Republicans are an ongoing, EXTREME DANGER to the Constitution and honest democracy!

Here are some ideas from mid-November 2022 and some articles, etc., from July to early November 2022.  This is only a small part of the massive information that exists about this crisis for American democracy.

 

#1. In many parts of the U.S., voters in the November 2022 election were smart enough to rebuff some of the worst Republican candidates and defeat some of the worst ballot issues — and to actually elect a number of progressive Democrats and to pass a number of progressive ballot issues.  BUT REPUBLICANS REMAIN AN EXTREME DANGER to our nation.

 

#2. For a number of decades, conservative senators have used the filibuster to PREVENT MAJORITY RULE by requiring 60 votes (not 51) to pass legislation.  The filibuster is NOT in the Constitution!  It is simply a rule that the Senate created decades ago.  It has been used since the 1960s (or longer?) to prevent Civil Rights legislation and other good legislation from passing.  The Senate pretends (wrongly) that it is the world’s greatest deliberative body, so their rules have allowed UNLIMITED “debate.”  The filibuster traditionally has allowed one or a few senators to talk on the floor for hours and hours in order to prevent a piece of legislation from coming up to a vote.  Nowadays, however, they do NOT adhere to the traditional practice.  A senator can merely SAY he wants to filibuster something, and the Senate caves in to the bully.  A huge majority and various rules can stop a filibuster.  REPUBLICANS HAVE BEEN AGGRESSIVELY PREVENTING THE SENATE FROM SOLVING OUR NATION’S PROBLEMS!  A great many good bills that the House has passed die in the Senate — especially because Republicans use the filibuster to kill them.

 

#3. Trump’s coup is VERY MUCH CONTINUING in a great many ways.  Many of the extreme Republicans who ran for office in November 2022 are TOTALLY SUBSERVIENT to Trump.  Some of them were elected Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, etc., so they will be able to RIG THE  ELECTIONS and PERVERT THE VOTE COUNTING and OVERRIDE what their states’ voters want.

 

#4. The U.S. Supreme Court has become THE ENFORCEMENT ARM of the Republican Party.  They have been throwing out “settled law” in many cases (not just the half century of Roe v. Wade).  Now they are hearing a TRULY EXTREME right-wing case about the so-called “Independent State Legislature” theory, which NOBODY gave any credibility to because it was so EXTREMELY FAR OUT IN WACKO-LAND.  This would allow Republican-dominated state legislatures to DISREGARD federal laws and court decisions about federal elections.  You remember that Trump broke many federal laws in his attempt to bully state governments into overturning their states’ 2020 presidential election voting.  The U.S. Supreme Court is very likely to DECIDE THAT THIS WILL BE O.K., so – even if a state’s voters elect the Democratic presidential candidate, the state legislature can DISREGARD that and send Republican “electors” to the Electoral College, just like Trump was fraudulently trying to do.

 

#5. See what I recently posted to my blog about this item #4 and closely related matters:

https://parallaxperspectives.org/supreme-court-is-considering-an-extremely-dangerous-right-wing-threat-to-honest-elections

https://parallaxperspectives.org/why-the-supreme-courts-decision-against-the-epa-and-the-climate-is-so-recklessly-dangerous

https://parallaxperspectives.org/republicans-are-hell-bent-to-destroy-our-constitutional-system-and-grab-power

https://parallaxperspectives.org/the-republican-dominated-u-s-supreme-court-is-hurting-our-nation-in-many-ways

 

#6. Here are two more articles about the extreme right-wing danger to the Constitution that I had not yet posted to my blog:

“Closer than most people realize”: Alarm over GOP plot to “drastically change the Constitution” (msn.com)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/closer-than-most-people-realize-alarm-over-gop-plot-to-drastically-change-the-constitution/ar-AA123ZIR?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=efee620ac9864408e4e5c60f91f472ca

 

#7. Republicans are hell-bent to destroy our Constitutional system and grab power.  See this article from the summer of 2022:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-issue-that-trumps-them-all/ar-AAZ4tHW?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=45693dcd81d545e9936230b67097c18b

 

#8. In many ways, Republicans really are trying hard – and making progress – toward replacing honest democracy with blatant fascism.  The Democrats have been miserably failing to alert the public to this danger or to campaign effectively on the issues that the Republicans are winning on.  The November 2022 election results were NOT a great victory for Democrats.  They simply stopped the “Red Tide” that mainstream media had predicted and kept our country stuck in a political climate that is toxic and dysfunctional.  Ordinary people need to organize truly progressive movements from the grassroots up to go around incompetent political parties and change our nation’s culture toward bold, progressive values and the public policies that we need.

 

#9. This article from September 2022 says a crisis is coming in the form of two threats to American democracy.  The article says the U.S. faces two distinct challenges, the movement by Republicans who refuse to accept defeat in an election and a growing disconnect between political power and public opinion.  See it here:  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/17/us/american-democracy-threats.html?unlocked_article_code=lG7L3yApNYCtR6IuhBCBDCLGQeLq4FI6YodqKLplyRdYjMo75gDDL4d4sxVO-ASviGVxY9j0HGgSTbmUnA7iBEtwctQcg5oGf1ke_CFOdcz7vCfMfjFXuIunUdGRHnOuE1N_vUNSxiQ1-I9p9kE9rgdpcgE1Hu7Zh4izxcZEw_T_Z5k3RrSWEetF2SPqSjZpe-IrO7iW3AhX2ab44xrUECdT_6UljlBqqvlFUJkYIaH4SZQfQqlsAjHlL77dv4Y8zKI2AKsaqy1WAtqwEepbfxpPCV-DW7xuE5nZEzPbR01N38UPbKgtQ5AV2nBy6a_6r6fv_NvGXWPbEu1BEwWC&smid=em-share

 

#10. Republicans do NOT want governments to function well.  They are hell-bent not only to “de-regulate” but also to obstruct and destroy:

  • If they can prevent government from functioning (e.g., prevent it from protecting clean air and water, prevent it from making workplaces safe, prevent corporations from mistreating employees and committing fraud, etc.), they can enable businesses to make more profits.
  • If they can prevent government from protecting people’s civil rights and voting rights, they can enable racists and oppressors to dominate our society.
  • If they can prevent laws to reduce gun violence, they can enable people [especially white men] with guns to dominate everyone else.

Republicans want to PREVENT government from functioning well, so they want to convince Americans that our systems are irretrievably broken, so only “strong [white] men (Republicans) can be our leaders.  They want to replace democracy with fascist dictatorship.  See these articles about Republicans’ strategies to make Americans lose faith in legitimate systems:

America’s broken institutions could be a huge boon for GOP in the midterms: analysis (msn.com)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/america-s-broken-institutions-could-be-a-huge-boon-for-gop-in-the-midterms-analysis/ar-AAZeC3t?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=1799c16e10734e55b95fe2f66db36bd7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About GlenAnderson 1498 Articles
Since the late 1960s Glen Anderson has devoted his life to working as a volunteer for peace, nonviolence, social justice, and progressive political issues. He has worked through many existing organizations and started several. Over the years he has worked especially for such wide-ranging goals as making peace with Vietnam, eliminating nuclear weapons, converting from a military economy to a peacetime economy, abolishing the death penalty, promoting nonviolence at all levels throughout society, and helping people organize and strategize for grassroots movements to solve many kinds of problems. He writes, speaks, and conducts training workshops on a wide variety of topics. Since 1987 he has produced and hosted a one-hour cable TV interview program on many kinds of issues. Since 2017 he has blogged at https://parallaxperspectives.org He lives in Lacey near Olympia WA. You can reach him at (360) 491-9093 glen@parallaxperspectives.org