Democracy in the USA; a critical evaluation
Democracy
in the USA; a Critical Evaluation
By
Dr. Michael Sakbani
American Democracy at the Anniversary of January 6; a Record of Threats
The US mourned this week the first anniversary of the attack of domestic terrorists on the US` Congress to stop it from declaring the results of the 2020 US ‘Presidential elections. This event, the first in the history of the Republic, was a violence against the Constitution, and an attack on majority rule. At its unfolding moments it was denounced by the leadership of both parties, but hours later, the Republican minority leader in the House, swallowed his previous statement and made a pilgrimage of loyalty to Mare- y-Lago to affirm his support to the man who instigated the riot and watched it gleefully on TV. For more than 3 hours the former President watched without calling off his violent supporters chanting to hang his own loyal Vice-President. And when he did, he expressed his love and appreciation for the rioters as true patriots.
The inserructioist rioters believed the big lie of President Trump who claimed that the elections were fraudulent. Trump had been building up claims of fraud since the beginning of the 2020 campaign (Sakbani,1) [i]. Trump lost by more than 7 million votes but challenged the results in more than 62 legal cases brought before the US courts at all levels, but failed to win a single one. He claimed that 3 millon fraudulent votes were cast for his opponent, but failed to offer any proof before the courts of law (lovetsky & Ziblit)[ii]. Yet, despite all that and the clear evidence from many recounts in several contested States that the elections were fair and transparent and legally flawless, seventy one percent of the Republican Party base still believes his lies and false claims (L.A.Times(1)[iii].
When in a Democracy facts are not believed and the judgement of the courts of the land are not headed, Democracy is in real trouble. The adherence to its peaceful passing of power and the respect of the will of the populace cannot happen if empirical facts are not respected. And this is precisely what is taking place in the US: millions believe conspiracies and doubt solid facts..
The US is supposed to be a grand experiment of the
idea of a Republic of the people, by the people and for the people, in President Reagan
words, the shining house of light on the hill. But the reality is that the US
system as it is now, is not fully democratic. There are numerous faults and significant
cleavages between the Constitutional aims and the reality of the land. The founding fathers fashioned a great constitution 240 ears ago, but could not have predicted its application today.
This is not the first time that the US has faced threats to its founding ideas. In the 1930s, skewed income distribution and economic difficulties dominated the lives of most Americans; a situation similar to our days. Demagogues like Huey Long of Louisiana, the reverend Charles McLaughlin and Charles Lindberg were, like Donald Trump in our times, active in nourishing popular discontent in favor of the right-wing. These agitators were only silenced by FDR New Deal.
Hitler had done the same thing in Germany in undermining Democracy from the inside by fabricating the lie that the left was responsible for Germany`s defeat (Het)[iv]. Like Donald Trump, Hitler used the fear of immigrants and outsiders in disseminating mistrust in Government and supplied the lie to burnish his fascist ideology. German Democracy died by the right wing politicians efforts to exclude the left from coming to power by talking President Hindenburg to bring Hitler into power. Today, the Republican Party leaders, fearing Trump hold on the base, are condoning his behavior to gain elections and power in 2022.
The Electoral College
The Electoral College is in need of radical reform. It discriminates against the principle of one man one vote by conferring upon the rural, less educated and less prosperous parts of the US a representation advantage. In the senate, Wyoming with less than 580,000 population is equal to California with 39 million. In the present US fifty- fifty Senate, the Democrats represent 12 million more Americans than do the fifty Republicans.
The College upholds the rule of he who passes the pole first gains all. This means that 49 % of the electorate might never be represented. Given that the US voter turnout is usually less than 55 percent of the eligible voters, the US is often ruled by a double minority Government. It is unfathomable why the President of the US is not elected by the majority of US citizens regardless of where they live and who they are.
In 2020, in four states: Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona, a shift of a total of 43000 votes towards Trump would have given him the elections which he lost by more than 7 million votes (Milhauser, Timme)[v].
After the 2020 elections, Republicans seem to have declared unacceptability of voting majorities. In 19 states, they have passed laws to restrict the hours of voting, the days of pre-voting, outlawed polling drop boxes outside polling places, increased identification restrictions and made it harder for minorities to vote. More ominously, they are granting State Legislators the right to overrule election results and suspend the authority of election officials (Brueninger) [vi]
Gerrymandering and the Games of Parties
The US enshrines a two party system, where third parties have no role to play. While this produces a more stable governing system, it blocks the expression of any third way. The US two Parties have been grand coalitions of various factions. The Democrats are always a more extended coalition than the Republicans. In recent times, however, this difference has been growing larger and larger. After President Trump, the Republican Party has become a refuge of right- wingers in full denial of facts and unwillingness to compromise on so many issues. According to a CNN `s broadcast on January 8, 2022, 53 percent of Americans believe that the US will not be together fifty years from now (Smerconish)[vii]. This is a reminder of the popular mood before the Civil War.
The extremism of partisan factionalism was given a boost in the 1970s by the introduction of the primary system in both parties. This supposedly more democratic system has produced non- intended results. It has enabled a minority of active militants to control the electoral selection of the Parties. Former President Trump has been threatening Republicans not loyal to him and not upholding of his big lie, to primary them out in the 2024 elections by his supporters (Wilkes & kirsch )[viii]. So, we are getting into a further minority selection in this already minority system .The hallowing out of the Center blocks compromise and national unity on grand issues.
Since the 1990s, both parties have started playing games with electoral districting in many States. This so called “gerrymandering” has resulted in safeguarding incumbent seats and forcing the other party candidates to win with much larger majorities than the incumbents .in this game, the Republicans have been more skilled at drawing out with the help of computers the boundaries of safe Republican districts safeguarding incumbents. Therefore, the Republicans in the House, can have a majority even if they represented much fewer electorate
Another partisan game is the filibuster in the US senate. The filibuster was introduced into the Senate rules of procedures to guard against the oppression of the majority. Historically, it has been used by Senators from the South to curb advances in blacks civil- rights. Until recent times, the idea was that any Senator can take the floor and can keep it as long as he can keep talking. Southern Senators of the past read telephone books to keep the floor. Several decades ago, however, the procedure was changed and now any Senator can register his opposition to any legislation, except bills under reconciliation, to foreclose closure of the debate. A Senator can register such a position without even being present in the Chamber. So, the result is that the Senate can block any legislation unless there is a super majority of 60 senators. In effect, the Senate can paralyze legislation if a 60 senator majority is not available. This is where President Biden finds his social programs in the prevailing senate and this is what President Obama had to endure for most of his term.
Clearly this archaic antique rule is non- democratic. Some of President Biden social programs are supported by huge public majorities but one senator from a very small state can block all that (Brueninger) [ix].
The Money and Financial Interests in US Elections
The role of money and wealthy individuals in shaping the US election results has been a preoccupying topic since the 1980s (Sakbani2)[x]. From hardly any money spent on funding Congressional candidates in 1970, the lobbying industry today spends more than $ 2 billion in buying the loyalty of elected Federal officials. This is in addition to special funds of unknown money sources. The influence of the oil-and gas industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the Israeli lobby, the lawyers lobby, the Koch brothers and the Sadler family are examples that immediately come to mind (Brennen Center) [xi].
US `elections budgets are beyond the financial means of the vast majority of candidates. Hillary Clinton`s presidential race in 2016, is reported to have cost more than $1.5 billion ( [xii]. In 2020, the Democratic Senate candidate in South Carolina spent more than $100 million on a widely failed bid. Tens of millions were spent on the Senate Democratic bids in Georgia and in Kentucky. The astronomical spending on campaigns in 2020 reached an astronomical record of $14 billion; twice that of 201[i] (Schwartz) [xiii.]. It used to be the Republicans who had overwhelming money advantage, but now the Democrats ,since the Clinton Presidency, have caught up with the Republicans in their fund- raising.
In recent years, the US ‘Supreme Court has ruled in Citizens United that businesses have under the First Amendment, the right to contribute to campaigns like natural individuals. This opens up the business purse to buying candidates or damning them, as a matter of free-speech. Karl Marx` assertion that in bourgeois democracies, money can buy power seem to have acquired the US Supreme Court`s imprimatur.
Outside the US, elections are financed from public sources and TV is obliged to slot free time for candidates as the price of using the Public air waves. Why is that impossible in the US?
The Two Visions of America:
There is a wide recognition in the US that American democracy is in peril. But in this polarized society, views differ as to the nature of the problem and the required remedies. The conservative right-wingers now marching to the tunes of Trumpism, think that Democracy is threatened by immigrants, by the left, by the loss of control of the white population and the deviation from biblical morality. Some less populist view but more conservative individualist, like that of Senator Mike Lee of Utah holds that the Constitution essence is the protection of liberty and state rights rather than Democracy [xiv]. These views are common among the of Trump`s Republicans.
The left of the center followers, who are overwhelmingly democrats, believe that Democracy is threatened by voter suppression, by skewed income and wealth distribution, by the US` history of racism and by the disregard of facts so blatant among conspiracy advocates.. A more extremist view places capitalism in the culprit box.
This polarization makes it impossible to come to a non- assailable consensus on how to safeguard the one defining characteristic of the vision of the Founding Fathers.
Geneva, 8 January, 2022.
Notes
[i] See Michael Sakbani”(1), President Trump and a possible Biden Victory in 2020”,, in michael.sakbani. blogspot.com, September 2020.
[ii] Steven Lovetsky& Daniel Ziblit,,” How Democracies Die” , You Tube, 6 February ,2018.
[iii] Republicans ‘belief in Trump`s “Big Lie ” holds steady as confidence in US elections dips, in Los Angeles Times(1), December 16, 2021
[iv] Benjamin Carter Het, Death In the Teagarten ,NY, 2004
[v] See, “Could Trump have produced a differentoutcome in 20202” , Los Angeles Times(2) , 2 December 2020.
Vi See Ian Milhauser, Vox, January 3, 2021.see also, Jane Timme, Brennen Center for Justice,, December, 21, 2021.
[vii] Smerconish,, CNN., January 8, 20202
[viii] According to news reports, Trump has endorsed 139 candidates so far in 2022. Most of those candidates do not represent a widely shared views with the US electorate. See Mackenzie Wilkes & Nathanial Kirsch”,Trump`s 2022 Endorsements Are Earlier, Bolder, And More Dangerous Than Any He Has Previously Made”, in Five Thirty Eight, December, 8, 2021.
[ix] See Kevin Bruueninger, “Americans support Biden`s spending and want him to spend more, polls show, in CNBC, December 2021
[x] See Michael Sakbani, “ The World Economic and Political Order After the Pandemic”, in michael.sakbani.blogspot.com, April 16, 2020..
[xi] See” Influence of Big Money”, in, Brennen Center for Justice, Brennen.org, 2020.
[xii]See Brian Schwartz, « Total 2020 election spending hits nearly $14 billion, more than double 2016” in CNBC, October 28, 2020.
posted by Dr. Michael Sakbani | 10:26 AM
|
0 comments
