State Of Failure

As the four-year anniversary of the most dangerous attack on our democracy since the South’s secession in 1861 passes and the accession to the presidency of the man who led that attack is just days away, it is hard to grasp just how much of our entire system of governance has eroded, not just since 2016 but for the last quarter century. In so many areas of civic life, we see an erosion, even collapse, of institutions, capacity, accountability, and civility.

Certainly the most destructive political force over these years has been the transformation of the Republican Party into a neo-fascist cult that exists only for power. Multiple analyses of Republican policies have put them farther to the right than many of the European far-right parties, especially with its diminution, even rejection, of core democratic principles. The Party’s incessant threats to stop funding the government and/or forcing it to default on its debt are the tactics of extortionist gangsters. The extreme partisan gerrymandering, the efforts to exert partisan authority over the running of elections, and the constant efforts to strip Democrats of power when they do win elections are the antithesis of democratic governance. The Party’s open declaration that they would never consider a Supreme Court nominee from a Democratic president is and was a violation of their constitutional duties. The infamous Brooks Brothers riot that stopped the vote count in Florida in 2000 was merely a precursor to the insurrection on January 6th, which itself was just the most egregious of the Trump’s violations of law and the…