Diminished Democracy: A Key Ingredient to Enduring American Conservatism
If anything was confirmed by last Monday's Supreme Court's ruling for Wisconsin's primary to continue as planned, despite the on goings of a global pandemic, it's that a weak democracy makes for happy Conservatives. This ruling was of course handed to the GOP through its own subscribed members of the high court. However, this decision is rather a piece of a whole, and how the bigger picture portrays how weakened democracies strengthen enduring Conservatism.
Although it might not be fathomable for conservative readers, this topic is one that is proven though recorded case studies and observed political events. Let's delve right into it..
Civil Participation is perhaps the most central pillar to Democracy itself, and yet, a grave threat to conservative livelihood. With America's long-observed history of immigration, suppression of voting rights has been a hallmark of the US Republican Party. Voting is indisputably essential to any democracy, and highlights a valued way for civil participation. Extending this inalienable democratic right, however, directly counters conservative efforts during election season. Despite seeing fit to tax undocumented and low-income constituents, the Conservatives party has a long history of voter suppression in these communities. Cases have documented active GOP campaigns dispersing incorrect voting locations come Election Day, drafting state and federal legislation to disqualify specific documentation to vote and opposing the expansion of voting hours and absentee ballots. All these exhaustive efforts have been undertaken by the GOP for one sole reason: they've become self-aware that in order for them to survive, democracy must never be fully open for business.
As an additional championed pillar of democracy, Civil Rights serves as another obstacle for Conservatives to dismantle. An era of advocacy we all grew up learning about, Civil Rights epitomizes Democracy at its peak. It personifies the door to opportunity lies open for all to walk through, not just a pre-selected few. It levels the playing field regardless of identity or socio-economic standing. The only issue is, Conservatives often prefer their chances at an advantage, guaranteed by the promise there'll be those who stand disenfranchised. To put the generic GOP attitude towards civil rights in the frankest of words: if you're not a heterosexual, white Christian male, don't let the door hit you on your way out. What is absolutely dumb-founding about this is how the GOP turned so many electorates away without a second thought. Now in the modern era come presidential elections, they've subjugated themselves into having to scrap together every low-educated, predominately-caucasian community to have a chance of winning. With the obvious moral issues aside, that's just not good electoral strategy.
On a more academic note, education while sometimes forgotten, is an essential pillar to Democracy as any. Access to education and higher institutions of learning have long proven to yield more informed, progressive Democratic societies. It equips them with the critical thinking skills that are so often needed for Democracy to continuously evolve. But Conservatives have long underfunded and cut equitable access to education whenever possible. The result: a vast majority of America's least educated states stand as Conservative strongholds such as: Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Arkansas, it goes on and on. These states' education systems fail to hold a candle to their higher educated constituencies. Their populations are less knowledgeable on how their own institutions operate and their capacity to improve constituents' lives, and that's precisely how the GOP prefers them. After all, when there's less citizens who know better alternatives exist, the less there are to demand higher standards. Again, the GOP counters this pillar of democracy for one sole reason: the more educated a society becomes, the more they gravitate towards liberal, progressive policies.
A final democratic element, information, is one of paramount importance in this modern digital age. A free and uninterrupted flow of information is essential for any Democracy to thrive. Although Conservatives can't halt the flow of information like a dam in a river, it routinely creates (and promotes) disinformation campaigns. These predatory campaigns target less educated communities, distorting the reality concerning issues ranging from public policies to high-profile social issues. Their news networks demonize grassroots movements, distort facts of congressional bills that counteract the GOP's agenda and prey upon unfounded fears of their constituents. Have their news programs run endlessly and we now endure an age when separating partisan thinking from factual truth has become a household chore. It's come to a point where GOP electorates absorb any spatter of information they're fed, absent any concern for its substantive credibility.
These are the pillars of Democracy, and how they each individually support initiatives Conservatives actively try to diminish. While they pledge to be supporters of Democracy in name, their practices expose an alternate reality. The Republican Party within the current administration today amount to no less than political terrorists, devoted to pushing democratic institutions to the brink of collapse. It serves their agenda of party advancement, despite the cost of staining the philosophies and ideals that shaped this nation.
As we experience these turbulent times, the slogan of The Washington Post hits the nail right on its head, Democracy really does die in darkness..
