Modern Conservatism and Democracy

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Anti-Democratic Conservatism Isn’t New

“Conservatism” is no Longer Enough

From the first link:

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partisanship has led conservatives to tolerate partisan gerrymandering and legislative obstacles to voting and voter registration that are not present in other advanced democracies and amounts to voter suppression. In a very real sense, the Republican party has in the era of Donald Trump forsaken its commitment to democracy, and there is a conservative intellectual tradition to lend it intellectual legitimacy.

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Here’s the rub: Conservatives may be uneven democrats, but democracy is stronger when it has constructive conservative parties. Harvard political scientist Daniel Ziblatt has shown the importance conservative political parties to developing democracies. Strong, well-organized and fundamentally competitive center-right parties that are confident enough to accept the “‘open-endedness’ or ‘uncertainty’ of inclusive political competition” are a key deciding factor in the success or failure of nascent democracies. Poorly organized right-wing elements that rely on “contracting out” political activism, manipulating the machinery of state, or putting in place countermajoritarian institutional protections to maintain power are prone to radical right-wing takeovers and disruptive to democracy. It doesn’t take much imagination to see this process playing out even in advanced democracies like the United States.

The Bulwark is a right leaning publication that publishes factual and accurate information.  I would encourage you to read the entire article, it covers a good bit of important history. 

From the second link, the Clairmont Institute  (conservative think tank):

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The U.S. Constitution no longer works. But that fact raises more questions than answers. Can some parts of the system—especially at the local and state level—be preserved and strengthened? How would that work? How do we distinguish the parts that are salvageable from the parts that are hopeless? How did all this happen, anyway? The answers to these questions are not obvious. Having a coherent plan—thinking through what American citizenship used to mean, what made it noble and made the country worthy of patriotic love, and how to rebuild its best elements—requires input from people, and institutions, who have given these matters a lot of thought.

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This understanding of fundamental principles is also why Claremont may be the only “conservative think tank” that can continue to carry on its work—essentially unaltered—in the face of the great revolutionary change we are now experiencing. This is another way of making the point I argued earlier: America, as an identity or political movement, might need to carry on without the United States.

As evidenced by Trump's GOP approved, supported and defended assault on American institutions and norms, and the assault on the capitol 010621, the modern republican party is now actively acting against American democracy. 

These are perilous times for our country. 

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The military pig is being fed by the Biden-Harris administration who submitted a budget request of $715 billion dollars.  

But even that's not enough for certain segments.  I just can't imagine that we need that much.  But cutting the defense budget now would certainly have a big effect on the overall economy and jobs.  And so it goes......

https://theintercept.com/2021/09/03/democrats-defense-industry-military-budget/

4 hours ago, Tweety said:

The military pig is being fed by the Biden-Harris administration who submitted a budget request of $715 billion dollars.  

But even that's not enough for certain segments.  I just can't imagine that we need that much.  But cutting the defense budget now would certainly have a big effect on the overall economy and jobs.  And so it goes......

https://theintercept.com/2021/09/03/democrats-defense-industry-military-budget/

I think that money could be redistributed to infrastructure which is in dire need, also modernizing so many different industries or education, because there are definitely changes post pandemic that would need addressing. Even our profession is now in transition re Tele health etc coming to the fore. 

We have achieved ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in Afghanistan after two decades NOTHING! Two trillion dollars SPENT, for what? The only people who profited were the defense contractors who probably lobbied Cheney who convinced Bush to go in, in the first place. Then subsequent presidents were too cowardly or egotistical to risk stopping, except for Biden. 

I would bet serious money, that given just a few days, as dumb as I am, I would have come with a more effective solution than invading a foreign country. It was a solution born of greed and revenge! Cheney got away scot free from being a mass murderer and war crimes! 

Seriously, in the history of the world, has there ever been a country more corrupt? Logically if we are the richest country for the last four decades, then ill spent money would be far more than anyone has ever spent? 

Except for the 2nd world War, have we succeeded militarily, anywhere else? One tenth of the money would have been more effective building coalitions and the good faith generated would have ensured our products guaranteed sales forever! 

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Bahahahaha!! Really? Created a "I hate Conservatives, Trump is Bad echo chamber?  While being inclusive and tolerant as a democrat right? You litterally group everyone and anyone into preconceived groups. By their political beliefs, what new they watch and their race. Of course anyone who disagrees is a white supremacists.  Step back and take a good look because they way you talk is just like how a true bigot thinks. Oh and a racist.....

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1 hour ago, Cclm said:

Bahahahaha!! Really? Created a "I hate Conservatives, Trump is Bad echo chamber?  While being inclusive and tolerant as a democrat right? You litterally group everyone and anyone into preconceived groups. By their political beliefs, what new they watch and their race. Of course anyone who disagrees is a white supremacists.  Step back and take a good look because they way you talk is just like how a true bigot thinks. Oh and a racist.....

You seem to have been triggered by this thread...

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Opinion: New details about Trump’s Dominion scam help explain our authoritarian slide

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Sham audits in Arizona and elsewhere will serve a similar function. When they find fake evidence of fraud, their perpetrators will know this tactic can be used to manufacture future pretexts for undermining legitimate electors. That could set in motion schemes like sending rogue electors and getting a GOP Congress to count those and not the valid ones.

Republicans no longer want to have to worry about election results, they really want to put in place a system where they can just declare themselves winners. 

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16 minutes ago, chare said:

Yes, thank you.  I'm not certain why the apps quote feature glitches like that sometimes.  

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An elections supervisor embraced conspiracy theories. Officials say she has become an insider threat.

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The events in Mesa County represent an escalation in the attacks on the nation’s voting system, one in which officials who were responsible for election security allegedly took actions that undermined that security in the name of protecting it. As baseless claims about election fraud are embraced by broad swaths of the Republican Party, experts fear that people who embrace those claims could be elected or appointed to offices where they oversee voting, potentially posing new security risks.
“I’ve always worried, working in this space, about people who want to harm our elections or sabotage them from the outside — the foreign actors trying to hack elections,” said Mike Beasley, a lobbyist for the Colorado County Clerks Association. “I’ve never until now had to worry about what goes on on the inside. And now we’ve crossed that threshold.”

Another state struggling with republicans who believe lies or are using them to subvert our elections and ruin our republic. 

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Business Insider published an analysis that shares my concern. 

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Sheri Berman, a professor of political science at Barnard College and author of "Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe: From the Ancien Régime to the Present Day," told Insider she's become even "more pessimistic" about the future of American democracy in 2021. 

"With Trump gone, I hoped the Republican party might recalibrate, moving away from his illiberal, anti-democratic and irrational behavior and embracing a conservative, but firmly reality-based and small 'd' democratic politics," Berman said. "That the Republican party has proven to be a greater threat than Trump — a single individual — bodes poorly for the health of American democracy." 

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Only 16% of Americans say democracy is working well or extremely well, according to a February poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll found that nearly half of Americans — 45% — think democracy isn't functioning properly. But it's less clear if Americans are cognizant of the escalating threat posed to the democratic process in the US by GOP efforts to make it harder to vote. 

"I don't think the average citizen understands the threat because the average citizen doesn't have the time or the incentive to analyze what is going on politically at the national, state and local level on a daily basis," Berman said

I do have the time and the incentive. Too many people in my state inform themselves with Fox news, OAN, NewsMax and/or political rhetoric and commentary from radio personalities or facebook. That is reflected in our governance and pandemic mitigation.  

When I read information that troubles me, I look for other credible sources to corroborate and expand upon the topic. That is generally not a difficult task. When I read links offered from conservative members and attempt to corroborate and clarify with a search, I too often encounter an echo chamber where the sources all share the same opinion or rhetoric and talk about a single source quoted in multiple outlets as if it is multiple sources supporting one opinion.

These are perilous times. 

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Opinion: Our constitutional crisis is already here

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Most Americans — and all but a handful of politicians — have refused to take this possibility seriously enough to try to prevent it. As has so often been the case in other countries where fascist leaders arise, their would-be opponents are paralyzed in confusion and amazement at this charismatic authoritarian. They have followed the standard model of appeasement, which always begins with underestimation. The political and intellectual establishments in both parties have been underestimating Trump since he emerged on the scene in 2015. They underestimated the extent of his popularity and the strength of his hold on his followers; they underestimated his ability to take control of the Republican Party; and then they underestimated how far he was willing to go to retain power. The fact that he failed to overturn the 2020 election has reassured many that the American system remains secure, though it easily could have gone the other way — if Biden had not been safely ahead in all four states where the vote was close; if Trump had been more competent and more in control of the decision-makers in his administration, Congress and the states. As it was, Trump came close to bringing off a coup earlier this year. All that prevented it was a handful of state officials with notable courage and integrity, and the reluctance of two attorneys general and a vice president to obey orders they deemed inappropriate.

@Curious1997 makes this case repeatedly...with quite a bit of passion. Unless the the opponents of fascism push back hard we will have lost our republic. 

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Adam Schiff points to a second insurrection — by members of Congress themselves

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 “What took place inside our chamber, with the challenge to the electors, was every bit as much an attack on our democracy,” he asserts. “We can reinforce the doors and put up fences. But we cannot guard our democracy against those who walk the halls of Congress, have taken an oath to uphold our Constitution, but refuse to do so.”
In effect, there were two insurrections, not one, Schiff argues, and he is more interested in the insurrectionists wearing suits and ties than in the shirtless ones in buffalo horns. “We came so close to losing our democracy,” he writes, looking back on the varied political and legalistic efforts to overturn the 2020 vote and to convince the public that the contest was illegitimate. “The system held, if barely.”

More people need to acknowledge the threat from within. 

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