WHITHER DEMOCRACY?

On January 6, 2021, at 1:24 PM, the assault on American democracy continued, this time in the Congress of the United States of America.  In a joint session of Congress, more than 100 members of Congress, all Republicans, gave a rare standing ovation to the objection by a representative of the State of Arizona to the counting of Arizona electoral votes for Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris. 

Scholars, lawyers and pundits on both political sides agreed that this grand side show had no chance of changing the results of the 2020 presidential election; it was pure political theater designed to appeal to the Trump/Republican base and burnish the Trumpian credentials of aspirants to the presidency in 2024. This cynical move, however, was more dangerous than not, as it continued the constant drumbeat of lies and conspiracy theories spewing from the mouth of the U.S. President and his co-conspirators. The fabricated lie of a stolen election had convinced a huge number of Americans that Joe Biden and the evil Democrats had cheated Donald Trump out of a second term to make America great again, again. 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R Texas) spoke first in the Senate after they reconvened to debate the challenge to Arizona votes. He said "...almost half of Americans (Republicans, 39%, Democrats 17%) think the election was "rigged." He called for "appointment of an Electoral Commission to conduct a 10-day emergency audit, to examine the evidence...." The problem with Cruz's argument was that there is no evidence of election fraud - zero - as determined by every state and every court. Cruz used circular logic; "we kept telling the people the same lie, and look, a lot of them believe it!"

As Congressional Republicans attacked democracy in the House and Senate chambers, Donald Trump was inciting a huge crowd of his supporters to attack the Capitol Building. He instructed them to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, repeatedly saying that he would march with them (he didn't; he went back to the White House and watched on T.V.). And so thousands of screaming and yelling Americans stormed the Capitol of the United States, overwhelmed ill-prepared Capitol Police, broke in, vandalized the hallowed halls of government, threatened members of Congress, who fled to secure locations, and tore a gaping hole in the American facade of "united." Five people died, including one policeman; many more were injured. All of the facts of this incident have yet to be uncovered, and we can assume that it was much worse than we think now. 

Time will tell the extent of coordination and possible collusion around this mob invasion of the Capitol. Many questions remain unanswered. One thing, however, is crystal clear: authoritarianism has taken root in America.

In November, 2020, 74,224,501 Americans voted for Donald J. Trump; this was  46.82% of the votes cast in the election (about 6 million more voted for Joe Biden). 

On the morning of January 6, 2021, 15 Senators and 141 Representatives were on record as intending to challenge state-certified electoral college votes for Joe Biden (7 Senators and 2 Representatives changed their minds after the Trump mob attack on the Capitol). Assuming the original number of Senators and Representatives would have voted their opposition had the mob riot not occurred, 28.3% of Republicans in the Senate, and 71.6% of Republicans in the House of Representatives would have voted against the democratic election process and in favor of giving the election to Trump. Combining the Senate and House numbers, 62.4% of Congressional Republicans intended to vote against the democratic process. 

Let's be very, very clear here about this critically important take-away from the 2020 presidential election process: almost half of American voters (47%) and almost two-thirds of Republicans in Congress (62%) chose authoritarianism (Donald Trump) over democracy!  (see update at end)

This fact has to be foremost in our minds moving forward. Many of us assume that every American believes in and supports democracy, as opposed to fascism or authoritarianism. The facts show otherwise. The far-right in America, led for the past four years by Donald Trump, has convinced a significant number of Americans that only they can save America, make it great again, and keep the socialists and "others" (re: people of color, immigrants) from taking over their country. Using lies and fear-mongering, the right has somehow convinced these Americans that a man like Donald Trump is actually their champion and has their best interests in mind, even though any intelligent person can see clearly that Trump and his minions only have the interests of themselves and the very wealthiest people in mind. This is a truly dangerous time for America. 

Soon-to-be President Joe Biden ran on a platform of unification, of working across the aisle, of being the president of every American, not just those who voted for him. This is a great ideal; however, in practice, Mr. Biden will need to charge ahead with the critically needed new programs and reforms that will, in fact, benefit the vast majority of Americans, including those who chose authoritarianism. He must find ways to open people's eyes to the realities of Trumpism by showing them the tangible benefits of improved wages and meaningful jobs, health care, education, building a carbon-free energy system, improvements in air and water quality, and many other aspects of life. This will be a tough job, and the Biden team, including all of us who want him to succeed, have the next two years, until the mid-term election of 2022, to show fickle American voters what major progress looks like. 

Make America Great Again - MAGA - is a dog whistle for Keep America White. This fact is much more evident today than it was a week ago or four years ago. The contrast between the law enforcement response displayed at the nation's Capitol Building compared to that at every Black Lives Matter demonstration in D.C. and across America is shockingly stark. Although there are numerous videos of Capitol Police seeming to accommodate the white rioters, even befriend or assist them in some cases, overall the officers appeared to try to keep the crowd back and protect the building and the people inside until realizing their lives and safety were at risk against impossible odds of success, and they pulled back. One officer was killed, and many others injured. The failure of law enforcement at the Capitol was a failure of leadership; it remains to be seen if this was intentional. It appears that a "demonstration" of white people did not present the threat that demonstrations by Black Americans is assumed to present. We can only imagine the extent of injury and death of rioters had they been persons of color. However, an alternative explanation could be that this was an intentional plan to set up a situation that would allow "demonstrators" to overwhelm law enforcement in order to stop the Congress from approving the electoral college certification of the election of Trump's opponent. This is a conspiracy theory alternative explanation, but in the Trump-era, it has to be considered. Hopefully, time and investigations will determine the truth. 

I believe that the American democratic republic is strong and will endure; however, I also believe that the many flaws in our system must be corrected, and the tide of authoritarianism must be defeated. America was founded in white supremacy, and its history has followed that shameful track to this day. Advances and improvements have been made along the way, but the framework of systemic bias remains. To move forward, we must change the framework.

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UPDATE (January 27, 2021): Yesterday, I finished reading the book "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents" by Isabel Wilkerson. She recounted a question by Taylor Branch during their discussion: "...if people were given the choice between democracy and whiteness, how many would choose whiteness?" This is an important word substitution I accept instead of "authoritarianism," above.