Democracy in Peril Gerry OShea
Athenian
democracy lasted about 250 years from the early seventh century B.C.E. It was a
magnificently successful experiment, involving military domination over the belligerent
Persians while Athens grew in stature and wealth. And, famously, their educated
class produced treasures of architecture, philosophy and art that continue on a
high admiration pedestal to this day.
The second
experiment in democracy arose 2000 years later with the American constitution,
guaranteeing representative local rule after George Washington and his
colleagues ended British political control over the continent. The United
States has dominated much of world history - economically, culturally and
militarily - since that revolution in 1775. Like Athens, it too can claim major
achievements as it approaches the 250-year marker.
Unfortunately,
the main message from the Greek experiment indicates that success does not
breed success. Democracy has to be nurtured and it must prove itself repeatedly
or it will disintegrate as happened in Athens. The current situation in America
suggests that the democratic system is on the ropes with limited scope for an
optimistic outcome.
According to
a troubling recent poll by Schoen Cooperman Research a majority of Americans
now believe that democracy in the United States is in danger of disappearing.
Just 26% feel that it is secure for future generations. A shocking 51% assent
to the statement: “American democracy is in danger of extinction.”
This fear of
the demise of our current system was shared equally (49%) by Republicans and
Democrats with 54% of Independents also agreeing. The most depressing result of
the survey indicated that among young people under age 29 only 21% feel that democracy
will last in the United States.
Abundant divisions
have always been evident in the American story, but the internal disagreements riveting
the system today tear at the very structure of democracy. About 70% of
Republicans believe that Joe Biden lost the last presidential election and that
he is just a pretender in the White House. There is not a scintilla of evidence
supporting this cynical view, but it has led to widespread disaffection among a
huge swathe of people.
Roughly 40% of
politically active citizens say the members of the other tribe are just plain
evil and 60% believe the “others” constitute an unspecified threat to the
country. Some scholars reacting to these and similar polling results warn that
another civil war has become a real possibility.
The threats
to the democratic system have solidified around the riot in the Capitol on
January 6th, 2021. Over 140 policemen were injured on that day as
the mob pointed to the hangman’s gibbet for Mike Pence for fulfilling his
formal vice-presidential duty of validating the election results.
Rudolph Giuliani and his team of lawyers had
pleaded their case for fraudulence before dozens of judges in various cities.
They attempted to show that the election was corrupt without any supporting
evidence for their vapid assertition. Every judge dismissed their claims as
lacking real substance and Mr. Giuliani was barred from practicing law in any
court in New York because of his unprofessional behavior.
The Thompson
/Cheney congressional committee has demonstrated that the coup on the 6th
was planned by then President Trump in order to prevent the certification of
the election by his vice-president. The rioters were clear that this was their
goal. The system just-about held and Joe Biden is serving as president,
although only 54% of the population consider him the legitimate leader.
Democrats
and Republicans need each other for a functioning democracy. However, rejection
of the official 2020 results has hardened with close to three out of four
Republican voters declaring that Donald Trump is still the legal president of
the country.
Republicans seem to be saying that they will
participate in the electoral contest as long as they are assured of success
through control of the polling rules and the vote-counting. That is their conditio
sine qua non for continuing to be part of the game. It is a clear recipe
for an autocratic America.
They are not
hiding their plans. Their leader, Donald Trump, proclaims every day that the
election that he lost was stolen – an assertion that has no grounding in facts.
In several key states the administration of voting has become partisan. In
Georgia, for instance, Republicans have weakened the office of secretary of
state after Brad Raffensperger, a leading member of their party, refused to
accede to Trumpian demands to change the results of the 2020 election.
In Michigan and Pennsylvania Republican
candidates who claim that Mr. Trump was cheated in 2020 are determined that
this won’t be repeated in 2024. Doug Mastriano is their candidate for governor
in Pennsylvania and he has gleefully assured his voters there that, provided he
is elected, he will appoint a secretary of state who will call the “right” result
in 2024.
The bottom
line is that if Democrats again win crucial races for control of both houses of
congress and the presidency in 2024, it is likely that Republicans will exploit
the infected election machinery in swing states to block them from taking
office.
Implementing
policy changes that win popular support in elections is central to a
functioning democracy. This does not apply in America where the filibuster
requiring sixty votes in the senate rules out almost any meaningful changes to
combat growing poverty and inequality or to institute a fairer tax system. The
fifty Republican senators, representing about 30 million fewer citizens than
the Democrats, have veto power over every piece of progressive legislation.
People
rightly see these factors as peculiar and bizarre features of a democracy where the political structures
should ensure that the majority rules. For instance, around 70% of Americans
support sensible gun control measures that ban ownership of weapons of war and
insist that anybody owning a gun should be licensed.
The National
Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful lobbying group that pours money into
elections, rejects legislation that would control gun ownership, making clearly
bogus claims that the constitution protects ownership of killer weapons like
the AR-15.
The legal
purchase of a deadly semi-automatic weapon by an 18-year old who slaughtered
nineteen fourth graders and two teachers was decried on all sides. The
political response after weeks of negotiations between Republican and
Democratic senators amounted to fig leaf legislation mainly providing funding
for better mental health care and moving the ownership age for deadly weapons
up a few years.
The House of
Representatives with a majority of Democrats passed a bill banning ownership of
assault weapons, but that wasn’t even discussed in the senate where the NRA
rules. The American people see this kind of democracy as a sham, and,
understandably their allegiance to it is flimsy.
In Athens,
democracy disintegrated when the rich grew super-rich and cared only about
displaying even greater grandeur and opulence. Is this the point that America
is at today?
Justice
Louis Brandeis is remembered as an outstanding Supreme Court Justice who served
in the early decades of the 20th century. In a prescient statement
about this topic he wrote: “We may have democracy or we may have wealth
concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
Gerry
OShea blogs at wemustbetalking.com
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