(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Why today is crucial for American democracy [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-05-27 That's Flawed democracy for the US, in case the shades aren't distinguishable. Why? Read and watch how Republicans flout fair voting and representative legislation by abusing Constitutional compromises for minority rule Here is a worthwhile viewing for fans of history, political science and democracy. Tyranny of the Minority: How American Democracy Came to the Breaking Point Presented by Steven Levitsky of Harvard University at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. Levitsky’s well organized presentation provides historical context while conveying the urgency of this moment in American politics. Here is a summary. The good news is that we are headed towards a multiracial democracy. The bad news is that this has yet to be achieved anywhere on Earth and American whites set on maintaining dominance are going authoritarian through manipulation of anti-majoritarian elements of our constitutional republic. American backsliding in majoritarian democracy is spelled out for a few minutes. Please view the talk for specific global and American electoral stats. It happened after the Civil War in the United States when Democrats grabbed excessive power for whites that lasted a century. We have started to build a multiracial democracy since the 1960’s, but Republicans have since taken up the mantle of preserving white power. Latin American scholar Levitsky is likely familiar with anti-democratic power grabs, and indeed mentions El Salvador and Venezuela, along with Hungary as modern parallels for political events in the United States. No other democracy near us in age or wealth has regressed to minority rule like we have. Doesn’t mean it can’t happen. We’re living proof. Political scientists, such as Levitsky, tell us why and how. It’s pretty clear to many, Republicans are taking advantage of anti-majoritarian structures in the Senate, with widely disparate populations among states, and Supreme Court, where justices are appointed for as long as they want to serve, no questions asked, without ethics or oversight, by a Senate that has rigged the political make up of the court to be distinctly anti-majoritarian. This is a good place to plug Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s series on how Republicans have intentionally packed the Supreme through a decades long scheme. It’s all in The Scheme playlist in his youtube channel. Here is the first Levitsky only has time to briefly mention court packing in his presentation, and I an not sure that anybody realizes the extent to which Republican meddling in courts will upset confidence in legal consistency and precedent. Levitsky does show how anti-majoritarian elements reinforce each other, for example, through Supreme Court decisions that make it easier for a very few to influence the composition of the Senate, and thereby control legislation. The reason that authoritarian maneuvers are possible now, and why this is a unique time in US history, argues Levitsky, is that we now have a rural urban divide between parties. In the past, Democrats and Republicans were competitive in both rural and urban districts. Now, Republicans largely control rural areas, while Democrats win many cities. This is significant due to the leg up rural states have in both the Senate and Electoral College. Levitsky lays out a number of facts regarding how this has impacted elections and opened avenues for minority control by Republicans. Here is just one. In 2016 the Democratic party won more votes than Republicans in elections for the Senate and White House, yet Republicans won control of both. Watch the presentation to learn more about how extensive the skew towards Republicans is. Drawing from trends towards more majoritarian control in other democracies, Levitsky notes that other countries can more readily amend their constitutions to remove anti-majoritarian parts, and they have done so. He further explains that anti-majoritarian elements of the United States Constitution are there as compromises to rural states. They were not included as protections for democracy, with Hamilton and Madison noted for their opposition to anti-majoritarian compromises. Notably, democracies rely on specific anti-majoritarian measures for fairness and stability. Levitsky notes how civil rights and reliable elections for all, not just the majority are necessary for functioning democracy. So too, do all parties need to agree to live by the results of elections. Republicans have stopped doing that, some through outright sedition, others simply through semi-loyalty to the Constitution. Once more, watch the presentation for details. Overall, this is an informative presentation. A number of topics were covered in the allotted time. I can argue that Levitsky misses how much propaganda and information warfare has impacted Republicans, but that doesn’t make the American slide towards authoritarianism less evident. Finally, the question and answer period is fun to watch for the Republican reactionary defenses. They stepped up to blame Democratic policies for their anti-voter power grabs, and conveniently forget all pre-Trump discussions to express shock at this reaction to one man, while also ignoring the failed coup that could maybe make this one man a catalyst for more discussions on saving and growing a majoritarian, multi-racial constitutional democracy. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/27/2171245/-Why-today-is-crucial-for-American-democracy Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/