Fight for Democracy: 2020 is the Battleground

In any sane world, one where our leaders possess the merest of morality and conscience, any one of a dozen scandals/improprieties/illegalities would have already ended the Trump presidency. The open disregard of constitutional dictates (emoluments clause) and flaunting of political norms (constant lying about anything and everything) would have brought down any Democratic politician. The known criminal violations (felony campaign violations his personal attorney admitted to, credible reports of sexual assaults he bragged about, decades of financial misdealings) would be enough for a trial for anyone other than a President who handpicked the Attorney General who decides such issues. The many forms racism (shithole countries/border invasion), the attacks on the free press, the divulging of secret intelligence to our adversaries, the embarrassing gaffs and utter ignorance in everything from foreign relations (he ‘loves’ Kim and Duterte, not to mention Putin), the economy, the government and even how to buy things in a grocery store - all worthy of invoking the 25th Amendment to replace a clearly incompetent man. But that is not our world.

We live in the world of politics where the Republicans have abandoned any rationality (climate change denial) or consistency (increasing debt to cut taxes on the wealthy) and even any semblance of trying to play a fair game (Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, gerrymandering, voter disenfranchisement, Citizens United). They’ve turned into a cult whose only clear purpose is to hold onto the power they’ve managed as a minority, knowing full well their tribe is shrinking and demographics will eventually overcome them. The problem is Republicans writ large, at all levels, and every single one who votes for them.

The Mueller Report was never going to solve our political problem. No amount of indictments (34 and counting) or clear evidence of wrongdoing would fix this. Our problem is the entire political party who supports an openly corrupt, probably illegal, definitely immoral Administration and it’s not an issue of illegality but of anti-democracy. The Republicans control the Executive Branch and the Senate despite winning fewer votes than the Democrats, votes representing only around a quarter of the population. When the leaders of the party (Trump, McConnell), the rank and file representatives (Nunes, Graham), and the base itself all abandon democracy to grasp desperately at any advantage regardless of cost to our institutions or their souls, the only way out is overwhelming force at the ballot box.

So if you’ve felt let down this week. Disappointed. Frustrated or uncertain. It’s understandable but it’s wrong. We should never have given our hopes to someone else, especially a lifelong Republican, a longstanding cog in the machine who was limited and controlled by the system we hoped he would bring down. We should have held onto our hope dearly and realized the only chance for success lies within ourselves. We are the People and we have the power.

So as I’ve said before, devote your anger and energy to mobilizing for elections. Give your time, money, and attention to the Democrats (at every level). Speak up when you hear anyone, anywhere peddling the racist, immoral, impractical, and just plain untrue garbage spewed by the Republicans. It’s not enough to vote. Get your neighbor to vote. Your cousin. Phone bank and get some random person in Ohio to vote. And let them why they need to vote: to save pre-existing conditions, to stop locking children up in cages, to rebuke the white supremacy that leads to events like in Christchurch. The data is very clear: an informed populace, voting their conscience and on a reasonable interpretation of policy and position, with equal turnout across the board, would lead to an overwhelming Democratic victory. We don’t need to change the world, we just more of it to engage. Carry on the fight!