How do we maintain our democracy when Repulbicans have given up on democracy and now want authoritarianism? (1 Viewer)

[coldseat]

It's hard to believe how far down the road we've gone towards authoritarianism. Republicans are not even trying to hide anymore. If they are able to recapture control of the House in 2022, I have serious concern about how much longer we'll be able to maintain our democracy. Just look at how far they're willing to go in the article below. How can we stop this speeding train towards authoritarianism and nationalism in the Republican party and get them to defend and support democracy once more?

Their polls found that after the election, a supermajority of Republicans backed Trump's efforts to overturn the results: 86% said his legal challenges were appropriate, 79% said they weren't confident in the national vote tally, and 68% said Trump really won. Another 54% said Trump should never concede, and a plurality said state legislatures should override the popular vote.
This set the stage for Trump, GOP lawmakers, and right-wing media outlets to continue pushing the lie that the election was "rigged," which Trump did yet again in a press release this week.


Additionally, only 34% of Trump voters said they would accept Biden as the legitimate president, according to the post-election polls. That pales in comparison to similar surveys conducted by Gallup after previous controversial elections -- 68% of Al Gore voters in 2000 accepted George W. Bush's legitimacy, and 76% of Hillary Clinton voters in 2016 accepted Trump's as president.
The organization was among the first to raise the alarm last summer about the potential for unprecedented political violence if the 2020 election was disputed -- warnings that became a reality with the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. They released the new polls as part of a series of reports about the manufactured "crisis of confidence" in US elections.

New polls show GOP willingness to subvert 2020 election

New polls released Thursday show just how far Republicans were willing to go to support then-President Donald Trump's unprecedented efforts to subvert the 2020 election.

www.cnn.com

An excellent podcast on how Hungary's democracy has fallen and the similarities between what Orban and his party have done and how Republicans are doing the same thing here in the US.

 

[Saint by the Bay]

The Dems also play the game. They do! They rehearse and say what they think the minorities want to hear, I am a so called minority so I know.

That's just called politics. It's normal. What the current crop of Republicans are doing isn't politics. It isn't normal. Many formally influential traditional Republicans agree. You can see the results of the modern Republican messaging on January 6th.

They're all the same only works when they really are all the same. For the last 4 years that hasn't been true.

 

[Sun Waves]

Well, remember you and @Farb were the ones demanding proof of voter suppression, I was pointing out that you don't really want proof before making changes. I'm not the one demanding to make a change here, you are.

I didn't demand proof of voter suppression. The fact that 2 people liked your post says a lot about them.

 

[Farb]

Only one was — Dropbox limitations. All the rest existed before 2020.

Waiting in long lines is absolutely voter suppression. Let’s exaggerate and say you had to wait 12 hours to vote — do you honestly think the same amount of people would vote under those circumstances? C’mon.

You mean the completely fabricated hunter Biden laptop Story that had absolutely nothing to do with the election?

Not when a requirement is passed weeks or months before a vote as they often are.

Glad to know death is the only outcome of waiting in line in the Georgia heat for hours just to vote.

Read that again. The number of people *per precinct* has grown 30-50%. That’s because so many precincts have been shut down or merged — most of them in minority voting areas (surprise surprise). Add to that the new requirement to report the total votes cast by 10pm the night of the election and if lines get as historically long as some have been, people can still be in line to vote at that cutoff time. That’s more suppression.

And for almost every one of the things listed, there’s no real reason for the changes. Drop boxes worked flawlessly in Georgia and every other state— why the change? Why less time for absentee voting when it was always as long as it was in 2020 (and when Republicans didn’t care one bit about the “election integrity” then when they were the beneficiaries of the majority of the votes)? Why was the no Sunday voting even put into the bill in the first place? We all know why, but some people seem to not care about the motivations.

Because there is a severe distrust of the election process because a lot of changes were made in a year during a pandemic that really didn't warrant any changes based peoples behavior during the pandemic.

If voter suppression ever comes, we won't notice because the left does the left thing and cry racism/suppression at every change so it will be lost. That is the point though. It just won't be said out loud by the left.

 

[Sun Waves]

The title of this thread is hilarious.

People on the left are the ones trying to silence their opposition.

People on the left are the ones harassing and trying to ruin people who don't share their beliefs.

People on the left are the ones shaming people for questioning the origins of a virus.

People on the left are the ones trying to take away constitutional rights.

People on the left are the ones trying to keep people locked in their homes and restricting businesses.

Cult members are accusing other people of being in a cult. It's bizarre.

 

[Paul]

That's just called politics. It's normal. What the current crop of Republicans are doing isn't politics. It isn't normal. Many formally influential traditional Republicans agree. You can see the results of the modern Republican messaging on January 6th.

They're all the same only works when they really are all the same. For the last 4 years that hasn't been true.

Guys:

It is all about "who is victimizing them and,who is going to save them". It really applies to both sides. There is always "us versus them" preaching. The only politician who seemed to be talking from his heart to help people was Bernie Sanders and he did not get very far because he did not play the game. Yang also seemed to be along the same lines. but those guys cannot play the game of pandering to voters. Extreme Trump type voters love the pandering by the extreme right. The issue os racism is also used to pander to voters on the left.

 

[Saint by the Bay]

Guys:

It is all about "who is victimizing them and,who is going to save them". It really applies to both sides. There is always "us versus them" preaching. The only politician who seemed to be talking from his heart to help people was Bernie Sanders and he did not get very far because he did not play the game. Yang also seemed to be along the same lines. but those guys cannot play the game of pandering to voters. Extreme Trump type voters love the pandering by the extreme right. The issue os racism is also used to pander to voters on the left.

There is a fundamental difference between pandering with the truth and inciting with lies. Maxine Waters crosses that line on the left occasionally, but by and large the left leverages identity politics in a fairly honest way. By honest I mean the issues they are raising are real, but they are leveraging those issues for votes.

That is completely different than telling 70% of the population that controls far more than 70% of the wealth and power that minorities are out to get you and the cause of all your problems, they have stolen your election, that they are pedophiles that are eating babies to stay young, that you need to arm yourselves and "fight like Hell", and on and on.

Right now the two sides are absolutely not the same. One side is trying to govern and pandering for power. That's called politics. The other side has effectively no issue except telling us the left is evil. Not different with different ideas, but actually theologically evil. They aren't presenting any solutions, just populist grievance fueled primarily by bald-faced lies.

You're clinging way too hard to the "they are both the same" narrative. If this were 2015 I'd be right there with you. Look at my pre-2016 posting (I've been posting politics on SR since 2007) and you'll see I certainly shared the "both the same" mantra. But we have to change as the facts on the ground change. In 2016 the facts on the ground changed, and so did the right-wing in America. The two sides aren't "both the same" anymore. One side I frequently disagree with on issues, the other I struggle to even call a political party, just lie-induced raging thugs.

 

[DaveXA]

The title of this thread is hilarious.

People on the left are the ones trying to silence their opposition.

People on the left are the ones harassing and trying to ruin people who don't share their beliefs.

People on the left are the ones shaming people for questioning the origins of a virus.

People on the left are the ones trying to take away constitutional rights.

People on the left are the ones trying to keep people locked in their homes and restricting businesses.

Cult members are accusing other people of being in a cult. It's bizarre.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

I didn't demand proof of voter suppression. The fact that 2 people liked your post says a lot about them.

Maybe they can remember more than 3 days ago?

Can anyone provide proof, actual proof, not 'might be' or 'could be' but an actual law that has passed in Georgia or any other state that is actual voter suppression?

Do it for me then. Post proof.

 

[Paul]

There is a fundamental difference between pandering with the truth and inciting with lies. Maxine Waters crosses that line on the left occasionally, but by and large the left leverages identity politics in a fairly honest way. By honest I mean the issues they are raising are real, but they are leveraging those issues for votes.

That is completely different than telling 70% of the population that controls far more than 70% of the wealth and power that minorities are out to get you and the cause of all your problems, they have stolen your election, that they are pedophiles that are eating babies to stay young, that you need to arm yourselves and "fight like Hell", and on and on.

Right now the two sides are absolutely not the same. One side is trying to govern and pandering for power. That's called politics. The other side has effectively no issue except telling us the left is evil. Not different with different ideas, but actually theologically evil. They aren't presenting any solutions, just populist grievance fueled primarily by bald-faced lies.

You're clinging way too hard to the "they are both the same" narrative. If this were 2015 I'd be right there with you. Look at my pre-2016 posting (I've been posting politics on SR since 2007) and you'll see I certainly shared the "both the same" mantra. But we have to change as the facts on the ground change. In 2016 the facts on the ground changed, and so did the right-wing in America. The two sides aren't "both the same" anymore. One side I frequently disagree with on issues, the other I struggle to even call a political party, just lie-induced raging thugs.

I agree, what we have is Trumpism. This is not the party of Lincoln.

 

[V Chip]

Because there is a severe distrust of the election process because a lot of changes were made in a year during a pandemic that really didn't warrant any changes based peoples behavior during the pandemic.

The only people distrusting the election process are the idiots who swear the election was stolen from them and continue to cling to outrageous conspiracy theories about it.

~450,000 people died before the election. The economy tanked because people absolutely changed their behavior during the pandemic. To act as if they didn’t… that’s fantasy.

 

[Sun Waves]

Maybe they can remember more than 3 days ago?

You said I asked for proof of voter suppression.

I didn't.

I asked for proof that a law is voter suppression.

They're not the same things in case you can't understand that.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

You said I asked for proof of voter suppression.

I didn't.

I asked for proof that a law is voter suppression.

They're not the same things in case you can't understand that.

Sure, if that makes you feel better, but since I was the one that said you demanded proof then I think I'm in the best position to know that I was referring to your statement which I just quoted.

The objections to the Georgia law is that they will make it harder to vote, and therefore will suppress the votes of the poor. You and Farb demanded proof of this.

But you clearly don't care if there's proof of damages before objecting to a law, because the whole purpose of the Georgia law and those like it is to prevent something that hasn't happened and there were already procedures in place to prevent from happening.

So which is it? Do you need proof of something bad happening before objecting to it, or not?

 

[Sun Waves]

Sure, if that makes you feel better, but since I was the one that said you demanded proof then I think I'm in the best position to know that I was referring to your statement which I just quoted.

You said I asked for proof of voter suppression.

I didn't.

I asked for proof that a law is voter suppression

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

You said I asked for proof of voter suppression.

I didn't.

I asked for proof that a law is voter suppression

Which can only be proven by showing voter suppression. No one said that a law was passed that said black people can't vote. Or that poor people can't vote. People are saying that the law will have the effect of making it harder for poor people to vote.

Again, you are demanding proof of harm without caring that you never provided proof of harm in the first place.

 

[V Chip]

I asked for proof that a law is voter suppression

Which I provided.

You’re welcome.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Because there is a severe distrust of the election process because a lot of changes were made in a year during a pandemic that really didn't warrant any changes based peoples behavior during the pandemic.

If voter suppression ever comes, we won't notice because the left does the left thing and cry racism/suppression at every change so it will be lost. That is the point though. It just won't be said out loud by the left.

There was severe distrust of the election process because Trump spent months telling everyone it was rigged against him. That's why rules put in place 15 years ago by Georgia republicans are now being tossed out.

 

[MT15]

And Rs are pretending that the rule changes only took place in certain swing states. They took place in all the states. There was no voter fraud other than the usual one offs that we always see and they break both ways and are not enough to change the election results. Not even close.

 

[Paul]

And Rs are pretending that the rule changes only took place in certain swing states. They took place in all the states. There was no voter fraud other than the usual one offs that we always see and they break both ways and are not enough to change the election results. Not even close.

The Republicans will pay dearly for this error. The minorities will go out and vote in large numbers. ID cannot stop voters from voting, that is a condescending view from the left to gain more devotees to the cause.