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"Te shameful and deeply irrational response at the Capitol to the election was simply the most recent manifestation of a longstanding movement to subvert our democracy," according to the authors.
The simple, hopeful message from the mind-boggling and awful assault on democracy
Jan 15 2021
Berkman and Beem are on the political science faculty at Penn State University.
<p>We direct our university's McCourtney Institute for Democracy, which is committed to promoting democracy in the United States and abroad. Last week's disturbing events in the nation's capital imperil our American democracy. They require some thoughtful reflection about how we got here and what we do about it.</p><p>If history proves anything, it is that people disagree. Vehemently. Unity of opinion is not possible. Democracy exists as a way for people to disagree and yet still live together peaceably. Elections are the means by which we do that. They are the backbone of a democratic system. Every vote counts the same and the candidate who receives the most votes wins. A peaceful transition of power occurs as losers accept the outcome and come back prepared to fight again another day.</p><p>If any aspect of this system fails, democracy becomes impossible. Over the last many months, since well before Joe Biden's clear and commanding presidential victory, we have spoken forcefully that it was not only factually wrong but also dangerous to claim that the 2020 election was unfair, rigged or otherwise tainted.</p><p>Indeed, we have celebrated the hard work and successful efforts of election workers and others around the country who managed to carry out this election under difficult circumstances. </p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>But the shameful and deeply irrational response at the Capitol to the election was simply the most recent manifestation of a longstanding movement to subvert our democracy. </p><p>The scenes we saw should not be seen as sudden or unpredictable. They are rather the inevitable outcome of a sustained and reckless assault on the propositions that make democracy possible. The chronic denigration of the rights of the other side, the easy dismantling of democratic norms and procedures — and ultimately, the rejection of even the foundational idea that there is one reality, one truth, for all of us — all facilitated the breakdown we saw before us. </p><p>Every one of the politicians or pundits who took part in this authoritarian charade, who blithely put their own political or economic calculus ahead of the well-being of our nation and our democracy, will have to live forever with the humiliation of this moment.</p><p>But all Americans of good will have to take on the burden of rebuilding what has been lost. As we now know too well, democracy is fragile. If it is to continue, let alone thrive, it will require a renewed commitment from all of us.</p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p>
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By inciting a riot, President Trump gave Democrats the chance to transcend the gamesmanship they helped to create, writes Salit.
More excessive partisanship will make wound from Capitol siege even worse
Jan 14 2021
Salit is president of Independent Voting, which works to promote the political clout of unaffiliated voters, and the author of "Independents Rising: Outsider Movements, Third Parties, and the Struggle for a Post-Partisan America" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).
<p>My father, a Navy veteran of World War II, just celebrated his 94th birthday. He is one of the estimated 300,000 living veterans of that war and he is healthy, mobile and active, with a wicked sense of humor. His memories are sharp, his voice raspy, and he offers colorful reflections on almost a century of American life.<br></p><p>Last weekend, I asked what the country was like when he was in college during and after the war. If you were in uniform and hitchhiking on leave, he said, drivers stopped and said they would take you wherever you wanted to go. In a bar, you couldn't pay for a beer or a meal. The country was united and he was so proud. </p><p>Then he paused. When he watched the events at the Capitol, he said, suddenly grim, he wished he was still in uniform. He wanted to be there to defend our democracy, to repel and punish those who would attack it. His voice was choking. </p><p>My heart ached. His pain and anger were palpable, even over Zoom. Yes, it was about the sordid events at the Capitol. But it was also about how much the fabric of the country had unspooled in his lifetime. </p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>Like many, I watched members of Congress forced to evacuate after a failure by law enforcement to create a sufficiently secure perimeter around them or put a visible and well-equipped anti-riot force in place, as had been done before a thoroughly peaceful anti-racism protest the Rev. Al Sharpton led on Capitol Hill last summer. This double-standard must be investigated. </p><p>Eventually, last week's violence was ended. Debate resumed. Objections were heard, the separate houses debated. After courts had dismissed more than 60 lawsuits claiming fraud, after states conducted recounts that produced no different outcomes, Congress affirmed that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had the necessary electoral votes to be sworn in next week. </p><p>For my money, the democratic process held. The perpetrators who committed violent acts and brought lethal paraphernalia are being hunted down, arrested and charged. I disagree with those who breathlessly proclaim our democracy is fragile. In the face of ceaseless legal, political and procedural challenges culminating in this violent disruption, democracy looked pretty sturdy. </p><p>But what does seem fragile? The institutions that mediate and control the American people's relationship to our democratic republic. Here I refer to the two dominant political parties, the massively over-endowed and overreaching mechanisms of the exercise of political power. </p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>Full disclosure: I'm an independent. I dislike the political parties and what they breed. They are dedicated to the proposition that their self-preservation, separately and together, is equivalent to the national interest. There are moments of upheaval where those can appear to be the same thing, but that is momentary. </p><p>This is part of the terrible pain of the moment. The vacuum in political leadership in America is wrenching. After a brutal election season — in which $15 billion was spent by both sides getting Americans to hate and fear each other — 41 percent of the electorate chose to identify with neither party. Declaring oneself a political independent is their statement of non-compliance with a wretched culture. </p><p>The House decided that an unprecedented second impeachment was the best way to sanction Trump, and 10 Republicans joined the Democrats to charge him with "incitement of insurrection" Wednesday. I sorely wish that partisan Democrats hadn't used the impeachment gambit once before, and with an almost totally party-line outcome.</p><p>It would have been better to tie the president's hands for his final days in office by having Vice President Pence and the Cabinet (what's left of it) invoke the 25th Amendment — followed by Pence, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer and Kevin McCarthy standing together to promise a peaceful transition of power. </p><p>But I don't get to decide. I'm only one citizen, one who's sick and tired of being force fed a toxic brew every time something happens. </p><p>Trump, in his infinite narcissism, did more than incite a riot. He handed the Democratic Party a golden goose: the chance to ring the bell for democracy, to transcend the gamesmanship they helped to create. </p><p>In an Ipsos <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/abc-news-rioting-democracy-011021" target="_blank">poll taken last weekend,</a> 58 percent of independents said Trump should be removed from office before his term ends — surely the most nonpartisan view on that question. But the same poll found only half the country believes Democrats can be counted on to protect our democracy. Many independents are asking whether Democrats will champion the necessary political reforms to reverse the incentives driving partisanship. I have not seen evidence they will. </p><p>Meanwhile, Republicans are deservedly in chaos. Those high-minded government officials turning in their resignations have me laughing. Someone once said, when government officials talk about principles, hold on to your wallet. I just locked mine in a drawer. The GOP is assessing a vote to convict Trump in the Senate followed by a vote to bar him from any future office. A healthier option would be opening all the 2024 presidential primaries to all voters. Independents voted against Trump by 13 points in November, delivering the Democrats the White House and, later, the Senate. Trump could not survive an open primary in four years. The American people would be the deciders. </p><p>Perhaps the worst thing is that it's so hard to know what anything means. The 18th century philosopher Bishop Butler opined that everything is what it is and not another thing. Wishful thinking? Did the Democratic leadership pursue impeachment because they have the votes to stay Trump's hand? Or do they want to force the GOP to cast damaging votes? Are the resignations an "every man for himself" act of desperation? Or an act of conscience? Was the scene at the Capitol an actual insurrection or a crazed display of deformed defiance, with criminal acts that should be prosecuted? </p><p>Are all these events, and so many others, only one thing? </p><p>America is in crisis. Where do we go from here? The widening gulf between the positive traditions of our democracy, however flawed, and the current culture of partisan politics will have to be engaged. We can't continue as we are. This we know because we feel it in our gut. </p>
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'Polarized' doesn't describe us accurately, because there's a third force to reckon with
Jan 13 2021
Anderson edited "Leveraging: A Political, Economic and Societal Framework" (Springer, 2014), has taught at five universities and ran for the Democratic nomination for a House seat in Maryland in 2016.
<p>The disgraceful storming of the Capitol has led House Democrats to ready a vote Wednesday impeaching President Trump for inciting the mob, and polling shows most Americans want him removed before his time expires next week. But the vast majority of Republicans oppose impeachment, and many still believe Trump's baseless assertion that he's being denied another term because of election fraud.</p><p>So there is undeniably deep division between Democrats and Republicans. But self-described independents, who account for two-fifths of the electorate, are currently siding with the Democrats by 2-to-1. They are hardly evenly divided on impeachment — and it's similarly impossible to prove the leanings of these 100 million are evenly divided between the two parties. </p><p>As a result, it is misleading to say we are a nation divided into two opposing groups. In reality, there are three groups, and you can appreciate this by considering three images of the country.</p>
<p>One is for Trump's backers. The next is for President-elect Joe Biden's supporters. The last is for those who either didn't vote, or voted for either Biden or Trump even though they were not passionately committed to either candidate. </p>
<p>Here is the Trump supporter picture, taken before the end of last week: He is at the White House sitting in bed and tweeting away. We see citizens reading his posts; they are either smiling or cheering, or locking their doors, or grabbing their guns, or checking their investment portfolios on their phones. We see them in churches. Others are at car races and horse races wearing MAGA hats. They are also in their small businesses and at assembly lines, with their hats, assembling machines or working at personal computers. They are predominantly white, and a good number are in rural areas.</p>
<p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>Here is the Biden supporter picture: Citizens are marching in the streets of several cities, protesting Trump and protesting the establishment. They are Blacks, women, environmentalists and members of the LGBTQ community. Others are praying in churches and synagogues, holding pictures of loved ones hospitalized with Covid-19. We see the poor and working-class Americans, on foot or in their cars, waiting at food banks. We see others telling their therapists and internists how relieved they are that their candidate won. They are teachers and professors, nurses and bus drivers. Half are white, but most are living in cities or suburbs.</p>
<p>Here is the third picture: It's dark and you can't see any people, but you can see captions of what they are saying: "I'm a moderate, and I voted for Biden because I don't like Trump." "I'm a moderate and I voted for Trump, but I don't love him." "I don't vote. The parties are the same. They both screw the middle class." "I don't vote either. And no one ever calls me to ask me why." "I stopped voting in 1976 after Richard Nixon was thrown out of office. I don't follow politics anymore." "I'm an independent, and I don't like either major party. I ignore them both. I vote in some elections." "I'm an independent, and I do follow politics. I usually vote for the Republican." "I'm an independent, and I also follow politics, and I usually vote for the Democrat." </p>
<p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>The curious thing about this picture is that we can't see whether these people are living in the country, in cities or in suburbia — in a row house or a big new Colonial. And we cannot see their race or gender. Indeed, we know very little about them other than that about half are what political scientists call "low information voters." This group makes up about 40 percent of Americans old enough to cast a ballot.</p>
<p>What we don't have, then, is one image of America where everyone is rowing the same boat with their own oar. What we don't have is a massive blue army fighting a massive red army as though it were a battle in the Civil War. </p>
<p>There are really three Americas, and they cut across all of the most popular categories. We know a great deal about the pure Democrats and the pure Republicans. We know very little about the moderates and independents who vote for both sides and those citizens who don't vote at all. Independents alone account for two of every five adults eligible to vote. And about 80 million of that group, many millions of them unaffiliated with either party, didn't even vote at all this year.</p>
<p>The media insists that there are two categories, the D's and the R's. Our Washington politicians, who are deeply polarized, also act as though these are the only two options. </p>
<p>In the years ahead we need to recover from Trump, support Biden because he is going to be the president at a very difficult time — and give voice to those who are not part of the polarization drama. Only 51 percent of the 158 million people who voted cast their votes for Biden, while 47 percent went with Trump. </p>
<p>But these figures convey the misleading impression that we are a country divided between two sides. We are not.</p>
<p>Last week's awful assault on Congress should not only cause some Trump supporters to question their allegiance to the Trump Republican Party; it should also throw light on the fact that there are tens of millions of Americans who do not identify with the bitter polarization battles of Washington in the first place.</p>
<p>The new president, and the new Democratic Congress, need to represent all Americans. Not just those who voted for Biden with enthusiasm, or Trump with enthusiasm, but those who voted for Biden and Trump without enthusiasm and those who did not vote at all.</p>
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Civic Ed
True
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Elected officials who spread disinformation, like the QAnon conspiracy theories, should be barred from public office, writes Bethume.
The Capitol mob was put down. The disinformation spreaders need to be defeated next.
Jan 12 2021
Berthume is a fellow at the Truman National Security Project, a progressive defense and foreign policy think tank.
<div></div><p>Last week's invasion of the Capitol by QAnon adherents and white supremacists, acting on the orders of the president of the United States and encouraged by members of Congress, demonstrated in clear and visceral terms that disinformation is an existential threat to the republic.</p><p>Elected officials who engage in disinformation must be banned from public life. The Biden administration must take this problem seriously and act now or risk the end of American society.</p><p>The case for taking concrete action on disinformation is clear. The goal is to blunt the weaponization of our national media environment by those who would use it to radicalize Americans. The violent failed coup attempt at the Capitol — and the simultaneous, correlated mob actions in Georgia, Washington, Kansas, Minnesota, Utah, Ohio, Arizona, Oregon, Michigan, Oklahoma, Colorado, California and Texas — was not an arbitrary incident. It was the outcome of a months-long disinformation campaign led by President Trump, joined by a wide array of Republican elected officials and amplified by mainstream right-wing media. </p><p>Our current information ecosystem encourages elected officials to lie and rewards them with power. It incentivizes platforms and media outlets to enable those who are ill-suited to public service to engage instead in destructive behavior. And it likewise rewards them with reach and profit. The attacks of Jan. 6 are the inevitable result.</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>The problem is too far gone to solve with existing mechanisms. A popular idea is to blame social media platforms, which they absolutely deserve. However, attempts to fix this problem at the platform level by using existing regulatory tools would take years. We do not have enough time to rely on this as a sole remedy. </p><p>In state capitals nationwide, legislators are preparing to use disinformation to justify anti-democratic measures that will further restrict access to the ballot and selectively criminalize legitimate protest. Conservative media still sits atop a high-speed pipeline of conspiracy theories born in the most extreme, pro-fascist, white nationalist corners of the internet. Right-wing outlets and Republican elected officials are already amplifying an obvious Big Lie: That those who attacked the Capitol were not pro-regime sectarian domestic terrorists, rioting in support of Trump's last desperate attempt to maintain his grip on power, but rather were the agents of antifa.</p><p>State governments not already captured by anti-democratic actors must take immediate legislative action to punish participation in disinformation campaigns by elected officials. The consequences must be real and have teeth: expulsion and removal from their posts and a lifetime ban on holding another public office. </p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>The Biden administration must go further and dedicate real resources to combating disinformation. The big picture reasons for this are clear: Such an effort would buttress democracy against the most corrosive and destructive force we face other than climate change, and it would help us work toward a future in which we can begin to repair the damage already done to our society.</p><p>The more practical reasons are just as urgent. An administration that does not immediately address this problem with sufficient people, money, big thinking and activist policies will be unable to govern because it will soon be paralyzed by disinformation on all fronts. Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, threats from foreign adversaries, the battered economy and the shortcomings of our social justice system will be impossible if the basic tenets of operating the federal government are besieged, again and again, figuratively and literally.</p><p>Disinformation is a national security crisis and represents an enormous vulnerability to threats both foreign and domestic. So it merits staff integration across multiple elements of the executive branch including the National Security Council, the Defense Department, the Justice Department, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.</p><p>This problem cannot be taken seriously enough, but it must first be taken seriously at all. It is a challenge to governance, human rights and democracy, and must be treated as such. Trump will leave office next week. But this problem will persist. Things will get worse.</p><div></div><p>Every political scientist knows the consequences for anyone participating in an attempted coup against the United States must be swift, harsh and public — or else the next attack will come soon and be worse. These consequences must reach and include the active participants in the disinformation campaign that generated the attack. This will serve as a necessary first step in an information war we must fight, or else face extinction.</p>
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