The GOP Is Systematically Stealing Democracy

By Charley James

The United States is facing its greatest Constitutional crisis since the Civil War.

With multiple studies providing incontrovertible proof that operatives of the Republican Party – either direct agents or individuals operating on its behalf – are stealing votes, then we cease being a democracy and can forget about any semblance of “representative government.”

When we reported this last Thursday, the UK Progressive Magazine site was hit with a massive Denial of Service (DDOS) attack from right wing zealots in America. Only if they were deeply concerned about the truth would a political faction go to such lengths.

Our Founding Fathers knew there was a real risk of this happening. In 1787, shortly after the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, a woman approached Ben Franklin and asked what sort of government the new nation would have. The venerable champion of American liberty famously replied, “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

We are losing our republic, and everything dear for which it stands.

Roots
Some argue the process began when Richard Nixon tried to steal America during Watergate. Fortunately, Congress and the courts stopped him cold. And compared to what is happening today, Watergate was amateur stuff, a Tinker Toy version of what was to come in real life.

In fact, the loss of democracy can trace its roots to Dec. 12, 2000, when George W. Bush won the presidency by one poorly reasoned, tortuously argued decision by the Supreme Court. It continued in 2004 with the wholesale theft of votes in Ohio and Florida, which assured Bush a second term. It happened in 2010 in the Arizona general election and in the 2012 primaries in Arizona and South Carolina where the GOP establishment even stole votes from other Republicans to benefit Mitt Romney.

When something like this happens in other countries, organizations such as the United Nations and The Carter Center monitor elections to prevent cheating. America is at the point where it needs international observers in many precincts, and to check outcomes against actual ballots. Yet Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott threatened to arrest monitors who might show up in Texas Nov. 6 even though poll watchers are immune from arrest if they do not interfere in voting, although the Tea Party group True The Vote has been accused frequently of harassing minority voters.

Still, when a state’s top legal officer doesn’t think laws apply to him, we have lost our democracy.

Stuart Smalley
Democracy in America is being pecked to death by ducks.

Item: The totally irrational Citizens United decision gave corporations – and anyone else with deep pockets and a vested interest in the outcome of an election – the right to buy elections. Even foreign companies can now slip their cash into the US process with their contributions laundered through the US Chamber of Commerce’s general operating budget.

Item: Totally unfounded right wing claims of voter fraud  led to state ID laws and other Republican Party efforts to suppress likely Democratic voters – minorities, students and other young voters, seniors, union workers.

Item: Thanks to money from the Koch Bros. and other business funders, the American Legislative Exchange Council functions as the back office staff for many Republican legislators around the country and drafts a disturbingly large number of anti-democratic state laws. They range from anti-collective bargaining law to establishing exorbitant residency requirements in order to be able to register and vote.

To bastardize Al Franken’s classic Saturday Night Live nebbishy little character Stuart Smalley, we are losing democracy because the GOP and movement conservatives believe, “We’re rich enough. We’re clever enough. And, doggone it, people may not like us but we can do it anyway.”

Even a duck can kill anything with enough pecks.

Of, By, For Who?
Forty years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that anything which didn’t allow “one man, one vote” was unconstitutional. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in his memoir that it was the most significant decision of his tenure, surpassing even Brown v Board of Education because “I believe so devoutly that, to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln’s famous epigram, ours is a government of all the people, by all the people, and for all the people.”

Although Baker v Carr focused on redistricting chicanery – even then, the GOP didn’t like the wrong kind of people voting – the principle has been the law of the land since 1962. Yet with friends in high places handing the right a string of Supreme Court victories that nibble away at individual rights and liberty, America is slowly drifting away from the precious idea Lincoln described so eloquently.

The question has become whether the notion of “one man, one vote” still applies in American politics.

It doesn’t if ALEC-written and Republican-passed laws make it difficult – some would say impossible – for the poor, the elderly, the needy and the young to cast a ballot.

It doesn’t if companies making computer voting machines openly support Republican candidates and insist that a paper audit trail that could uncover theft isn’t necessary.

It doesn’t if the Supreme Court says inanimate objects such as corporations can spend as much money as they want to change election outcomes.

It doesn’t if that same court says individuals and businesses can hide their campaign contributions from scrutiny behind a web of phony front groups such as Karl Rove’s SuperPAC.

It doesn’t if the American people – as in of the people, for the people, by the people – allow this to continue. Otherwise, what will remain of the Constitution and our freedom will be nothing more than a yellowed piece of parchment on display in a museum.

It is ironic that the right, which yowls giving people more liberty and greater freedom or a more secure life, is against the Constitution. Yet as they make a noise over here, over there they’re busy dismantling everything the Constitution stands for. No wonder we have a crisis on our hands.

Follow Charley on Twitter @SuddenlyHomeles

Denis G. Campbell contributed reporting to this article.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Charley James is a long-time independent journalist who covers social justice, politics and economic issues. He's worked in print and broadcast media for national magazines, large newspapers and major market radio and television outlets.
Email this author | All posts by Charley James