It’s been almost three years since my last blog post, entitled “One Big Lie.” If you look for it, you won’t find it, since I took it down some time ago, along with several others of a strong political bent. I didn’t set out to write a political blog, and, frankly, never developed a stomach for it or the adverse ways it impacted some of my friendships. But with nationalism, populism, and authoritarianism rising at the time, I felt a need to speak out. For 2.5+ years, I tried to, with marginal success.
Walking away from the blog felt like a mixture of failure and relief. But the concerns that fueled its political tenor never faded, and in fact have only grown stronger over time. Not long before I stopped, I wrote a blog entitled “Who Will Save America?”, and have asked myself that question nearly every day since, particularly as we’ve approached yet another presidential election. In many ways, this one looks eerily like the last, with unchecked foreign interference, wholesale demagoguery, and mountains upon mountains of lies, some highly treacherous. In other ways, it feels even more dire, with overt attempts to undermine confidence in our election, brazen voter suppression efforts, and a president who refuses to commit to a peaceful transition of power.
It doesn’t take an expert on democracies or authoritarianism to see the potential dangers of what lies ahead in the coming weeks and months (although many of those experts do). The questions are whether America’s democratic institutions can withstand these dangers, and, if not, whether constitutional democracy in America can survive another four years of the current presidential administration. I have grave concerns about whether they can.
These concerns go far beyond political differences, to the very core of our democracy. The president’s open disdain for Constitutional norms, checks and balances, and government oversight are eroding our system of government. His assaults on the independent judiciary and free press have weakened two of the four legs upon which our democracy stands. His politicization of nonpartisan agencies has undermined our government’s credibility and effectiveness. His blatant retaliation against whistleblowers and those who testified in congressional hearings has weakened government oversight. His calls for imprisonment of political enemies and opponents is dictatorial and chilling. His acts of obstruction of justice, conflicts of interest, nepotistic practices, divisive rhetoric, and seemingly endless fabrications are not befitting of a leader of a great democratic nation. Setting policy issues and differences aside — and there are many — the president has been a constitutional crisis-in-the-making since the earliest days of his presidency, and now appears ready to test the most fundamental and sacred of our democratic institutions — our election process. If he succeeds in breaking it, democracy in America as we have known it will be dealt a crushing blow.
These fears aren’t the product of reading dystopian fiction or living in a “fake media” bubble. The above examples have been well documented, widely reported, and/or done blatantly, openly, in broad daylight. They are the president’s own words and actions. To see these dangers requires only a rudimentary grasp of history and a pair of eyes willing to see. For a better summary of what’s at stake, read former GWB speech writer David Frum’s recent piece in the Atlantic, here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/last-exit-trump-autocracy/616466/
What’s happening to America under the current president is, sadly, what’s happening in many other countries, including many western democracies, which are under assault by similar nationalist, populist movements with authoritarian, autocratic, and fascist leanings. Most of these movements share similar traits: populist candidates who exploit nativism, nationalism, and majority-ethnic/religious identities; who fear monger and stoke racial and class divisions; who scapegoat minorities and refugees; who attack political enemies, lie and use propaganda, and attack journalists, scientists, academics, and others that contradict them. It has parallels with the rise of fascism in Europe in the years preceding WWII. History tells us that these types of movements do not end well for anyone, even the populist majorities who initially support them. In America’s case, succumbing to these pressures would be all the more tragic, marking the fall of what was once the world’s greatest democracy. And for what? Lies? False promises? A handful of culture war victories on issues largely contrived and exploited for the very purpose of dividing Americans and consolidating political power? A pocket full of magic beans and a sad, shriveled beanstalk to nowhere.
Why am I writing this now? Because I still believe in America and in Western democracy, despite their shortcomings. And I still believe in people, or at least I desperately want to. That includes people I disagree with politically; even most who, for reasons I don’t fully grasp, are attracted to certain populist/nationalist appeals. I frankly believe they’re better than this; that we, as Americans, are better than this.
And because I’m old enough to remember a better time in American politics. A time when our leaders respected our Constitution, norms, and system of government. When White House press conferences were serious affairs, not propagandized infomercials. When it was a big deal when presidents lied to the American people. When, despite often-stark political differences, our elected officials acted largely in good faith, with civility and decorum, reaching across aisles, hammering out compromises, and ultimately doing the people’s business. A time when all Americans would have rallied together against the slightest hint of foreign interference in our elections. When rabid ideologues had no place in national politics, let alone the national media, and ideological extremism existed only along the furthest edges of the extreme political fringe. When demagogues were seen by nearly all of us for precisely what they are.
While America has long fallen short of its promise in certain key respects, the promise of America has nonetheless endured due to our Constitution, which guarantees rights and freedoms to all, not merely some; our three-tiered system of government, which allows for representation, justice, and a balance of powers, and provides mechanisms (and thereby hope and means) for progress, and our free press, which educates our citizens and holds power accountable. It has also depended upon leaders, and a citizenry, who hold these things sacred.
If you’re among the latter, please go out and vote like your country depends on it, because it very well may. Who will save America, if not us?