Why I Fear for American Democracy

"As a nation of free people we shall live forever or die by suicide." - A. Lincoln

The American political system is breaking down. The Constitution of 1789 is showing its age, and the duct tape that kept the system from flying apart is being gleefully ripped up by a Republican party in the teeth of a trilemma; that is, they can choose any 2 of:

1) Hold onto political power

2) Moderate or compromise on policy

3) Compete in free, fair, and democratic elections - i.e. maintain the norms and spirit of democracy.

To abandon 1) is to be the California GOP - electorally irrelevant, but large enough to crowd out any new 2nd party, leaving power in the hands of Democrats. To abandon 2) is, well, the normal thing that a party would do if it believed in winning free and fair elections.

But their deeds show their hearts;  it is point 3) that they have abandoned.

In their efforts to restrict the franchise, to obstruct access to the polls,  to control the courts, to gerrymander legislatures, to rely on the Electoral College to win the Presidency and on an absurdly over-represented collection of states to control the Senate, they have leaned into every single un- and anti-democratic part of the American political system to worm their way into power despite their extremism and unpopularity. They would not do these things if they aimed to win fairly.

I do not know how long our political system can survive if one party gives up on it. The last time that happened in America, we had the Civil War and only after horrific bloodshed democracy was triumphant, for a time. After the war, there were free and fair elections in the South for the time. But the Southern Democrats were ever hostile to democracy, and after the end of Reconstruction they established authoritarian one-party states throughout the South.

So my fears are not unfounded - it can happen here because it did happen here. But just as the Democrats of yesteryear never truly accepted Reconstruction, the Republicans of today do not accept that anyone other than their coalition of would-be theocrats, white supremacists, and plutocrats can legitimately hold political power. While democracy (only resurrected in the South after the Civil Rights movement) allowed them to hold power they participated in it and defended it - but now that they are loosing popularity they seek to rig the game rather than appeal to voters.

Perhaps we will survive all of this, and democracy will prevail, hopefully without bloodshed.

Or maybe the forces of reaction will win, and we'll see America turn into Hungary or a Jim Crow  regime everywhere. I think it will seem very normal, especially to the winners; the God-botherers will get to stick their noses in everyone's business, the racists will be free at last to throw slurs, punches, and bullets with total impunity, and the plutocrats will be able to hoard a thousand lifetimes worth of wealth without anyone asking them to contribute a dime to the general welfare or the common defense.