In a recent Missouri ballot initiative, its citizens voted to expand Medicare—which created a constitutional amendment mandating the change that elected officials had no power to overrule. The Republican led legislature overruled them anyway, thumbing their collective noses at their constitution in the process—the kind of behavior that's become emblematic of elected Republicans.1 The Kansas City Star noted the reason: “they hate the poor.” While no doubt true, what their reaction reveals with even greater clarity is their utter contempt for democracy.
In a thousand different ways they have done their best to dismantle our democracy, becoming more and more brazen until now they make little attempt to disguise their efforts. Utah Senator Mike Lee, for example, actually wrote that “rank” democracy isn't important, while all across America, Republican officials openly discuss plans to redraw congressional districts to disenfranchise minorities and progressives.
But their attacks on our republic go much further.
First, as the Missouri example demonstrates, its inarguably true that most Republicans2 no longer even care what voters want, thwarting the will of the people at most every turn. Huge majorities want commonsense gun regulations—they consistently side with the gun lobby. Huge majorities want a more equitable tax structure—they side with the billionaires. Huge majorities believe good health care should be available to all—they apparently believe that if you can't afford it, you don't deserve it. Huge majorities believe that global warming must be dealt with—they side with the short term interests of polluters. Huge majorities know racism is real and that it needs to be addressed, they deny that it even exists. Majorities believe in a Woman's right to chose, that the minimum wage should be increased and that the dark money billionaire's use to corrupt our political process should be disallowed—but the GOP stands in opposition to it all . . . and so much more.3
Even worse—all across America, Republicans are restricting people's access to the polls making it harder to cast a ballot—restrictions that disproportionately hurt the poor and minorities (yes, they really do hate the poor). This is all based on their carefully nurtured lie of “voting irregularities” and making elections “more secure.” Indeed . . . more secure against democracy. Some of their proposed laws would even give them the power to overturn results by fiat. It should be said that not all elected Republicans are onboard with these efforts, but the vast majority of them are.
Perhaps worse still is their successful efforts at Gerrymandering that have illicitly contributed to their disproportionate representation in Congress and elsewhere, essentially disenfranchising millions. In my state of Kansas, the GOP is plotting to redraw districts to ensure that our lone Democratic representative in Congress loses her bid for reelection. Why? Simply put, the needs, wishes and rights of those who voted for her are unimportant. Only the needs of the most extreme fringe of the Republican party have any validity—have any right to be represented in the Halls of Congress—have any right to the legacy of democracy that so many people have fought and died for.
In fairness, it must be mentioned that Democrats have successfully gerrymandered a single state, Maryland, and are considering doing the same in Virginia. I can understand the desire. In Virginia in particular, Democrats have endured decades of gerrymandering on the part of Republicans—watching helplessly as districts were drawn in such a way that Democrats had little chance to compete. And now, having finally overcome all the obstacles that were illicitly thrown in their way, after gaining control of both the legislature and governorship, the temptation to give the GOP a taste of their own medicine must be overwhelming. Giving in to that temptation, however, would be no less undemocratic than what was done to them for so many years. That said, Demos all over the country, in near unanimity, have been pushing for national voting reform to make gerrymandering in this country a thing of the past.
Naturally, also with near unanimity, the GOP has opposed such a change. Why? Because real democracy is anathema to modern Republicanism. They have tacitly admitted that nationally, they can no longer compete with Democrats on a fair and equitable playing field. They no longer have the leadership or, more importantly, the ideas needed to appeal to the increasingly diverse nature of American Society. And so they “cheat” to stay in the game.
There are so many other ways that the former “party of Lincoln” has schemed to destroy democracy in these United States on both the local and national level. It was no hyperbole to suggest these efforts number in the thousands. It's beyond the scope of this essay to even begin to document a significant sampling of the GOP's many offenses against the ideal of a democratic nation, but I can't resist mentioning a few of my “favorites.”
- In Texas, Republican officials there have tried time and time again to disenfranchise the student body of Prairie View A&M over the course of decades. And each time, the courts have eventually struck down those obstacles only to find officials trying another tack to stop them. Could it be because the student body is overwhelmingly black? Or maybe they just don't like prairies with a view?
- In South Dakota, after a Democrat unexpectedly won a seat in the US Senate, they changed the rules for registering to vote by making it a requirement to list a street address. It turns out that the only voters in SD without such an address (at least, in appreciable numbers) are Native Americans who live on the reservations there—who just happen to vote Democratic. Coincidence?
- For decades the GOP has increasingly cast the mainstream media as enemies of the truth—all the while trumpeting a conservative media that is dislodged from reality. Whereas the two major parties once disagreed about how to approach a shared reality, now, thanks to Fox, Breitbart, OAN, et al., we have two “realities”—actual reality and the “alternate” one the GOP has embraced. How can our democracy thrive when nearly half of its citizens are no longer able to discern fiction from truth?
- After the 2008 election, Senate Republicans vowed to do everything possible to ensure Obama was a one term president. Is that what the Constitution created the Senate for? Obviously, their efforts failed, but that focus resulted in complete gridlock where virtually nothing was done during the entire course of Obama's term—completely ignoring the will of the people along the way. And now they're similarly engaged in the same shenanigans with Biden, refusing to cooperate, refusing to vote for legislation that even most Republicans like, simply because it originated with Biden. Is this democracy in action or is it the subversion of same?
- And let's not forget the Merrick Garland debacle, in which Senate Republicans ignored the Constitution and flouted, once again, the will of the people while disingenuously claiming they were going to “let the people decide”—a massive “misreading” (to be kind) of the text of the Constitution.4
- This year, the majority of Republicans in the US Legislature voted to throw out some of the results of a free, fair and decisive election—even after the seditious riot of January 6 when it should have been clear to any intellectually challenged soul that giving such credence to the lies about “voting irregularities” is what directly led to that riot (and has the potential to lead to more). No matter, they stuck to their antidemocratic lies—their votes, in a very real sense, becoming an approbation of sedition.
And today, we have the ongoing clown show in Arizona. After two audits and a hand recount, Republicans there are still trying to uncover “the fraud”—no matter that nearly 90 court rulings unanimously concluded there was no evidence of significant problems (often these rulings were handed down by Republican judges—some appointed by Trump), and every election commission and Secretary of State in every state and county, Democrat and Republican, certified the results. Still they persist, and so they've given the actual ballots and voting machines to a team with zero expertise in auditing elections, consisting of Q-anon supporters and believers in the Trump fiction of a “rigged election”—hoping once and for all to find that elusive, non-existent fraud (which means the voting machines, having been handled by uncertified amateurs, must [by law] be destroyed and replaced to the tune of millions of dollars). And there is much talk of this circus coming to a swing state near you.
Our modern GOP at work.
Perhaps the single most damning thing about the GOP's efforts is that they've largely convinced a majority of Republicans that democracy is broken in this country and they are the ones to set it right—though in fact they are the cause of that brokenness. According to one poll, 75% (seventy-five percent!) of self-identified Republicans believe the elections of 2020 were fraudulent and that Trump is still the legitimate leader of the country. How can democracy succeed when voters have no confidence in certified election results—no confidence that their vote will matter—no ability to accept the truth?
Hopefully, all of this may result in some karmic retribution, and Republicans, having been convinced by their fellows of the “fraudulent” nature of elections, will stay home in sufficient numbers that it will result in big Democratic gains. Then all of the undemocratic restrictions on voting put in play by the GOP all over the country can be swept away and many of the other popular reforms that have been blocked by an intransigent GOP can be enacted. But it will take decades to undo all the harm caused by the bad faith of the Republican Party.
One could easily surmise from the text of this essay, that I am a dyed-in-the-wool, partisan Democrat, invested in painting Republicans in the worst light possible. Little could be further from the truth. I've been an Independent for most of my adult life and have had plenty of beefs with Democrats (and voted for quite a few Republicans back in the day). I've never understood the kind of partisan allegiance to party that becomes more important than ones allegiance to country or principle. It's just that more and more over the past two decades, the GOP has increasingly become like a virus—concerned only with its own propagation and power, never mind that in the process it's destroying its host. They have become the greatest threat to democracy in this country since the secession of the Confederacy in 1860-61.
Sadly, it's come to this: a vote for today's Republican Party is a vote to destroy democracy—and so ultimately, a vote to destroy this country. Those of us who are committed to the democratic process must not allow this to happen. Until such a time, if ever, that a Republican steps forth to condemn the party's present trajectory and attempts to reform it into an organization that actually respects the ideals given expression in our founding document—all of us who love democracy must unite to reject them. We must reject their party, their philosophy, and every Republican who runs for office, no matter whether an ardent extremist or a so called moderate who votes in lockstep with their agenda most of the time. Unfortunately, their party has become so problematic that we (those who who still and truly believe in democracy, whether Democrat, Independent or Republican) must always vote for the alternative, even if we must hold our nose to do so because the Democratic candidate sucks (felons and the like excepted of course).
And I can hardly believe I just advocated for that—I, an avowed non-partisan who, until recently, had never voted a straight ticket in his life.
I have no illusions that keeping Democrats in power is a panacea for all the ills we face. As an Independent, I support them because there is presently no sane alternative. But I am by no means certain they are up to the task. To date, Democrats seem to lack an essential quality sorely needed to confront the unfettered ruthlessness of Republicans: a spine. So, we (that same we as noted above) have two tasks before us, keeping the GOP out of power and holding Democrats' feet to the fire to help them grow that spine.
Ultimately, the present fragile state of our democracy can't entirely be blamed on Republicans. It's on all of us. Democracy really does demand eternal vigilance, and we haven't been nearly vigilant enough. We've been complacent and lazy even in the face of the abounding and obvious threats. If we want to keep our Republic we need to (non-violently) fight for it. We need to fight like most of us have never fought before. "Unfreedom"5 lies directly ahead on the detour Republicans have mapped out for us. Do we have the wherewithal, the determination to steer us back onto a course toward that elusive "more perfect union?" I don't know that we're up to it, but by golly, we'd better be, else we will soon become the “Undemocratic States of America.”
1 In many states across the nation, citizens have used the ballot initiative as a democratic tool, a means of getting around Republican legislatures which have routinely stymied the will of their constituents. This Missouri example is just one such attempt. In response, GOP controlled legislatures have started doing away with the citizen ballot initiative. Clearly democracy cannot be allowed to get in the way of Republican intransigence.
2 Throughout this essay, I sometimes refer to the “Republican Party” or “GOP” as if they always vote with absolute unanimity and always share the same destructive views—which isn't 100% accurate, so consider these terms to be shorthand for “a vast majority of the Republican Party/GOP.”
3 Also consider the major bills the Biden administration have put forth—a large majority supported the Covid relief measure and not a single Republican voted for it. Perhaps even more of the public supports the infrastructure bill, but it's doubtful it will receive a single GOP “aye.” The two voting rights bills face the same fate, even though a majority of rank and file Republicans support its provisions as a Koch Brothers funded study demonstrated.
4 For those not familiar with this incident, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died on 2/13/16, whereupon President Obama, acting according to the dictates of the Constitution, appointed a successor, Merrick Garland—a highly respected and moderate jurist. Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader, had already announced that body would not consider any nomination made by the president, hoping Trump would win and would then appoint a more—a much more—conservative jurist. He called the nomination so much political theater on Obama's part—this in spite of the fact the Constitution states the president “shall appoint . . . Judges of the supreme court . . . .” Note, “shall appoint,” not “can” appoint, not “if he's feeling up to it,” not “as long as it's okay with the Senate majority leader.” In the entirety of US history, refusing to even consider a Supreme Court nominee had never occurred. It would have been one thing if Justice Scalia had died, say, 15 days before the election, not 11 months and one week before Obama's term ended. After all, it takes time to properly vet such an important life-long appointment. And then, 15 days before the 2020 election, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, and suddenly, that was plenty of time to confirm a new justice, and Amy Coney Barrett was nominated and approved by the Senate in record time. McConnell made several attempts to justify his about face (even denying it WAS an about face), but they all amounted to a degree of hypocrisy never exceeded in the annuals of the Senate's history.
5 I use this somewhat unusual word, which I first came across in Timothy Snyder's The Road to Unfreedom, instead of "tyranny" as the latter term has become an overused go-to for the GOP in referring to any Democratic president who opposes their agenda.