When Did Democracy Begin To Die?

Published by tristero 

When did it all start? When did democracy in the United begin its death spiral?

It’s arguable, of course, but for my money, the beginning of the end was in 1968. That’s when Republican Richard Nixon committed treason, Democrats Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey learned he had… and they decided to say nothing publicly.

The lesson was not lost on Republicans. Ever since, they have assumed — correctly — that they could get away with it. That Democrats and the press would keep their pieholes shut while the GOP relentlessly (and eventually, even openly) conspired with foreign powers to subvert American interests, systematically suppressed voting rights, and fomented civil war.

The January insurrection and now, General Flynn’s outrageous statement that a Myanmar-style military coup “should happen here” are auguries of an imminent catastrophe. It’s like watching a train crash in slow motion, inevitable and horrible. But back in ’68, when Nixon betrayed his country, there was ample opportunity to nip the Republicans’ penchant for anti-democratic behavior in the bud.

But that would have required Democrats to forcefully speak up and expose Nixon. And they didn’t.

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Fascist violence and the form of the state

By Sam Marcy posted on January 14, 2021

[T]he spread of fascist organizations takes place in a vastly different, if not wholly new, social, political and economic situation. The entire social environment in which the spread of this evil disease takes place imparts to it a significance which far surpasses the numerical strength of these organizations. It is this which adds a really new dimension to the perilous growth of this virulent disease.

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Trump coup attempt: U.S. war comes home

By Sara Flounders posted on January 14, 2021

A caustic commentary on U.S. policy that circulated on social media worldwide within 24 hours of the Jan. 6 events at the U.S. Capitol was: “Due to travel restrictions this year, the U.S. had to organize the coup at home.”

A domestic coup on the U.S. government was indeed attempted Jan. 6 — using the false claim that the November presidential election had been “stolen” from Republican President Donald Trump. This claim was so far from reality, even in a bourgeois framework, that judges rejected it as a challenge 60 times, including twice in the Supreme Court.

Venezuelans protest aggressive U.S. interference in their country’s democratic institutions in September 2019. The red-capped person under the flag is holding a copy of Venezuela’s Constitution.

Since he could not win legally, Trump rallied an uprising of extralegal and paramilitary, white-supremacist neo-fascist troops tied into a network of far-right legislators, government officials, police, military veterans and reportedly active military, as well as business owners. These insurrectionists attacked the Capitol building at the moment that the U.S. Congress, sitting in joint session, was beginning to certify Democratic President-elect Joe Biden as winner of the election.

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Jan. 6 exposes two faces of U.S. ‘democracy’

By Monica Moorehead posted on January 12, 2021

What occurred on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol was shocking but not surprising.  

What was shocking was the sight of thousands in a majority white, neofascist terrorist mob — with no masks and no social distancing — overrunning the supposedly high security sanctuary of the offices of U.S. Congresspeople, claiming that the Nov. 3 election was stolen.  

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