The Life in My Years

“Save Democracy!!”

It’s the battle cry dujour. Google, “save democracy,” and you’ll get an almost endless list of articles about throwing America’s drowning democracy a lifeline. There’s even a 10 week course on how to reboot America’s democracy. As if 10 weeks would be enough.

The pundits and the hacks are all over “Saving the American Democracy.”

“Save the democracy,” says Jake Tapper on CNN. “Our democracy is at stake,” cries Alex Wagner on MSNBC. Jesse Watters over on Fox also wants to “Save America’s democracy.” As do Sean Hannity, Jen Psaki, Tim Miller, Jon Favreau, Mike Murphy and a legion of other opinionators.

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Saving democracy is, in some minds, issue numero uno in the upcoming election. Of course there are clashing views over just who will save the democracy and who will endanger the democracy. Trump or Biden?

There are some other potential democracy saviors in the game; Cornel West, RFK Jr, that perpetual gadfly Jill Stein who managed to fuck things up in 2016 (though not without the able assistance of Hilary Clinton’s hubris). None of those other players stands a mathematical chance of winning the election. It can’t be done. No matter how hard they and their supporters wish, that unicorn just won’t fly. Nothing like burnishing the ego at the expense of the nation.

The winner might be determined by people who are hell bent on voting for West, RFK, Stein, or even Bernie Sanders (because you just can’t dissuade a die hard Bernie bro), by snatching potential defeat from the jaws of a Biden victory.

And then there are the ones who are mad as hell and they’re not only not going to take it anymore, they’re not going to vote. “I hate them all,” he clucked as he sipped on his bottle of Blue Moon. “I’m going to show Biden – genocide Joe. I’ll stay home, damn it.”

Okay, go ahead – be that way. Just don’t let me hear you whining when an officious guy in an unmarked uniform knocks on your door and hauls you in for posting a “seditious” blog post or comment that ruffles the feathers of the orange Jesus. Hell, given the tone of my posts over the past nine years we might have adjoining cells. (I suggest that you read Franz Kafka’s The Trial, before you let your mad as hell impulse lead you into making a grave mistake).

There are also differing notions on what the American democracy should look like. Strong executive or weak executive? States rights or more federal control? I’m not going to go into the weeds here. By now anybody who hasn’t already bailed out on this piece because, “Politics? Again?,” is fully aware of the conflicting ideologies in America’s internecine war (and I don’t use that phrase lightly).

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But there’s a real problem with all of this saving the democracy talk.

Hmm, maybe you should get the kids out of the room. If the ladies are prone to fainting you might wanna make sure they’ve got a soft landing spot. Look, I don’t wanna say this too loudly. Lean in a little bit. Closer. Ehhh, a little closer.

Okay, the problem is, we don’t have a fucking democracy.

“What?”

I said, we don’t have a fucking democracy!!

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Okay, it’s a kinda, sorta democracy. Yeah, we go and vote in the presidential election and all that but in the end it all comes down to the Electoral College, 538 people who just about everyone in the country doesn’t know. None of those Electoral Collegians gave a policy speech. None of them told us what they would do to solve the homeless problem, the border crisis or healthcare. Not one of those 538 promised to cut taxes (or threatened to raise them).

And sometimes the Electoral College result doesn’t even reflect the national popular vote.
Out of all of the presidential elections, five candidates won the popular vote but didn’t get elected. That’s because of the Electoral College. Those candidates were; Andrew Jackson (1824), Samuel Tilden (1876), Grover Cleveland (1888), Al Gore (2000), and Hilary Clinton (2016). They all won the popular vote but didn’t ascend because of the Electoral College.

“What the hell? Only five? Out of 46? What’s the big deal?”

Well, I’m not going to go into Jackson, Tilden and Cleveland. They’re all, as my old friend Roger used to say, “Spilled milk under the bridge,” by now.

But the latter two?

Well, Dubya, who beat Gore in the Electoral College vote, got America into a 19 year war, part of it based on his WMD novel, and then he fucked up the response to Katrina (remember the, “You’re doin’ a hell of a job Brownie” thing?). So ask the families of people who perished unnecessarily in war or those STILL suffering from Katrina’s aftermath if it was a big deal. Since we’re on the subject; Dubya left 45 million people without healthcare, mismanaged the economy, was a little bit too comfortable with the use of torture and had that fiasco called “no child left behind.”

And Trump? He’s whining that his election was rigged in 2016 – the one that put him in the White House (and us in the shithouse). That he won in the EC doesn’t matter to him. He’s claiming the popular vote too. Go figure. What’s the big deal about Trump? He managed, with the help of Mitch McConnell, to pack the Supreme Court with ideological whack a doodles, and well, we all know where that’s been going. And then there’s the nine years of chaos and insanity that he’s wrought which includes taking a perfectly serviceable major political party and turning it into a nutty cult.

So, tell me in 500 words or less, why it’s not such a big deal. Trump dumped Roe. If your best friend is having complications from a miscarriage and can’t get a life saving abortion in a state that’s banned abortion (Idaho comes to mind), tell me that it’s not such a big deal.

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“Okay, so that’s the presidential elections. What about all of the others? Congress, state legislatures, governors, mayors and city councils. Everybody still gets to vote. Right? Everyone who is legally eligible has an equal opportunity to cast his/her ballot and let his/her voice be heard. That’s the essence of a democracy.”

Not so fast.

In 1965, the Federal Voting Rights Act was passed which allowed the federal government to review, and if necessary block, on a preemptive basis, voting laws in certain areas of the country that had a history of racial discrimination in voting (The former Confederate states for instance). For decades, the VRA was duly reauthorized by Congress.

And then, in 2013, the (not so) Supreme Court stepped in and gutted the VRA. This opened the floodgates that allowed states to pass laws that were clearly discriminatory. Voter rolls were purged, and polling places, mostly in Black neighborhoods, were shut down. Following the (not so) Supreme Court decision, twenty-six state legislatures passed restrictive voting laws that mostly affected people of color, people who usually vote Democrat. Coincidentally (and I use that word loosely) legislatures in those states were Republican.

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“Okay, then what about Congress? The American people are represented by our congressmen and Senators.”

Yes and no. Let’s take Congress (please, take it – and throw it out with the trash). Congress is supposed to be a direct link between Mr. and Ms American and the government. Except when gerrymandering severs the link.

Each state is carved up into legislative districts, with one representative per district. District maps are typically drawn up in the state legislature by the party in power. Instead of making district boundaries equal in shape or size, a state legislature can, and often does, draw districts that makes the state look like a slapdash, irregular quilt that dilutes the vote of the rival party.

“Example please?”

Ask me a hard question next time. In 2018, Democrats won 55 percent of the vote in Pennsylvania’s state legislative elections but the Republicans held onto a 110 – 93 seat majority. In 2018, Republicans won control of the state legislatures in Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Virginia, yet that party lost the popular vote in each of those states.

None of this was some coincidence or the work of the stars happening to align just right. It was all part of a 2010 nationwide strategy hatched by the national Republican Party known as the Redistricting Majority Project that was given the apt acronym, REDMAP. It mimicked a strategy used in Hungary by Viktor Orban who just happens to be one of Europe’s most authoritarian leaders.

“What happens when one party gains control of a state legislature even after it’s lost the popular vote?”

It counterintuitively passes laws that run counter to the wishes of the people.

“They wouldn’t do that would they?”

That question is proof positive that there are indeed, stupid questions.

Remember the Dobbs decision by the (not so) Supreme Court? It was the starting gun that initiated the race by states to pass laws (some draconian) outlawing abortion. These laws ran contrary to the will of the majorities in many, if not most, of those states.

“Where’s the proof?” you ask.

I’m glad you asked that question.

Look no further than the initiatives started by the people that got onto statewide ballots. Since Dobbs, six states have held votes on whether or not to enshrine abortion rights in their respective constitutions, and in each state the pro-abortion side has won, even in red states such as Ohio, Kansas and Kentucky. And the races weren’t even close.

Thirteen more states, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota, have abortion rights bills on their ballots in upcoming elections.

“See,” you say. “That’s democracy in action.”

Yeah, I call bullshit on that. When the state legislatures passed those laws, they knew full well that they were going against the will of the majority. So yes, democracy prevailed but it took months and in some cases years to right the wrong, and in that time, women, families, and medical providers suffered the consequences of those unpopular laws.

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And then there’s the filibuster in the U.S. Senate, which has its roots in the undemocratic racism of the Jim Crow era (if you want to know the racist history of the filibuster, click here). In the Senate, a bill can pass with a simple majority of 51 votes. And that’s as it should be. The problem is that the filibuster requires a supermajority in the Senate (60 out of 100 votes) for a bill to even be voted on. And so, it’s in the Senate where a sock is stuffed into the mouth of the people.

“Examples please?” you ask.

Take guns (and if it was up to me we would take the guns – and melt them all down). Gun legislation has consistently been introduced in the Senate only to die there because the Senate over represents gun owners.

“How so?”

Take the example of a bill that passed the House in the aftermath of Sandy Hook, that would’ve established universal background checks for gun purchases. It was an immensely popular bill. When the bill reached the Senate, it was supported by 55 senators, 5 short of the necessary 60. The 45 senators who voted against bringing the bill to a vote represented 38% of Americans.

The filibuster has been the graveyard of popular legislation in the areas of gun control, climate change, healthcare and consumer rights.

In 2019, the House passed the For the People Act, a bill that had democracy written all over it – in indelible bold ink. It would have allowed ease of registration to vote. It would have made election day a federal holiday. The bill included election security provisions. The bill contained provisions for campaign finance reform and transparency by candidates. The bill included the establishment of rules of ethics for the Supreme Court. It would have allowed Washington DC to become a state. The bill would have taken steps to undermine gerrymandering. The For the People Act died in the Senate, because too many senators, (and members of the House) are really not for the people.

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At inception, the founders established a nation that was, and remains today, an anti-democratic nation. The Electoral College is one example. The structure of the Senate is another. Each state regardless of size is allocated two senators. That means that Wyoming, with a population of 584,057, has the same representation as California with a population of 38,965,193.

“Well,” you might counter. “That was set up in order to prevent a tyranny of the majority.”

And you would be right. The founders allegedly acted on the premise that the leaders of future generations, whether in the majority or the minority, would act in good faith for the good of all. How has that worked out lately?

Now what we have is a tyranny of the minority. Democracies cannot, and this should be stressed cannot function without fair majority rule.

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The founders also realized that times change and the Constitution would require some overhauling to keep pace. That’s why it includes the provision for amendments. The last constitutional amendment to be ratified was the 27th in 1992.

The United States Constitution is a dowdy, old document that is in dire need of a face lift. That said, given the ideological canyon that divides the nation, any amending or rewriting of the Constitution would likely be more detrimental than helpful. And that’s assuming that anything would get done.

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The United States has existed in a system that is called counter-majoritarian, just like the word suggests. We’ve been lucky so far, but the system is threadbare and showing inherent weaknesses. Other countries that fell into counter-majoritarianism recognized their own anti-democratic problems and corrected them. The United States is behind the curve, has not recognized the counter-majoritarian flaw (or is ignoring it) and will continue to fall further and further behind. Part of this is due to our hidebound adherence to the notion of American exceptionalism, or to put it in the vernacular, the idea that “our shit don’t stink,” damn it.

Calls for an amendment scrapping the Electoral College have been and will continue to be shouts in the wilderness. The Wyomings and Montanas and Idahos will fight into perpetuity to keep the Electoral College –

Or until the union dissolves.

And that’s what I see as the future of the United States – dissolution. And maybe, if done correctly and amenably, that will be the best course of action.

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So, no, the United States is not a democracy. But don’t take my word for it. Two respected indices, The Economist Intelligence Unit and The Democracy Matrix have rated the United States as a “flawed democracy.”

The Economist has the United States at number 29 and The Democracy Matrix has the U.S. at 36.

We should consider ourselves lucky that we at least have a “flawed democracy.” That could change in November and Americans should be cognizant of the fact that we’re swirling the drain. Four years from now we could be classified as a police state (And those who are now running around with their hair on fire, arms flailing shouting “ the United States is a police state” need to seriously get a fucking grip. Maybe consider spending a month or so in a real police state. North Korea comes to mind).

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Above all a healthy democracy requires good people. Sure, a healthy constitution is required but even the best written rules have holes in them. And the United States Constitution has holes you could sail an aircraft carrier through. That’s when good people have to step in and do the work of the people for the good of the people.

The survival of a healthy democracy requires fair play, acceptance of election results, a recognition of the spirit of the Constitution, bipartisanship, the willingness to work with the other side when necessary for the good of the nation and the democracy. Throughout history, would-be tyrants have been thwarted when opposing sides came together to quell the threat.

There isn’t a whole lot of that going on right now. The system has been infected by a cancer of feckless assholes like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, J.D, Vance and, of course, Donald J. Trump.

There’s work to be done. Not to save our democracy, but to establish one.