It is strange to read back what I had written four years ago and see how little has changed in our political climate except for the cast of characters. The assault on the U.S. Capitol is the most ugly and recent manifestation of a collapse of a common moral language among our citizenry and political elites and hence the collapse of politics itself
May 7, 2022·edited May 7, 2022Liked by Lee Trepanier
Dissatisfaction with democracy is mostly evident on the Left, and has been growing for a long time: Back when I was a Democrat in Boulder Colo, and Gary Hart (senator from Colo) was running for president, a number of people angrily walked out of the caucus because the rest of us would not cast our votes for a token black man rather than the 'favorite son'. As they left, they loudly declared that "democracy has failed!"
'Democracy', for them apparently meant that they 'get their way'.
This gave me a sense of foreboding, which has since been born out:. Many on the Left have decided that force and deception are the way to 'get their way'.
On the Right, the dissatisfaction is not with democracy, but with the perception of its corruption - particularly with the perception of widespread cheating by the Left in elections.
Whether this is a false or true perception, the cure is the same: rules which make cheating hard, consequences for being caught cheating, and audits of contested elections.
The fact that the Left strenuously objects to all of these solutions does nothing to convince anybody of their innocence - and indeed convinces me that the rot I saw in a small part of the party long ago has metastasized into widespread corruption.
Dissatisfaction with democracy is mostly evident on the Left, and has been growing for a long time: Back when I was a Democrat in Boulder Colo, and Gary Hart (senator from Colo) was running for president, a number of people angrily walked out of the caucus because the rest of us would not cast our votes for a token black man rather than the 'favorite son'. As they left, they loudly declared that "democracy has failed!"
'Democracy', for them apparently meant that they 'get their way'.
This gave me a sense of foreboding, which has since been born out:. Many on the Left have decided that force and deception are the way to 'get their way'.
On the Right, the dissatisfaction is not with democracy, but with the perception of its corruption - particularly with the perception of widespread cheating by the Left in elections.
Whether this is a false or true perception, the cure is the same: rules which make cheating hard, consequences for being caught cheating, and audits of contested elections.
The fact that the Left strenuously objects to all of these solutions does nothing to convince anybody of their innocence - and indeed convinces me that the rot I saw in a small part of the party long ago has metastasized into widespread corruption.