The Reconstruction period was a notable exception to this norm. Making sense of the present political conflict requires a more precise understanding of the past and present of US democracy beyond simplistic ideas of “democracy v authoritarianism.” We should start by acknowledging what “democracy” meant in America before the civil rights legislation of the 1960s: a system that was, at least by contemporaneous comparison, fairly democratic if you happened to be a white Christian man – and something else entirely if you were not. In general, the few Republican lawmakers in Washington who are opposing the worst excesses of Trumpian authoritarianism have been strikingly unwilling to oppose the ongoing Republican attempts to subvert democracy on the state level. Similarly, Mitt Romney warned his audience at a private fundraiser in mid-March that “preserving liberal democracy is an extraordinary challenge” – yet he helped block legislation in the Senate that would have introduced much-needed national standards for voting rights. Is it really plausible to assume that the people who remain united behind Donald Trump and are now openly embracing authoritarianism were fully on board with liberal democracy until recently, before they were driven rightward by the presidency of a moderately liberal politician whose sole “radicalism” consisted of being Black? That the election of a religious elderly white man who has always been a proud centrist pushed them to finally abandon their supposedly “consolidated” democratic convictions?Īnd how can we explain that even those Republican officials who openly stand against Trump seem unwilling to support the necessary steps to strengthen democracy? Earlier this month, Liz Cheney described Russia’s attack on Ukraine as a “reminder that democracy is fragile” and talked about her obligation “to defend our democracy” – yet she doesn’t seem overly concerned with her party’s escalating voter suppression or gerrymandering efforts. If we start from the assumption that America has been a stable, consolidated democracy for two and a half centuries, the current political conflict seems utterly baffling: where is the anti-democratic radicalization of the Republican party – and so many million Americans – coming from all of a sudden? While that is not necessarily incorrect, depending on the definition of “democracy,” it tends to obscure more than it illuminates about the reality of American life. I t is often said that the US is the world’s oldest democracy.
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