Yes, You Can Be 4 Democracy!
Yes, You Can Be 4 Democracy!
Top Story: Yes, You Can Be 4 Democracy!
This past week, hundreds of anti-democratic extremists gathered at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md. to remind Americans what the new GOP stands for.
“Welcome to the end of Democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely,” right-wing activist Jack Posobiec announced, in a panel hosted by Steve Bannon, one of the White House’s chief advisors during the Trump presidency.
If you are covering the slow erosion of democratic norms on your beat: the banning of books, the efforts to privatize our public schools, and the enormous numbers of local elections that go uncontested; you don’t need CPAC to tell you we are in trouble.
Democracy is fragile. And sadly, a lot of our readers aren't sure they actually care. (See this poll.)
Academics call this: “backsliding.”
The modern backslide, they caution, happens slowly. Citizens will likely be unaware that certain tenets of a representative democracy are eroding away, until it’s too late.
That’s where we come in. It’s our job to be the eyes and ears of our communities, to flag the signs and share them with our readers.
Doing that can be challenging.
First, we need to know what the telltale signs are that some of our sources want to send democracy packing.
So, here’s a primer, culled from the annals of political science and just plain common sense.
Foes of Democracy need to attack three crucial pillars to erode away at it.
Fair Elections
Free Speech
The Balance of Power
And many of them do that on a very local level.
ANTI-DEMOCRATIC TACTIC: Discount or obstruct free and fair elections
WHERE THIS SHOWS UP ON YOUR BEAT:
Local lawsuits, legislation, polling station closures, and policies that seek to restrict voting
Campaigns to discredit election results
Violence/Voter intimidation
ANTI-DEMOCRATIC TACTIC: Limit free speech
WHERE THIS SHOWS UP ON YOUR BEAT:
Book banning
Teacher gag-orders that reduce what they can and cannot say inside their classrooms
Silencing student speech (classroom conversations, student commencements, student newspapers, rallies etc.)
Restricting words that can and cannot be used inside schools
Exiling legislators/board members/council members etc who protest laws inside public buildings
ANTI-DEMOCRATIC TACTIC: Concentrate power
WHERE THIS SHOWS UP ON YOUR BEAT:
A supermajority in the state legislature that passes highly unpopular laws
Redistricting efforts that disproportionately favor one party and reduce the voting voice of minority groups
Efforts to control and politicize state public higher ed institutions via the legislature
State legislatures passing laws that supersede/restrict/thwart the autonomy of local governmental bodies
Unelected citizens using money to hold undo sway on laws, public policy, and institutions
Religious groups seeking privileges that restrict the religious freedoms of other
DO YOU HAVE DEMOCRACY DISRUPTERS ON YOUR BEAT?
CLUES
Uses rhetoric that belittles or seeks to curb free speech
Talks of power being an opportunity to seek revenge
Makes public calls for revolution, “burning it to the ground,” violence and/or an overhaul of the system
Seeks the banning (in public spaces) of non-religious flags, posters, etc that suggest support for minority groups and/or a pluralistic society in which all are welcome
Supports the placement of religious relics in public spaces that suggest there is no constitutional separation of church and state in America
TIP
When you quote, cite, or write about sources with anti-democratic aims, make their goal to thwart democracy central to your understanding of why they matter
A public figure who opposes democracy is dangerous to your readers, to your job, and yeah…freedom.
Remember: There is no free press without democracy; no democracy without a free press.
Also In The News
Rubenstein of the Tom Cotton editorial gets his day in The Atlantic. (Spoiler Alert: “The Woke” are to blame.) If you want to go really deep, read THIS.
Officials in Texas thought putting an 11-year-old honor student in solitary confinement for three days was a good idea. And they still have their jobs.
We’re Watching
Petra Costa’s documentary about Brazil’s embrace of authoritarian politics.
We’re Reading
Laboratories of Autocracy — a deep-dive into how the frontlines of democracy aren't in D.C.. They are in your local state legislature.
by David Pepper
We’re Applauding
Michael Gold at The NYT for top-notch coverage of a Trump speech that called out Trump misinformation, clarified GOP lies, and challenged false tropes.
Trump Frames Election as Battle Against ‘Wicked’ System Bent on Attacking Christians
Comic Relief
The Onion
If You Like What You Are Reading:
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See You Next Week!
Our Staff
Executive Editor Kyle Spencer
Managing Editor Christen Gall
Our Board of Advisors
Alex Aronson, executive director of Court Accountability
David Armiak, research director for the Center for Media and Democracy
Connor Gibson, founder of Grassrootbeer Investigations
Maurice Cunningham, retired associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and author of Dark Money and The Politics of School Privatization.
Isaac Kamola, associate professor of political science at Trinity College, founder of Faculty First Responders and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
Nancy MacLean, William H. Chafe distinguished professor of history and public policy at Duke University and author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America
Ralph Wilson, founder of the Corporate Genome Project and co-author of Free Speech and Koch Money, Manufacturing a Campus Culture War
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