Democracy under attack
Our democracy is not some God-given right endowed to us as Americans.. It is a system of governing that requires all of us to constantly nurture and protect it. In fact, the concept of representative government is unique. Historically, the process of governing had been largely given to kings, princes, pharaohs, and emperors. Our democracy has been a grand experiment to ascertain if we, not despots, can govern ourselves and prosper in a free and open society. Right now that concept is under attack. What we are watching is a slow motion coup by extremist individuals that threatens to destroy the very fabric of our democratic system.
Many Constitutional scholars and political analysts believe that the country is heading to a constitutional crisis that will threaten our democratic system in ways not seen since the civil war. Under Trump’s leadership, the Republican party is increasingly made up of extremists who consider their opponents illegitimate, and maintain they alone understand the Constitution. They need to win at any cost even if it means destroying our electoral system. We are watching this group launch systematic efforts to rig future elections in order to gain and retain power.
This breakdown began with former President Trump declaring, falsely and without proof, that the 2020 election was stolen. Despite numerous recounting of votes and certifications of the election results by both Democratic and Republican officials, the former President continues to push this big lie. The result is the undermining of faith in our election system. Max Boot writes in the Washington Post, “It is mind-boggling that a defeated president won’t accept the election outcome…. What is even more alarming is that more than 60 percent of Republicans agree with his preposterous assertion that the election was stolen and want him to remain as the party’s leader.”
Believing that Democrats want to use the government to level the playing field and destroy the country, these Trump loyalists have come to believe that the Democratic party cannot legitimately govern. And so, they have not backed away when Trump refused to accept the election of a Democratic president in 2020. These same loyalists have used the big lie to justify new election laws that suppress Democratic votes. The Brennan Center for Justice states that, between January 1 and September 27, 2021, at least 19 states have enacted 33 laws that make it harder for citizens to vote. This level of voter suppression has not been seen since the Jim Crow era.
More frightening, many of these laws transfer the counting and certification of votes from non-partisan election officials to partisan legislatures and Secretaries of State. This is a blatant attempt to undo election results and certify Republican candidates as winners even if they lose elections. Paralleling this is an ongoing effort to purge any Republican election official who has dared to certify the 2020 election results. The new litmus test for Republicans running for office is this: Trump won the 2020 election, and the election should never have been certified. Think about it. These candidates are willing to run on a platform to overturn a free and fair election. This does not bode well for elections in 2022 or 2024.
If these laws are allowed to stand, we will be a democracy in name only. We will likely still have elections, but the mechanics of the system will mean that only one party can win. What is even more frightening is that there seems to be little if anything that can be done to counter these initiatives. On October 20th, 2021, Democrats in the Senate called for a vote on the Freedom to Vote legislation. The Republicans filibustered to prevent even a discussion of the Bill. Democrats could not muster the 60 votes needed to override that filibuster; so the Bill died.
On January 6th, hundreds of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol because they thought that the 2020 election was stolen. On that day we came perilously close to a constitutional crisis. Only the actions of a few public officials like then Vice President Mike Pence averted a crisis. This same scenario could be repeated in 2022 or 2024 — only next time it could be worse. The question needs to be asked of those who continue to support the big lie and the efforts to undermine and rig our elections: Is this what you really want? Because once you destroy a democratic system, it is almost impossible to put it back together.
Tom DeLoe is a retired public health officer in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Tom lives in Gettysburg.