Wormwood

Reflections on an Endangered Nation

Will Any Anti-Trump Republicans Join Democrats to Save Democracy?

 

In his recent article for the “Washington Post,” Robert Kagan wrote, “The United States is heading into its greatest political and constitutional crisis since the Civil War, with a reasonable chance over the next three to four years of incidents of mass violence, a breakdown of federal authority, and the division of the country into warring red and blue enclaves.”

 Opinion | Our constitutional crisis is already here - The Washington Post

My articles over the past four years have charted this gathering storm:

Articles that assail the cowardice, mendacity, duplicity, corruption, incompetence, and destruction of norms demonstrated by local, state, and national Trump Republicans.

Articles that consider how “dark money” has corrupted our system and made politicians servants to their corporate owners.

Articles that look at systemic racism from the days of Reconstruction, the rise of the KKK and subsequent Jim Crow laws, through the simmering racism that has festered since the enactment of the Civil Rights laws of the 1960s.

Articles that discuss how racism has presented itself in the form of voter-suppression laws, racially motivated gerrymandering, persistent killing of unarmed black men and women by protected white males and rogue white police officers.

Articles that address the historically harsh way America has treated immigrants, from those reaching our shores in the 19th and early 20th centuries to the present cruel and bigoted rejection of Muslims, people from Africa, and people from Mexico and Central America.

Articles that denounce politicized religious organizations, like select groups of Evangelicals who have raised millions of tax-free dollars while shilling for, and embracing, a corrupt president; or articles that denounce Catholic priests who have preyed on innocent children for generations, often under the protection of bishops who covered their crimes.

Articles that cast a cold eye on the “paranoid style” of right-wing media figures like Tucker Carlson, as well as Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Maria Bartiromo, and other propagandists who peddle Trumpism and routinely pit Americans against each other in their trademark sneering and contemptuous manner.

Articles that encourage critical thinking and warn against anti-intellectualism and tribalism by analyzing current problems in the context of historical precedents, and by weighing causes as well as effects in our present crises.

My Trump-supporting readers, especially those of the “America Right or Wrong” contingent, have incorrectly referred to me as an America-hating, Marxist or Socialist. In the reductive bromides of the ‘60s they have invited me to “Love America or Leave It.” Somehow these folks believe that they have become the sole arbiters of who is, and what is, truly “American. “

Sadly, there is no arguing with people who embrace absolutist and uncompromising positions against those whose ideas offend them. They seem willfully blind, even hostile, to national crises that warrant immediate attention, like the catastrophic deterioration of the climate, the unceasing pandemic, the decay of the nation’s infrastructure, the widening wealth gap, a woman’s right make decisions about her own body.

America is not now and never has been perfect. Our foundational documents profess that all people are created equal and that we are government of the people, by the people, and for the people. These are admirable, but essentially aspirational, beliefs. We are still striving to actualize these ideals and, yes, have made significant progress.  Yet when Trump Republicans in many states and in Congress, after a failed insurrection, systematically and aggressively legislate to deny their political opposition the right to vote, or even have their votes counted, they are cutting at the very heart of American democracy.

It is essential to be open and honest about our current problems – so we can solve them. We do not drive our cars with flat tires. We do not let our burning homes be consumed by flames without calling the fire department. We do not let our loved ones die of disease without calling a doctor -- at least most people do not. Why would we let our nation in crisis implode?

We must be honest about this crisis to better achieve the mission stated in the Constitution, namely, to form a “more perfect union” – not a perfect union, but a more perfect union. We can do better, and if we are to survive and prosper as a democracy, anti-Trump Republicans must join with the Democrats to place country above Trumpism.

But as Kagan’s essay concluded, “One wonders whether modern American politicians, in either party… have the insight to see where events are going and the courage to do whatever is necessary to save the democratic system. If that means political suicide for [a] handful of [courageous] Republicans, wouldn’t it be better to go out fighting for democracy than to slink off quietly into the night?”