Subversion by Leadership

At this point in How Democracies Die I am learning about various democracies which have been subverted by leaders who were legitimately elected.  Such a leader has been Orban.  Another is Erdogan.  A third could have been Trump had he not been stopped.

So we are in the unenviable situation in the U.S. of having not only a menace represented by a certain velocitous disdain for anyone different from oneself, from the far-right --  we also have an unrestrained and unrepentant former President who is being shown to be not only authoritarian but a subvert-er of democracy.  This is the grave danger we face.  Our current peril must not be ignored. 

The greatest danger we face other than an increasingly organized far-right movement, are certain members of the press who continue to treat the Republican Party as a legitimate political party.  This is no longer true of the Party, and is grossly unfair to the country.  .  Certainly there are still decent people attached to the Republican Party.  But the party itself is led by election-deniers and those who would weaken our democratic norms if necessary to gain or stay in power.  This is the looming tragedy of our time.  Some think the tragedy has already occurred, for many suffering people.

More Democracy?

 In some ways How Democracies Die is not the book I was expecting.  I thought it was probably a book about special interest politics, centered around issues such as the environment and civil rights --  worthy topics, to be sure.  

However, the book is much deeper than that in terms of American politics.  It is carefully researched, with ample explanations of past Presidential nomination processes  Still early in the book, I will have to read much more before getting to solutions for correctrive action.  But what the book is saying is that the Presidential nominating process -- especially in the Republican Party -- has weakened the influence of the gatekeepers -- those who in the past prevented unworthy (read: inexperienced, aged, or off-the-wall). candidates from even being nominated.  Right away, this helps explain the appearance of someone like Donald Trump, a person with no governmental experience, and who "'[had] little to lose by stirring up mass hatreds or making absurd promises.'"  (p. 51)  

America is in a crisis of democracy, partly because of "more democracy," or at least the wrong kind of democracy.  We must remember that the Founding Fathers feared the mob as much as they feared a monarch.  That is why the democracy was to be a representative democracy -- a government of the people, but run by the cream of the crop of its citizens.

How ,then, to meet the crisis?  Later I will have the input of the rest of the book.  For now, we must be willing to study on an expedited basis (!), then act to ensure the US. does not fall into the status of a Banana Republic with strongmen (rarely women) man-handling the populace essentially for the benefit of himself and the wealthy.  How democracies Die is a most useful, even essential, resource for the battle of now. 

Democracies Die When the Gatekeepers Fail: Book

 

From the Political Doctors' Hospital: Anatomy of Fascism

 Author Robert O. Paxton dissects the plague of our times in The Anatomy of Fascism.  I began reading this excellent book a number of years ago in my former city..  Now available in paperback, it is an affordable, readable, and valuable history of fascism with application to current events.  Highly recommended.

 

More about this book in coming posts

 

"The Court Is Not the Final Word," says Jamelle Bouie in The New York Times

 Amidst the understandable moaning and groaning over the very regrettable recent Supreme Court decisions comes a New York Times opinion piece offering very real hope.  The article gives no magic answer to the distress caused by these egregious opinions, defiant of the public will as they are.  It does,however, show that even in the Constitution itself, Congress was essentially given the power to regulate the Supreme Court even to the point of decideing which cases could and could not be heard.

For those upset over the damage this Court has done to the body politic these last two weeks, Jamelle Bouie offers surcease from sorrows and balm in Gilead.

 

This article appears to be hiding behind the Times' paywall, and sadly will not be available to all readers.  Look for the article in the Sunday Review section,  July 3, 2022, p. 11.