How Democracies Die

This is not just MAGA, it's the Republican Party's responsibility too

We all have our preferences, priorities and values. When it comes to public policy and electing representatives to lead the government, we can debate the issues. Reason and evidence should guide our important decisions. But before we have a conversation, we have to agree about the rules of logic, and evidence.

Likewise, if democracy is to survive, the major participants have to agree about the fundamentals of the game. One such rule is to accept the peaceful transition of government. The system has to have legitimacy, at least among those major players and teams that participate. There's no point having elections if the result is not respected by the participating major parties.

But, how about when there's cheating? Yeah, that would be very bad if it affected the end result of an election. The outcome of an election, wouldn't be legitimate then. However, false allegations, big lies, and unsubstantiated claims are equally harmful. There isn't a shred of evidence, for example, that the 2020 election was stolen, or fraud changed the outcome. 

When democracies die, there are many assassins, and most often among them are those established leaders that empower the murder of democracy. The Republican party [The RNC] has failed to condemn the Big Lie and the big liar. Actually, it has said that the Jan. 6th (2021) violent insurrection against the US Capitol was a "legitimate political discourse"!!!

That's why, in my view, anyone who agrees with this is dis-qualified from holding public office.

"During the first Republican debate of the 2024 presidential primary campaign last month, Donald Trump’s rivals were asked to raise their hands if they would support his candidacy, even if he were “convicted in a court of law.” Mr. Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election wasn’t just a potential criminal offense. It also violated the cardinal rule of democracy: Politicians must accept the results of elections, win or lose.

But that seemed to matter little on the debate stage..." [source: NYT 9/8/23]

How Democracies Die, by Levitsky and Zimblatt. A must-read book.