'Our Democracy' Is Not in DangerOur democracy is doing just fine. Someone should tell progressives.
Peter Van Buren
Jul 18, 2022
The intersection of the January 6 committee hearings and the July 4 holiday inspired renewed claims that our democracy is in danger, failing, or in some cases, has already failed.
The articles followed a familiar path. Each started with some event—January 6 was the most popular choice—and then explained how it was the start of fascism, comparing it to one of the few historical examples cited by progressives, usually something to do with the Reichstag fire, and finishing with an image of, say, Trump standing over Lady Liberty.
Actually, our democracy is doing just fine. Things are working more or less how they are supposed to.
The runner up to January 6 for “the last gasp of democracy” in the progressive mind is the recent set of Supreme Court decisions. Central to this version is the overturning of Roe v. Wade, purportedly stripping women of their rights and showing the Court has no respect of precedent and could overturn anything. The potential repeal of same-sex marriage is used as another Democratic emote-o-point, and in some screeds the author goes as far as to suggest the Court will permit states to ban interracial marriages and contraception.
Slow down, kids. If you go too fast, you’ll miss the scenery. Perhaps it is necessary to remind you that our “democracy” is sort of like sharing crayons in kindergarten: sometimes, you have to let the other kids use the red one.
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January 6 should be a holiday every year as an example of democracy working exactly as intended. Let’s look for the undemocratic element: 1) America holds an election and not everyone agrees on the winner—nothing new; where do you think all those complex presidential election rules came from? 2) Lawful protests take place at the Capitol. 3) When a minority of protestors start trespassing, law enforcement steps in and, after one terrible fatality, the crowd disassembles. 4) The vice president ignores any background noise and simply carries out his constitutional duty in the ceremonial certification of electors selected earlier.
With the arguable exception of a cop gunning down the unarmed Ashley Babbitt, everyone did their duty, and another peaceful transfer of power took place. There were no tanks on the White House lawn.
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The solution is simple: vote for Democratic candidates only, even if you don’t agree with them, because what could be more democratic than being told who to vote for and asked to not think about your choice? “Panic,” Max writes, “…is sometimes warranted.”
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There is a reason that progressives are trying to keep people in a state of fear. Fearful people are easy to manipulate. You need only scare them to the point where they demand relief, and then provide them your political program as a way out. It’s a standard trick of the demagogue. “Democrats need to lean into the politics of fear,” says the NYT.
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Source:
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/more-progressive-panic/
