I recently drove past a home where I noticed a hand drawn lawn sign. The background was black with white lettering; obviously not one produced by a corporation or any formal organization. On the sign were the words “DEMOCRACY IS A VERB” that were somewhat roughly drawn. My first thought, trying to avoid being too pedantic, were “No. Democracy is a noun.” And then thought ensued which was obviously the intent of the sign creators.
Yes. “Democracy” as that concept was originally conceived, is indeed and in fact a verb which, if not actively and deliberately practiced by those who live in it, is meaningless whether one wants to be pedantic and call it a noun or be a participant and call it a verb. It must be practiced in order to remain viable for it is a living thing that must be nurtured and cared for. Without that nurture and care it will surely, and inevitably, die.
What some of us are being kept awake at night worrying about didn't happen overnight. The erosion of the foundational institutions of our Democratic Constitutional Republic has been a long-term process. The problem is that too many American citizens haven't been kept awake at night. Just the opposite in fact; they've been asleep, comfortable in the delusion that "things will be alright" regardless of whether they actively participate in the maintenance of those institutions or not. Blame for what the Trump/GOP axis is doing to undermine the institutions of our democracy is, in large part, rightly to be laid at the feet of those who gave up a long time ago.
I heard far too many people - all good and well-meaning people I’m sure - say that they were "sitting out" the 2016 elections because "they were tired of the politics" and saw no point in participating. Forget about the Mueller investigation that focused on "collusion" and "election hacking" and all that sort of stuff. What produced the electoral victory of Donald Trump was apathy, indifference, and discouragement and those elements have been a slow poison that go back long before Trump appeared on the scene. He simply took advantage of it while manipulators like Putin capitalized on it.
"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment." - Robert M. Hutchins
"The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy." – Montesquieu
Many pundits have noted that the recent Democratic Party debates seemed more like they had been conducted as Reality TV entertainment than as meaningful political debates over serious policy issues, both foreign and domestic. One pundit I heard compared them to a food fight in a school cafeteria. I tend to agree and lay any blame for those spectacles on both the moderators and the candidates. But I also took away from them another perspective: The apparent disorder and disagreements were evidence that, unlike the Republicans, the Democrats in the debate lineups represented the diversity not only of their Party but also the diversity of the American people. Both Donald Trump and his Congressional enablers – most notably Mitch McConnell but not him only – have become the Party of One and within that Party any meaningful dissent and disagreements have been, and are being, suppressed in the name of “Party Unity”. The few GOP leaders who have spoken out in disagreement with Trump have for the most part retired from politics and no longer have anything to lose. The even smaller number, such as we saw when Rep. Justin Amash spoke out, have been excoriated and sanctioned for daring to question and challenge The Leader. I prefer to side with Will Rogers who once said that “I am not a Member of any organized political Party. I am a Democrat.”
When I have seen and heard clips from any of Donald Trump’s MAGA Rallies I cannot help but be reminded of other rallies in the past. Like those past rallies, all present look to their Leader only, mindlessly chant approved slogans, and with very few exceptions look like cookie cutter props. There is no evident diversity either in appearance or in thought; there is only obedience and conformity. Those old rallies of the past? They were held at a place called Nuremberg.
“Hold on now!” I hear some saying. “Comparing Trump with Hitler is a worn-out trope that goes too far! Don’t be such an alarmist by overstating your critique that way.” Well, I understand and perhaps we are fortunate that Donald Trump has neither the talents, the intelligence, nor the competence of a Hitler. Point made. But one thing he most certainly does have is the same instinct for Party and crowd control and, worse, for autocratic rule. And if he is successful in 2020 and remains in office for another term he will prepare the way for others to follow who may, indeed, have even more in common with a Hitler, a Mussolini, and/or a Stalin because if that happens we will have fallen asleep and it may be too late to take back our democracy.
I am reminded of the words of Dietrich Boenhoffer, a German pastor who was executed by the Nazis for speaking out and resisting Hitler’s grab for total power: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”
I have no idea which candidate will emerge from the messy Democratic Party process to become the candidate who will challenge Donald Trump in the 2020 elections. I have no idea to what extent other actors, as Robert Mueller warned during his testimony before Congress, will seek to disrupt and discourage American voters and our electoral system. I have no idea how far and to what lengths some will go to suppress voting rights in critical Districts. But this I know: I will not be discouraged. I will not give up on our Constitutional Republic. I will not sit this election out and tell myself that I cannot make a difference. And I will not, regardless of which candidate wins the DNC Primary Election, throw my vote to the wind and vote for any Third-Party Candidate as a protest vote.
Are you looking for the “perfect candidate” who will challenge Donald Trump? Are you looking for the candidate who will perfectly represent every policy you yourself support? Are you looking for the flawless candidate who has no fault or failings? Well, s/he does not exist and, unless you become as politically and morally blind as the most ardent Trump supporters, that candidate will not be on the 2020 ballot.
Don’t give up. Don’t allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. Don’t sleepwalk into Autocracy.