According to the AP, both liberals and conservatives are concerned about the decline of our democratic institutions. Predictably, each side thinks the other will be responsible.
“I think from the side of the left, it’s pretty obvious that they’re concerned about electing a president who is avowedly authoritarian, someone who clearly wants to reduce checks and balances within the government to strengthen the presidency and to do so in ways that give the executive branch kind of an unprecedented reach across the population and sectors of the government,” said Michael Albertus, political science professor at the University of Chicago.
“From the right, the Republicans think about government overreach, big government, threats to freedom and mandates to act in a certain way or adopt certain policies,” he said.
What’s not pointed out is that, unlike the specificity of the fears on the Left, the concerns of the Right really have nothing to do with democracy, per se, but about the same old nebulous bugbears Conservatives have claimed are ruining America for the past 40+ years, social issues, and generally not getting what they want when they want it all of the time.
The one non-expert the AP chose to quote, a 59 year-old retired firefighter is a Republican. Whether they found him in a diner they don’t say, but I’d put the odds at 50/50. What he says bears out the tenuous connection between his fears and democracy.
The interviewee’s specific complaints, or at least those the AP thought worth including, are the following:
- Deterioration of rights, including parental rights
- Thieves and other criminals not being held accountable
- A lack of secure borders
- “[That] the various criminal cases being brought against Trump undermine the country’s democratic traditions,” because, “They’re trying to keep him from running because they know he’s going to win”
What any of these things have to do with democracy is anybody’s guess. From my perspective, they are the same tired list of Right Wing grievances I’ve heard my entire life.
So are both sides REALLY concerned about Democracy? I’ve yet to see any evidence thereof. The Right doesn’t seem particularly concerned about whether We, The People will continue to be sovereign, have representation in government, or any Constitutional right other than the one they claim gives them the power to stockpile weapons. In fact, they seem quite ready to give these things up if it means that the Left no longer has any voice at all.
