Democracy is the child of reason- to save it we need to be more thoughtful than angry
Please avoid doing things that will cost us everything!
Today’s Republican party, if given the chance, will take down the democracy. Lacking the votes to win and faith in legitimacy of the majority to govern, they are willing to countenance election nullification, voter suppression, and the most radical gerrymandering. Doubling down on the big lie, many have promised not to certify Democratic victories in future elections. In Pennsylvania they have gone further by nominating a candidate for governor who took part in the January 6th insurrection and who, if elected will have the power to appoint the Secretary of State to manage elections and to, himself, certify the results. He has made it clear that he would not have certified Joe Biden’s victory. He has indicated that he would not certify a similar win next time.
This is crazy new legal territory, but it is not new politics. Power as the justification for rule has a longer history than does democratic decision making. And it is cruel. I have previously written about the ways the dominant faction on the Supreme Court confuses the power to decide with the justice of its decisions. Tearing children from their parents on the border, throwing paper towels to hurricane victims in Puerto Rico, sweeping away peaceful demonstrators at the White House for a photo op, the casual cruelties in the Trump Administration were meant to reinforce the idea of power for its own sake. Gone is the ancient ideal, praesis ut prosis ne ut imperes, lead in order to serve rather than to rule. In its place the GOP has embraced a vision from Milton’s Paradise Lost, where Satan says better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.
None of this means Democratic hands are clean. And both parties are made up of people, who on the whole, find it much easier to judge than to think.
If you care about the democracy, if you care about our society, if you look at people who disagree with you and still think of them as your fellow Americans, then walk away from your rage. Rage and harsh judgement will not save us.
Democracy is a child of reason. That’s why it appeared in ancient Athens, and again during the Enlightenment. If it is to survive this challenging moment, then we need to walk away from our blinding passions before they overwhelm us all.
On MSNBC, for example, I saw a host blame Democrats for the Supreme Court’s draft opinion on Roe. The pain and the cruelty of Justice Alito’s text is real. But if we are to do anything about it, we must keep our heads. Democrats are not to blame. The Senate is divided 50 seats to 50 seats. The house Majority is the smallest one the Democrats have ever had. The President is not a king. The Republicans have packed the judiciary and the Federalist Society has selected the majority on the Supreme Court.
Complaining about Democrats by people on the left is naïve and it feels like entitlement. Whatever mistakes Democrats are making- and I acknowledge there are many of them- this is no time to give anyone permission to stay at home. Could President Biden be a stronger voice right now? You bet. Does blaming him help the cause? Not one bit. Could Senator Schumer do more than force losing votes onto the floor? Of course. Does focusing on this get us any more voters? It does not.
And here’s the thing… the fate of our democracy does not rest with the President or the leadership of any political party. It never has. It sits squarely on your shoulders. Yours. Think about that.
The atrocities against freedom and the rule of law that loom from the ascendancy of autocratic politics are real enough. Let us not, in fright, make stupid decisions. Ask yourself how we can turn out the most voters without further radicalizing our fellow Americans with whom we disagree.
This is not appeasement, it is strategy.
It is time to close ranks. The Democratic party is a big tent party, with both progressives and centrists. But is the distinction between progressive and centrist the thing that matters most right now? Are you really willing to go down feeling good about yourself because you engaged in virtue signaling to the end? I hope not.
And our country is not just center and left. There are good Americans, people who do not share the current GOP’s fascination with autocracy, who none the less, are very wary of progressive policies. If there is a time that begs for unity among all who love democracy, we are in it.
Again, let us be thoughtful rather than angry. And, if we can have a moment of calm, try to understand one another. Ours is the most dynamic and rapidly changing society the world has ever known. In the name of justice, we are impatient for change. But if we fail to understand how terrifying and disruptive change can be, we create implacable opposition.
I firmly believe that a great victory is within our grasp. That we are on the cusp of creating humanity’s first truly multi-racial democracy, where political power and economic opportunity are widely shared. That democracy will be strong enough to tackle the challenges we face- from climate change to growing inequality. Let us not, in our rage, do things to put that victory in jeopardy.