw her in jail. For a President to announce he was going to have his political opponent investigated and thrown in jail is unprecedented. It is the stuff of banana republics.

These statements prompted me to write a column for my blog about two weeks before the 2016 election entitled "Donald Trump Is An Existential Threat To American Democracy." None of Trump’s pre-election statements seemed to alarm you too much, Congressman Reed. You just smiled to yourself and said, “Donald Trump—he’s my kind of guy.” You had endorsed Donald Trump well before he made these statements, but even after he made them you worked so hard to get him elected that he appointed you to be a vice-chair of his transition team. 

Dear Congressman Reed:

I call on you to ask Donald Trump to resign from the Presidency in order to save our democracy. Please let me explain.

Donald Trump was riling up the crowd at a rally in August 2016 over the possibility that Hillary Clinton would appoint Supreme Court Justices who would take away their Second Amendment rights. He stepped over the line when he made a statement that some may interpret as a call for assassinating Clinton or the Supreme Court Justices. "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people — maybe there is, I don’t know." Even if you argue that no sane person would interpret this as a call for assassination, not all of Trump's many millions of followers are sane.

During the second Presidential debate on October 9, 2016, Trump told Hillary Clinton that he was going to have his attorney general appoint a special prosecutor to look into Clinton’s emails and throw her in jail. For a President to announce he was going to have his political opponent investigated and thrown in jail is unprecedented. It is the stuff of banana republics.

These statements prompted me to write a column for my blog about two weeks before the 2016 election entitled "Donald Trump Is An Existential Threat To American Democracy." None of Trump’s pre-election statements seemed to alarm you too much, Congressman Reed. You just smiled to yourself and said, “Donald Trump—he’s my kind of guy.” You had endorsed Donald Trump well before he made these statements, but even after he made them you worked so hard to get him elected that he appointed you to be a vice-chair of his transition team.