The Death of Democracy – Part 4
Is there a radical campaign to overthrow American democracy?
Welcome to the Civic Way journal, our quick take on the relevance of breaking news to America’s future governance. The author, Bob Melville, is the founder of Civic Way, a nonprofit dedicated to good government, and a management consultant with over 45 years of experience improving public agencies. If you like, you can read the prior essays in this series on democracy (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3).
Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.
– Barry Goldwater
Despite the utter lack of evidence, the hyper-partisan election fraud allegations persist. The Stop the Steal farce is surprisingly immune to audits, courts and logic. Given its growing strength as a political movement, we need to take it far more seriously than we have.
Left-wing extremism poses a threat as well, but the American right-wing is far better financed and organized than America’s fractious left-wing. Groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter are far more influential as pinatas for the right than as serious policy advocates. The Democratic party, for example, has repeatedly distanced itself from such groups.
At first, the Stop the Steal slogan was easy to dismiss as the pathetic whining of sore losers. In recent months, however, its durability raises a grave question. What if it is just one part of an ambitious crusade to upend our democracy, seize political power and establish an autocracy in the United States?
Answering the question requires two steps. First, determine the prerequisites of a successful political crusade. Second, assess the degree to which the Stop the Steal movement meets those criteria.
Throughout American history, we have had many fateful political crusades. Abolition, progressivism, woman’s suffrage, civil rights, disability rights and marriage equality rank among America’s most decisive crusades. What attributes did they share?
At a minimum, the most successful political crusades have possessed the following assets:
A galvanizing cause,
Ample financing,
A robust infrastructure,
A powerful communications network,
A well-conceived plan for accumulating power and influence.
Arguably the most important element is a compelling cause. Without a battle cry that can move millions, little can be accomplished. It is that facet that we examine first.
Initially, America’s right-wing extremist movement was obsessed with one goal—to replace the traditional conservatism of Ronald Reagan and Bill Kristol with the cynical authoritarianism of Donald Trump. Shelve policies like fighting totalitarianism, streamlining government and embracing business. Wage a relentless culture war around anything that frightens or enrages their supporters—immigration, gun control, homosexuality, multiculturalism, secularism, racial minorities, Hollywood liberals and abortion. Sell the war with vague slogans like cancel culture and critical race theory.
Since the 2020 election, however, the extremist right has stumbled upon another cause. This one even more incendiary and effective than the culture wars. The January 6th Capitol Coup, a source of disgust and shame for most Americans, has fueled the rebirth of the Stop the Steal campaign. A tsunami of conspiracy theories, allegations, lies and threats. Wasteful election audits ordered by Republican-controlled state legislatures at public expense. The willful denial of reality.
Since January 6th, this campaign has grown exponentially. Capitol Coup participants returned home to spread the virus. Local activists formed groups like the Election Integrity Force in Michigan and Audit the Vote PA. At the national level, the Conservative Partnership Institute launched the Election Integrity Network. No longer the tool of one failed politician, the Stop the Steal campaign has become the primary motivating cause for the extremist right crusade.
The genius of the Stop the Steal campaign is that it provides cover to those who see elections—and democracy—as a nuisance. Its election security rhetoric, while disingenuous, provides a juicy rationale for anti-democratic bills in GOP-controlled states. Dismantling bipartisan election commissions. Disenfranchising undesirable voters. Banning convenient voting methods. Curbing competitive elections. Empowering themselves to overturn elections they don’t win.
In this context, the right-wing lust for Hungary’s authoritarian model makes sense. As Tucker Carlson, the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) and other US extremists pay tribute to Hungary’s ruling party (Fidesz) and its neo-Nazi rhetoric, their end game crystallizes before our eyes. Use quasi-legalistic means to delegitimize elections, discredit democracy and seize power—at any cost.
The end game? Replacing a liberal secular democracy with an autocratic Christian nation. For those who find these fears far-fetched, just listen to the unforgiving fury of right-wing extremists:
Sebastian Gorka (Deputy Assistant to former President Trump) once preached, “It’s no longer about policies…we have to take back the Republic, and … our civilization.”
JD Vance (Ohio’s GOP nominee for the US Senate) has spoken wistfully of seizing “institutions of the left,” whatever that means.
Garrett Ziegler (aide to former trade advisor Peter Navarro) recently snapped that the January 6 committee members “hate the American Founders and most White people.”
Couy Griffin (New Mexico county commissioner and founder of Cowboys for Trump) angrily told his supporters, “the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.”
A Trump loyalist from Ohio put it another way, “There’s only two teams: Team Jesus and Team Lucifer. And it’s very easy to pick a side.”
These voices aren’t outliers. They define the right-wing extremist cause.
The right-wing extremists—especially their leaders and champions—have succumbed to the delusion that they are waging an apocalyptic war for western civilization, a war that they believe must be won using any means. Their cause is unambiguous. And it is terrifying to anyone who cares about American democracy.
Barry Goldwater was wrong. Extremism is a vice, and a dangerous one, especially for a democracy.