New threats to democracy

We all saw their response. Then-president Trump called the Georgia secretary of state, demanded they invent enough votes to throw the state to Trump. The party named slates of fake electors in several states, hoping to get the election results invalidated. More than half the Republican members of Congress voted to reject election results that had been sworn, certified, and upheld by the state authorities – often Republicans – and the courts. From Trump down, hundreds of Republican candidates have put forth the claim that it is only an honest election if they win.

But from the perspective of 2023, those early efforts to subvert the election process seem almost quaint. The Republican assault on democracy has become far more systematic and widespread. No longer satisfied with a targeted assault on free elections, the Republican party is attacking our federal, state, and local law enforcement, our medical and educational systems, as well as our basic systems of governance.

The GOP drive against democracy starts with the party’s increasingly evident belief that members of their party – not just Trump – are not subject to the laws that govern less privileged human beings. FBI agents executing a duly authorized warrant are committing “Gestapo tactics.” The jury and grand jury systems are subject to obstruction and death threats if they seek to hold Trump or his allies accountable. Judges and prosecutors are threatened. Republican politicians threaten to defund the FBI, our primary defense against terrorism. January 6 insurrectionists, who tried to topple the government and decapitate the line of succession, are “heroes” who are being “treated horribly.” Pardons will come promptly, even for those convicted of seditious conspiracy, if Trump is re-elected.

The Republican party has also long claimed to believe state and local governments should exercise the most power. But GOP legislatures are stripping authority from local governments – and businesses. Some of these seem to be based on revenge. Florida’s legislature and governor openly and proudly took revenge on the largest employer – and taxpayer – in the state for

having the nerve to criticize a single decision of the governor. But the practice has spread. Nashville frustrated the state’s hopes to host the Republican National Convention? State lawmakers passed legislation to cut the Metro Nashville Council in half; take over seats on the city’s sports and airport authorities; eliminate Nashville’s police oversight board; and restrict tax revenue collected around the Music City Center.

But then, some is based on raw political power. Georgia’s governor is now allowed to fire local prosecutors, endangering the investigation of 2020 election law violations. Citizens of Wisconsin finally changed the balance of power on the Supreme Court? Impeachment immediately looms as a threat. Voters in states long dominated by Republicans, like Wisconsin and Kentucky, elected Democratic governors and the highly gerrymandered Republican majority in the legislature voted to strip power from the governor. Citizens might pass a pro-abortion proposition? Have the legislature raise the vote percentage for approving constitutional amendments.

Voting restrictions are also becoming more targeted as Republicans identify constituencies they will not appeal to and therefore will just make it more difficult for them to vote. After one operative bragged about suppressing the black vote in Milwaukee in 2022, another wrote a gameplan for targeting student ID guest cards. Laws enacted in Idaho this year, for instance, prohibit the use of student IDs to register to vote or cast ballots. A new law in Ohio, in effect for the first time in this year’s primary elections, requires voters to present government-authorized photo ID at the polls, but student IDs are not included. A proposal in Texas would eliminate all campus polling places in the state.

Finally, the party that as recently as two years ago spent a full year denouncing a vaccine and masks as gross infringements of individual liberty is now passing far more intrusive laws on women’s healthcare, books, and education: demanding documentation of doctor-patient decisions and medical issues protected by HIPAA, banning books, threatening to arrest teachers who do not conform to conservative orthodoxy in their teaching, and even prohibiting colleges from offering certain courses of study.

Ben Franklin famously said our form of government was “A Republic, if you can keep it.” Donald Trump and many other Republicans make no effort to hide their disdain for democracy. Some states have already lapsed into autocracy. 50:50 states like North Carolina and Wisconsin, with hyper-gerrymandered Republican legislative super-majorities, already are ruled by a tiny, self-perpetuating minority – the definition of an autocracy. Pennsylvania spent a decade under hyper-gerrymandered Republican rule and is one bad election away from returning. In fact, if one legislative special election goes the wrong way, we are back on track for constitutional amendment proposals to neuter the governor and ban abortion. We must remain alert in all elections – including this year’s all important judicial elections – and keep the heat on our elected representatives. Although our elected officials, Rep. John Joyce, State Sen. Doug Mastriano, and State Rep. Dan Moul, are dependable MAGA votes, it is important to remind them they are obliged to represent all their constituents.