The U.S. Constitution was written in broad terms, as no written document can provide for all future contingencies. Like the Christian Holy Bible, it is subject to interpretation. It is clear that the three co-equal branches of government were designed with checks and balances to prevent abuse of power.
Other counties also have constitutions with high-minded ideals. However, what distinguishes functioning democracies from dictatorships and oligarchies is a tradition of adherence to both the written provisions, and unwritten norms, of political practice and behavior.
These norms include respect for the legitimacy of political opponents and the outcomes of elections. This is obviously prerequisite to peaceful transfer of power. It is normal practice to recognize not only the legitimacy of the free press, but the absolute necessity that the free press is not an organ of the state. Those in power inevitably find inquisitive journalists to be nettlesome and irritating. However, without tough investigating journalists, all sorts of corruption and malfeasance would go undetected. If investigating reporters sometimes appear to be overly aggressive and combative, the far greater danger is that journalists will be cowed by the powerful, meekly repeating whatever propaganda government finds convenient. Continued success of a functioning democracy depends not only on the existence of checks and balances, but on exercising those checks and balances, and practice of norms that include recognizing the crucial role of the free press. It is Pollyannaish, indeed naive, to assume that without vigilance all will be well and that democracy will automatically flourish.
Two recently published books should be required reading for all politicians. The first is “The Soul of America,” by Jon Meachim, subtitled “The Battle for our Better Angels.” Meachim takes us through numerous historical battles waged to overcome our fears and darker impulses in efforts to deliver on the promises of the Declaration of Independence.
Meachim reminds us that this nation has its dark periods of history, including mistreatment of indigenous peoples, and slavery. Denial of human rights of African Americans did not end with emancipation. Jim Crow laws replaced slavery, depriving African Americans of basic rights until well into the 20th century. The Ku Klux Klan has experienced periodic revivals, and still exists.
Loyal Japanese-Americans were deprived of their property and imprisoned during WWII. The McCarthy era and communist scare of the 1950s ended honorable careers of patriotic Americans.
Meachim reminds us that forward progress is periodically interrupted by backsliding.
The second book that should be required reading of all politicians is “How Democracies Die,” by political scientists Stevin Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. For 20 years, they have studied the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America. They remind us that the path from democracy to authoritarian rule is not usually a dramatic military coup, but a demagogue who capitalizes on economic stress and fear to achieve power within the system. Once in power, the demagogue consolidates power, systematically intimidating or vanquishing “enemies,” including the free press.
Levitsky and Ziblatt outline four warning signs of occurrence of this process: Rejection of or weak commitment to democratic rules of the game, denial of legitimacy of political opponents, tolerance or encouragement of violence, and readiness to curtail civil liberties of opponents, including the free press.
The authors remind us that during the 20th century, with the exception of Richard Nixon, no major party presidential candidate met even one of these four criteria. However, early in the 21st century, Donald Trump has met all four of these criteria. This should have set off alarm bells early on.
The authors of both books emphasize that one man cannot alone seize authoritarian power. To seize authoritarian power within the system requires the support of at least a substantial minority of citizens. Meachin reminds us that, regardless of Joe McCarthy’s tremendous influence at the height of his power during the 1950s, he could never have become president as he did not have the requisite popular support. He was brought down by his own excesses and his US Senate colleagues, including Republicans. President Eisenhower was included as an enemy of McCarthy. Just as Republicans were instrumental in ending McCarthy’s excesses, Republicans were also key to President Nixon’s resignation. Levitsky and Ziblatt see today’s Republicans as having failed the gatekeeping role to stop a candidate with obvious authoritarian ambitions. When faced with a would-be authoritarian, they assert, “...establishment politicians must unambiguously reject him or her and do everything possible to defend democratic institutions —even if it means temporarily joining forces with bitter rivals.”
This would have meant prominent Republicans doing the unthinkable for them: endorsing Hillary Clinton. Republican Senators McCain, Collins, Ayote, Lee, Murkowski, Sasse; Governor Kasich; and former Governors Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney; refused to endorse Trump. Former President W. Bush remained silent. But none endorsed Clinton.
Republicans closed ranks and supported Trump in what the authors call, “collective abdication;” the transfer of authority to a leader who threatens democracy. This, they assert, flows from one of two sources. The first is the misguided belief that an authoritarian can be controlled or tamed. The second is “ideological collusion,” in which the authoritarian’s agenda overlaps with that of mainstream politicians sufficiently that abdication is desirable, or at least preferable to the alternatives.”
In other words, Trump’s proposed agenda overlapped sufficiently with the standard Republican agenda that, regardless of reservations, Republicans preferred a candidate with authoritarian ambitions and a Republican-friendly platform over Hillary Clinton.
The 2016 election was thus normalized to a “them vs. us” situation. As everything that could have gone wrong for the Democrats did, Trump won the Electoral College, though the majority of voters did not cast ballots in his favor.
In power, Trump has successfully intimidated Republican politicians to the extent that they praise him, just as cowed sycophants praise a dictator in a banana republic.
Today’s prominent Republicans who continue to enable Trump’s authoritarian seizure of power and attack on the free press will surely go down on the wrong side of history.
— John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Saturdays in the Monroe Times.
