Democracy in the US is almost over. Is it time for a Hail Mary pass?

[Thomas Veil]

The time has come to ask ourselves questions we never wanted to ask. Consider...

• Conservatives have been gerrymandering to give themselves unfair advantage in federal elections, a situation that does not look to change anytime soon.
• We have a right wing party that has been getting more radical with each passing month.
• Said party has measurably advanced from spin > outright lies > deep paranoid conspiracies.
• We are now in one of the very few times in US history where a demagogic leader has control of the minds of a sizable portion of the population and is purposefully, even forcefully, feeding that paranoia. History has shown us where that has gone in other countries.
• The guardrails are down. The idea of simply recognizing that you lost an election and waiting for your next opportunity as dictated by law, is simply not accepted by a huge portion of the population.
• Because of this, we have already had one violent insurrection which resulted in deaths and a disruption of certification of the presidential vote.
• Though there was nothing wrong with the last election, Republicans are saying that there was and are using that excuse to conspire to narrow voting rights in a way that all but guarantees them victory from this point on.
• As an insurance policy, they are scheming to place their most radical, most corrupt members in state positions to count the vote, come the 2022 election and beyond.
• This same radical right has used trickery to load federal courts, including the Supreme Court, with judges sympathetic to its views.
• The For the People Act, which is perhaps our last best hope at keeping elections honest, is being strangled by one solitary Democratic senator who will defeat it by resisting changes to the filibuster rules.

Now, maybe you can think of some other way of preserving honest elections, of keeping this country from turning into a fascist one party autocracy (like so many other democracies-in-quotation-marks around the world). But I can't. As far as I'm concerned, the For the People Act just may be our next-to-last chance to attempt to preserve our country as a true democracy.

So the time has come to ask: if it fails and we are out of all other choices...is it time to start thinking about preserving our democracy through martial law?

I'm not talking about send-out-the-troops-to-storm-people's-homes martial law. I'm talking about Biden simply declaring a suspension of Congress' and the courts' ability to strangle free elections so that no second party ever again has a chance to challenge Republicans. I'm talking about declaring election laws across the nation frozen at where they were in November of 2020; installing election overseers in state offices where there is a question of ultra-partisan Secretaries of State purposely not counting votes correctly; forbidding laws that would allow state legislatures to replace legal electors with their own partisan ones; and apportioning districts in each state according to the census but minimizing or eliminating gerrymandering.

Now, don't think I'm throwing this idea out there lightly. Martial law is deep, deep territory, one which I feel creepy even talking about. But god help us, I can't think of another alternative to losing our democracy altogether.

 

[SuperMatt]

The time has come to ask ourselves questions we never wanted to ask. Consider...

• Conservatives have been gerrymandering to give themselves unfair advantage in federal elections, a situation that does not look to change anytime soon.
• We have a right wing party that has been getting more radical with each passing month.
• Said party has measurably advanced from spin > outright lies > deep paranoid conspiracies.
• We are now in one of the very few times in US history where a demagogic leader has control of the minds of a sizable portion of the population and is purposefully, even forcefully, feeding that paranoia. History has shown us where that has gone in other countries.
• The guardrails are down. The idea of simply recognizing that you lost an election and waiting for your next opportunity as dictated by law, is simply not accepted by a huge portion of the population.
• Because of this, we have already had one violent insurrection which resulted in deaths and a disruption of certification of the presidential vote.
• Though there was nothing wrong with the last election, Republicans are saying that there was and are using that excuse to conspire to narrow voting rights in a way that all but guarantees them victory from this point on.
• As an insurance policy, they are scheming to place their most radical, most corrupt members in state positions to count the vote, come the 2022 election and beyond.
• This same radical right has used trickery to load federal courts, including the Supreme Court, with judges sympathetic to its views.
• The For the People Act, which is perhaps our last best hope at keeping elections honest, is being strangled by one solitary Democratic senator who will defeat it by resisting changes to the filibuster rules.

Now, maybe you can think of some other way of preserving honest elections, of keeping this country from turning into a fascist one party autocracy (like so many other democracies-in-quotation-marks around the world). But I can't. As far as I'm concerned, the For the People Act just may be our next-to-last chance to attempt to preserve our country as a true democracy.

So the time has come to ask: if it fails and we are out of all other choices...is it time to start thinking about preserving our democracy through martial law?

I'm not talking about send-out-the-troops-to-storm-people's-homes martial law. I'm talking about Biden simply declaring a suspension of Congress' and the courts' ability to strangle free elections so that no second party ever again has a chance to challenge Republicans. I'm talking about declaring election laws across the nation frozen at where they were in November of 2020; installing election overseers in state offices where there is a question of ultra-partisan Secretaries of State purposely not counting votes correctly; forbidding laws that would allow state legislatures to replace legal electors with their own partisan ones; and apportioning districts in each state according to the census but minimizing or eliminating gerrymandering.

Now, don't think I'm throwing this idea out there lightly. Martial law is deep, deep territory, one which I feel creepy even talking about. But god help us, I can't think of another alternative to losing our democracy altogether.

Martial law would literally kill the democracy. Congress needs to act to pass a voting rights act. We can‘t have Biden do it by fiat.

 

[Thomas Veil]

I understand, but I think by now everybody, up to and including Chuck Schumer, recognizes that's not going to happen.

And when it doesn't happen, what's left? There's the Insurrection Act, but in our present environment that could easily fall to a 6-3 conservative majority Supreme Court.

 

[SuperMatt]

I understand, but I think by now everybody, up to and including Chuck Schumer, recognizes that's not going to happen.

And when it doesn't happen, what's left? There's the Insurrection Act, but in our present environment that could easily fall to a 6-3 conservative majority Supreme Court.

Because the GOP now represents a (shrinking) minority, if they win due to cheating in elections, the majority of people will see this and take to the streets I believe. Think nationwide strikes, etc. It could be ugly, but still better than martial law.

 

[Thomas Veil]

I'd like to believe a popular revolt will happen, but with all due respect I think that is wishful thinking.

It's like disaffected Republicans. There are more of them around than ever and we're all sitting around waiting for them to save us by forming a third party, but that's not happening either.

We're playing prevent defense, and as a football fan, you know how that works against a aggressive, relentless offense.

 

[Huntn]

Martial law would literally kill the democracy. Congress needs to act to pass a voting rights act. We can‘t have Biden do it by fiat.

And the GOP is dead set against "voters rights" if they think that will screw them in 2022. I think we are in deep trouble as a Nation although I can't predict at what point we might see a gun revolution start to take place. The military has a huge amount of power here. And I don't know how many people are actively thinking about this but if you want a huge shock, you want your life turned upside down, if you want your comfort level drastically lowered, then jump into an active revolution. The shit will hit the fan and spray on everyone. And I'm living in one of the absolute worst States for the Civil War Volume 2 to happen.

 

[Yoused]

We're playing prevent defense, and as a football fan, you know how that works …

You play prevent defense when you have a good solid lead and there is very little clock left. You can afford to allow the opposition to make small gains, just not long, fast game changers. We do not have a good solid lead right now, and, despite being a sub-plurality, the opposition has established a pretty darn strong position. We need to cut the tact and start going after the parasites. We need to ok things like, “Marjorie Traitor Wharrgarbl, you are a fucking moron, stfu,” because treating the shitheads like colleagues has merely forced us to acknowledge shitheadedness as legitimate position. That needs to end.

 

[lizkat]

You play prevent defense when you have a good solid lead and there is very little clock left. You can afford to allow the opposition to make small gains, just not long, fast game changers. We do not have a good solid lead right now, and, despite being a sub-plurality, the opposition has established a pretty darn strong position. We need to cut the tact and start going after the parasites. We need to ok things like, “Marjorie Traitor Wharrgarbl, you are a fucking moron, stfu,” because treating the shitheads like colleagues has merely forced us to acknowledge shitheadedness as legitimate position. That needs to end.

Well there's still something to be said for letting things speak for themselves and so reveal the depth or dearth of their value...

Pelosi has doubtless correctly concluded that the Rs would just make more political hay off a party-line vote in the House to expel Taylor Greene. Otherwise she'd be long gone already instead of just having been stripped of her committee assignments. Even in the vote to do that, a handful of Republicans did join all the Democrats...

The way it is now, it's pretty obvious that the only reason MTG still holds a seat in the House is because the Republicans don't mind harboring a creature who in the past has gone so far as to recommend the execution of various high profile Democrats. All this becomes part of the history of this iteration of the Republican Party still in thrall to an autocratic former president. Revise as they might like to try to do, the Rs cannot clean up MTG's credentials. She's one of them and by default of inaction they embrace her own past or ongoing advocacy of violence in politics, white supremacy, antisemitism, "Anglo-Saxon political traditions" and a raft of conspiracy theories. However, she occasionally oversteps herself and runs into opposition from a few Republicans willing to speak out against her (sometimes withdrawn) proposals for her party's future.

Marjorie Taylor Greene Praises Boebert, Hypes Future CO Visit With Gaetz

In an appearance on a Denver talk radio station last Monday, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) described a "civil war" within the GOP congressional caucus between establishment and Trump Republicans...

coloradotimesrecorder.com

Still, Taylor Greene was elected in her district with a 75% margin, in an apparently free and fair election, although one where results were at least somewhat skewed by the collapse of her opponent's campaign in the general election, so that she essentially ran unopposed.

‘It’s Embarrassing’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Tests the Limits of Some Voters (Published 2021)

In her Georgia district, voters saw Ms. Greene as a conservative voice that would be impossible to ignore. Now the revelation of past social media posts has unsettled some who backed her.

www.nytimes.com

The revelation of some of her former social media posts has dismayed some former supporters. However, the district is ultraconservative, and barring revelations that MTG literally enabled the Jan. 6th insurrection, it's possible she can overcome GOP primary opposition for the 2022 races and later also beat out Democratic opposition. Four Dems and one Republican have already filed paperwork to take her on.

Fourth Democrat Announces Challenge To Marjorie Taylor Greene

 

[SuperMatt]

If we don’t change the Senate, democracy will truly be over:

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/09/1002...rce=Twitter or X not allowed&utm_campaign=npr

 

[Huntn]

If we don’t change the Senate, democracy will truly be over:

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/09/1002...rce=Twitter or X not allowed&utm_campaign=npr

And as long as the GOP is the minority in charge, all is well.