If democracy is supposed to rely on any one thing, it is the integrity of elections.
But Trump fans are no huge fans of democracy. Some of them have even taken to saying that the United States is a republic, not a democracy. As if the democracy that our Founding Fathers set up - flawed as it has traditionally been - was just static, or some minor detail. As it democracy is not the voice of the people of the country itself by design.
That democracy has been expanding ever since it's conception. Again, it had flaws. When it began, it was restricted to wealthy, white male landowners. Slowly, it was expanded to include other races, and women, and other disenfranchised people. Eventually, it grew scary for those who felt that it was including too many people, and we are seeing a backlash against it.
Make no mistake: this backlash is anti-democratic in nature.
When anti-Trump factions point out how democracy has been eroding under Trump, this is the kind of thing that they mean. It is not just Trump himself who has attacked democratic institutions, but his enablers. That means his fellow Republicans in Congress, in particular, but it also means his loyal followers, who want to try and intimidate everyone else by a show of force.
That is why this election is so important, even crucial. It feels quite literally as if democracy itself is at stake. If Trump wins, if this nation has to endure another four years of relentless attacks against traditional democratic institutions, our democracy itself - what is left of it, anyway - will likely be so drastically undermined, as to no longer truly qualify as a democracy anymore.
It really is no stretch, then, to imply that this election is about the future of our democracy itself.
Vote!
Biden Team Cancels Texas Event After Highway ‘Ambush’ by MAGA Cavalry Kelly Weill Sat, October 31, 2020:
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