On the End of Democracy in America

Canadian cartoonist Dave Whamond can incorporate many ideas into a single drawing. It’s an art. In one cartoon, a mother and daughter are walking outdoors. They are both dressed in attire made popular in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the film and television series born from the biting imagination of Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood. In her world, a segment of America is governed by misogynistic, fundamentalist Christians.

“But why didn’t you vote against them, mom?” the young girl asks. “Why didn’t you try to stop them from taking it all away?” The mother replies, “Well, back then, gas prices were quite high, honey …” Back then is Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Unfortunately, there is but a thin line between the cartoon and reality. According to a NYTimes/Sienna poll, 71% of Americans believe “American democracy is under threat.” They are fully aware of the situation, however, this threat will guide the vote of only 7% among them. The rest will be motivated by issues they deem more pressing.

The impact of inflation and the rise in urban crime will determine the electorate’s willingness to sanction the Democratic Party in power. If the trend holds, a narrow majority of Americans will give the now radicalized Republican Party control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

It is likely, then, that in the coming year, these Republican majorities will:

• Render impossible a federal law establishing the right to abortion recently abolished by the Supreme Court and, conversely, make possible a vote outlawing abortion everywhere in the United States, at least after 15 weeks of pregnancy;

• Abolish the plan to reduce greenhouse gases that passed earlier this year, and that, for the first time, places the U.S. in line with global objectives. This reversal of the leading per capita polluter in the world will contribute to the planet shifting from an already inevitable global warming to a catastrophic one;

• Question America’s financing of the war in Ukraine, to the great pleasure of Vladimir Putin’s great pleasure; and

• Rule out any possibility of a limit on gun sales, or guns in circulation, including assault-style weapons. (Mass shootings have increased from five per week in 2014 to 13 per week this year).

All of this while inflation will persist, high or low, exactly as it would if the Democrats had won.

Urban crime will also persist as it is rising as much in Republican-run cities as it is in those run by Democrats.

Appalled? This is nothing compared to the true meaning of the impending Republican victory. Simply put: After Nov. 8, democracy will be in palliative care.

Over the past two years, Donald Trump and his followers have thoroughly cleansed Republican political leadership, expelling nearly everywhere those who fail to display their allegiance to the “big lie,” by which Trump was elected president in 2020 was Trump, not Joe Biden. The fact that some 40 judges, including those nominated by Trump and the Republican majority on the Supreme Court, rejected appeals claiming to show that the election was fraudulent, has had no effect on the fury of Trumpists.

A study by the Brookings Institution counts 345 candidates subscribing to the lie up and down the ballot and sees a “high” or “medium” probability of a win for 270 of them. These candidates are seeking key posts in the certification of election results where they would be in a position to impose their views. As evidence, consider this promise from Jim Marchant, Republican candidate for secretary of state in Nevada: “[W]hen my coalition of secretary of state candidates around the country get elected, we’re gonna fix the whole country, and President Trump is gonna be president again in 2024.” That’s convenient. He is already certain about the results of a future election.

In fact, the chaos may not wait for 2024, it may arrive as early as Nov. 8. Partisans of the big lie have been elected in large numbers among poll workers, and local election officials are looking to register multiple objections and gather evidence of fraud, which could obstruct the voting, counting and certification processes. For an idea of the scope of the disaster to come, The New York Times produced a video on Sept. 21, that offers an illustration.*

One can now say that polarization in America has reached a point of no return, and that conditions are primed for political violence. As evidence, consider the striking result of a recent NBC poll in which 80% of Democrats “believe the political opposition poses a threat that, if not stopped, will destroy America as we know it.” Conversely, 80% of Republican voters say the exact same thing about the Democratic Party.

In short for those who haven’t been following: The prevailing position of the Republicans is that the Democratic Party, with its ties to tech companies, the media, Hollywood and Wall Street, stole the last election and hope to steal the next one, and they are looking to impose a “woke” platform everywhere, and, most of all, want to deliberately open the southern border to Latino immigrants in order to accelerate the shifting of white people into the demographically unavoidable minority.

It is not about political differences, then, but an existential danger for a significant number of Americans. According to as many as 1 in 3, it warrants taking up arms, as the insurrectionists did on Jan. 6, 2021.

For two years, it has become commonplace to evoke the risk of a civil war in political debate, as well as the secession of Republican or Democratic states. American democracy is in real danger. And this is true whatever the outcome is on Nov. 8.

*Editor’s note: To view the video, please see the link in the original article.