Fear for American democracy
September 11, 2008 | 5:11 PMMark Sawyer
I may sound alarmist but this campaign makes me fear for American Democracy. My thesis: We are on the edge of becoming a one party state. Many one party states have some token opposition but there is no real serious challenge to the power of the dominant party and that is where we may be going.
If the Democrats do not soundly defeat the Republicans at all levels including the Presidency the US will have become a defacto one party state. That means that no matter how poorly the Republican Party performs in economic, social and foreign policy they will not face any serious challenge and thus there will be no real check on their power or sanction for corruption. Given the growing power of the imperial presidency and a Supreme Court that McCain/Palin will tilt rightward, the Republican Party will be able to use the levers of government to consolidate their power and to insure that while the Democratic Party will survive, it will never represent a serious challenge to their dominance. Others have argued this but few are talking about how critical the 2008 election is in stopping Rove’s plan for a one party state.
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The litany of failures of Republican government at the federal level are too long to list. The Republicans have fallen asleep on regulating the economy and banking. This led to the worst housing bubble and banking disaster in decades. The fact is, the problems we are facing are nothing short of corruption as CEO’s have taken millions in bonuses while ships sink. This is not the first time. Remember Enron?
Our foreign policy is a mess. We have gotten involved in a war under false premises and have spent trillions of dollars and lost over four thousand American lives. Only the war profiteers like Halliburton and Bechtel have benefited from the war as the US debt has exploded.
As the US economy flags and the deficit explodes Republicans want more tax cuts for their wealthy friends.
The choice has never been clearer. The pile up of hypocritical sex scandals, corruption, failed management of government like Hurricane Katrina and failed foreign and economy policy show that Republicans have demonstrated themselves incapable of handling the levers of government. At the same time, their culture war campaign tactics touch a deep well of resentment, nationalism, and fear in some Americans. Some version of the American public are such true believers they are unwilling to punish Republicans for their errors or to even ask hard questions.
One example is the day after Sarah Palin was picked by McCain. I entered a gift shop in a hotel in Boston. I was buying a newspaper and the woman behind the counter asked me what I thought about her. I responded that I did not know much and thus was puzzled. She tore into me as a part of the “media elite” and rattled off a series of talking points about Palin’s experience relative to Obama’s, the closeness of Alaska to Russia (thus qualifying her as a foreign policy expert) and her credentials as a “reformer” fighting the “bridge to nowhere.” Palin had been on the national stage for less than twelve hours and this woman had the playbook and talking points down pat, as if she was a McCain/Palin surrogate. I could not even argue with her. She was so completely convinced and uncritical that any discussion was pointless.
The story is not to say that the woman in the shop is dumb. What gives me shudders is how effective the Fox News, Republican campaign, talk radio machinery is at creating or distorting the world in which we live. They also present the information in such a way that any attempt to question it is met with angry response. It is the wolves of the liberal media again, out to harm normal Americans (coded as white, suburban and/or rural etc.). The woman was not only convinced but she was angry at anyone who dared question what she had been told. The more I questioned the angrier she got.
Democracy depends upon a deliberative public. One that is willing to listen in good faith to different points of view. It also depends upon the people not allowing leaders and political parties to operate with impunity. If there is no real debate, and if leaders don’t fear punishment for corruption and poor performance then we are democratic in form and but not in practice, a defacto one party state.
McCain’s campaign manager suggested that this election is quote, “Not about issues,” and also suggested that the media needed to treat Palin with “deference”.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-onthemedia9-2008sep09,0,6637772.story. Deference is reserved for Kings or despots who can’t be questioned by the democratic process or bothersome questions about whether what they say is true or what their policy plans are. Deference is a feature of our coming one party state. It was something Bush demanded in the wake of 9-11 and is what the McCain campaign is demanding on the campaign trail. Deference by the media spells the death knell of democracy.
I may be alarmist but in this election American democracy itself hangs in the balance. I hope not only Obama, but also the American public says to that well-oiled machine, “ENOUGH!”
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