The last six months have produced all manner of reporting about what is problematic about the president. But beyond the White House, the Republican party and its adherents have displayed behaviors that are downright McCarthyite. I am distressed because I once thought American justice, American voting and American governmental norms were so resilient that nothing could completely destroy our norms. Even famously oppositional attorneys general concurred.
Looking back, I see my voting PSAs swing wildly between how to vote and gloomy reporting about Republican shenanigans. On Election Day morning, I offer you this particularly horrifying reporting.
Republican party departs from “norms of democracy”
“V-Dem’s ‘illiberalism index’ gauges the extent of commitment to democratic norms a party exhibits before an election.”
This quote comes from The Guardian’s reporting on an analysis conducted by the non-partisan V-Dem. The graphic below shows the movement of the Democratic and Republican parties compared to other governments.
Republicans have gone from being within the norms of other democracies in 2000 to being far closer to governments we regard as autocratic, even dictatorial, in composition. That would be Hungary, the BJP in India, even Erdogan’s AKP in Turkey.
Look at this graphic showing four key markers of democracy. These autocratic parties are against pluralism (the respecting of minority members of the society). These parties violate minority rights, particularly the right to vote. (And judges that partake of conservative ideology seem to be okay with curtailing voting rights. Exhibit A is the Supreme Court’s striking down of portions of the Voting Rights Act.) These parties disrespect their opponents — beyond traditional American mud-slinging, they call opposition candidates schoolyard names, like schoolyard bullies. And finally, these parties encourage violence on the part of their supporters.
Look at that bottom line in the graphic.
Then read the news reports about the attack on the Biden-Harris bus in Texas. And then read the response of a couple of Republicans to this behavior on the part of his supporters.
No one can be surprised that the outlandish Donald Trump said essentially, ‘meh, they did nothing wrong.’ But aren’t you horrified that a mainstream Republican party politician like Mario Rubio went along with it?
Can you not imagine the howling and rage if a gang of blue-flag-waving Democrats boxed in a Trump-Pence bus? I know, this is hard to imagine: Democrats do not, just do not, behave like raving lunatics.
There must be a light side, right?
Well, I did find this. John Lithgow assembled a whole series of little videos. He’s brought together luminaries from stage, screen and other arts, to tell us a series of stories…
About the banner
Our next battle may well be to help our counties and states hold the line that all votes count. And thus these auditors must count all valid ballots. Timothy’s Zazzle site has a new magnetic bumper sticker bearing this message. And there’s an informative website supporting the idea of Count Every Vote.