IF a critical mass of Americans decide that democracy is not what they want anymore, the democratic system will break. It's that simple. And it appears very possible that this is what we are witnessing.
The Bush era GOP was heading toward a “big tent” party, inclusive of hispanic, black and LGBTQ conservatives. But because W.’s presidency was such an unmitigated catastrophe, launching two prolonged and insanely wasteful and expensive wars, and ultimately steering the economy into a meltdown from which we have still not really recovered, the GOP fractured, and it’s most angry, frightened, forgotten, militant members took over and brought Trump to the white house.
In a democracy, evidence and reason matters. Argument works. Shame works. The loyal opposition accepts the outcomes of lost elections because they respect that the process is what matters, that rule of law means accepting decisions that the process delivers. After a certain number of appeals, that’s the end of it.
But there is a large minority of Americans who don’t accept the process anymore.
We can all argue about how we got here, and who’s to blame for creating that reality, but that’s the reality. The idea that “everything is corrupt” has become a way of excusing your own corruption, your own lies, your own criminal power grab.
Ever since Jan. 6 Congress has tried to create accountability for what happened. They have made a devastating case, based on facts and sworn testimony. They presented it very effectively to all who would watch on TV. And it's made barely any difference. Election deniers are very likely to win offices nationwide in a few weeks.
The ugly truth is that we may already have enough of a critical mass of Americans believing that “democrats aren’t just wrong, they’re evil” and “Biden stole the Presidency” that they’ll also accept the overthrow of the constitutional order.
They won’t call it that. Fascism will arrive carrying the cross and wrapped in the flag. But it will be fascism nevertheless. It will be about keeping power at all costs, and changing the system to make it easier to get their friends in and destroy their enemies.
And it won’t take long for the majority of Americans who DON’T VOTE and aren't paying attention to realize they lost something truly meaningful to their lives.
And that’s when the fight for democracy will be winnable again.
Democracy is hard. Especially in a diverse nation with no clear ethnic majority. Democrats ignored their white working class roots for so long, and allowed so much pain to build up in that demo, while focusing on the other ethnicities and groups in their fractious coalition, that white fear and anger is very easy to exploit. And Trump/Bannon/Stone have showed everyone how it can be weaponized.
For now, “the best lack all conviction, the worst are full of passionate intensity.” This won't change until it has to, and it doesn't have to yet. I have friends on the GOP side who still make "what about" excuses and false equivalencies. And unless they take a principled stand against what's happening, the good guys lose.
The civil rights act and voting rights act both happened in my lifetime. True democracy in America is younger than I am. But the idea behind both of those revolutionary changes is in our founding creed. The American creed, as expressed in the Declaration and Constitution, is a sacred thing, but an unfulfilled promise. Every generation has had to fight to move us closer to living up to it.
Maybe democracy is something that ultimately and always must be fought for anew. We are facing the loss of it, at least for a while. And maybe losing it, and being forced to fight to regain it, is the only way to truly make it more real.