The Great Civics Lesson: Understanding the Views and Values of Democracy and How the Republicans are Opposed to Them

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) today said, “We need a speaker of the House that reflects the values and the views of Republican voters across the country, and they support President Trump and they support his agenda.” 

October 24, 2023 Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson

Speaker Mike Johnson the Embodiment of Republican Anti-Democratic Views and Values

With the UNANIMOUS election of Mike Johnson (R-Baby Jindal’s Ass), I guess we can parse out the values and the views of Republican voters across the country actually are just by examining Mike Johnson’s views and values:

• ELECTION DENIER:
  • Amicus Brief: As has been widely reported, he led an effort to get Republican Congress people to sign an amicus brief in Ken “Will You Pardon Me Now? How ’bout Now? Now? Paxton’s (AG-Corruption) ill-faited law suit to overturn the 2020 election. He argued that changes to election laws during the #COVID19 pandemic were unconstitutional, which any budding authoritarian knows is a better excuse to run roughshod over democracy than trying to get people to believe your overwhelming evidence of election fraud in Venezuela is real. Of course, it was at I2I4’s behest.
  • Defaming Dominion: He was an early promoter of defaming Dominion Voting Systems stating in a radio interview, “…a software system that is used all around the country that is suspect because it came from Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, when you have testimonials of people that like this, but in large numbers, it begs to be litigated and investigated.” Of course, it has to be litigated and investigated, just like they had to investigate women accused of consorting with the devil during the Medieval Witch Hysteria. So many people are saying it.
• VOTING RECORD: He’s never met a social conservative cause that he wasn’t more Jesusy, further right, or more condemning of than all the other social conservatives put together. His motto is, allegedly, Hate the sin; punish the sinner. He’s against abortion under any circumstances believing, apparently, that god will sort all of that out. Strangely, he still thinks people should seek medical care — as long as they can pay for it — rather than letting god sort out their cancer. He’s against marriage equality because gawad. He thinks poor children should starve because their characters’ are deeply flawed and are as such are hated by gawad. He thinks books are instruments of the devil and should be burned at the stake along with whatever librarian or teacher promoted them. You get the picture.

We can only conclude that every Republican Representative endorses his views and values because they voted for him when they had options for electing a more moderate Speaker. The entirety of the party must support and accept his inherent anti-democratic beliefs and methods. Thus, the Great Civics Lesson for the American people continues.

COMMENT: What do you think about Rep. Mike Johnson’s record and his election to House Speaker?

The American Electorate’s Inherent Misunderstanding of Democratic Principles and Practices

Americans have been sleeping at the democratic wheel for far too long. We’ve just assumed that since we are the world’s greatest democracy that we would always be a democracy. You know, whatever it was we did would be democratic. How could you be the world’s greatest democracy if your every instinct, thought, reflex, and inclination wasn’t democratic? That’s just good logic.

Given our recent electoral history, it is clear that we, as a group, are not sure what democracy means. It seems that most of us think that as long as votes are held and the “majority” wins, we have a democracy. Taking into consideration who actually gets to vote, the complexity of drawing voting district lines (gerrymandering), and the structural inequalities inherent in our system are just too difficult to think about. As long as I can vote, it must be a democracy, right?

Enumerating the Basic Principles of Democracy

Let’s see if we can enumerate the qualities that make a democracy a democracy, okay?

Sources of Government Legitimacy

in a democracy, Legitimacy comes from the people

The legitimacy of the government comes from the willingness of the governed to follow the laws it creates. In a democracy, we voluntarily and willingly follow the laws. If we think the laws are wrong, we know that we have recourse to change the laws either through court cases or legislation.

In Non-Democracies, Legitimacy comes from Violence

In all other forms of government, people obey the laws because they fear the violent repercussions that will occur if they don’t. They have no ability to affect the law or how it is enforced. Consequently, anyone who is advocating violence, using violent rhetoric and imagery, or promoting extra-judicial politically-based violence is anti-democratic and pro-authoritarian.

The track records of the parties makes it obvious who is promoting the use of violence to enforce obedience: Gym Jordan encouraged his supporters to threaten the lives and well-being of Republicans who opposed his Speakership candidacy. A substantial number of Republican senators who voted against convicting I2I4 did so because they feared for their lives or for the safety of their families. Every time a Republican doxxes an opponent, don’t they get inundated with hateful death threats? Wasn’t Pelosi’s husband attacked? Haven’t FBI offices been attacked? Aren’t hate crimes on the rise?

COMMENT: What are your thoughts on the legitimacy of our current government and the potential risks it faces in terms of losing the confidence and acceptance of the governed? How do you perceive the current state of government legitimacy and the implications it may have on our society?

Compromise Between Political Parties is the Heart of Democracy

Minority rights is one of the biggest differences that democracy has from other forms of governments. These are not ethnic, racial, or cultural minority rights, although their rights are protected in a democracy, too. It is the political minority who has the right to have their views heard and considered in a democracy.

The Majority Needs the Minority for legitimacy

We don’t want a bare majority of opinion to run roughshod over the minority. Just because you can get 50.1% of the vote for something, doesn’t mean you ought to do it. Brexit is probably the poster child of disregarding the views of the minority, since it passed with 50.1% of the vote and has been nothing but an unmitigated disaster that no one has been able to correct.

When the governing majorities are as slim as they are in the House and Senate, then you have to compromise to get legislation passed and do the work of the people. The street goes both ways, though. The minority cannot just have a knee-jerk opposition to everything the majority wants.

Majority rules in a democracy, but a sensible majority takes the views of the minority into consideration, and a sensible minority doesn’t block everything the majority does just because it isn’t the way it would do it. The operative term here is sensible. Obviously, the Republican minority in general, and the minority of the Republican House calling itself the Freedumb Cockups isn’t sensible. If they were, would they have given themselves such a derogatory name as Freedumb Cockups?

The Minority Must Accept the Majority’s Approach

Right now, we’re experiencing the effects of a political party whether in the bare majority or in the minority refusing to cooperate with the other party to govern and legislate. One person caused the House Speaker crisis that paralyzed Congress during massive crises in the world. A filibuster-proof majority of sixty votes is needed to pass legislation in the Senate. A single senator is blocking military appointments because of they lost the political fight on abortion. The Senate Republicans refuse to even consider Democratic Supreme Court nominees and push through their nominees in unprecedented fashion with no regard for the views of the minority. The Republican Party regularly shuts down the government or threatens to over budget impasses and political stunts.

COMMENT: What can Democrats do to help promote compromise and bipartisan cooperation and legislation in Congress? Should the views of the Republicans be taken into consideration by Democratic majorities given the lack of compromise and cooperation coming from Republicans?

Equality Before the Law: The Role of an Impartial Judiciary

Everyone is equal before the law. Given the number of prisoners who have been exonerated after spending decades in prison, we can be forgiven if we start to doubt the reality of this, but it is a stated principle of democracy, and one that we are working towards. The law should be applied evenly and justly without fear or favor.

The only way an impartial judiciary works is if we believe the judiciary is impartial. The only way we believe that is if it behaves in an impartial way. We follow the rules and participate in society when we trust that we are going to be treated fairly by the judicial system.

The Corrosive Effects of bias and corruption within the judiciary and Justice Department

We don’t dole out prison sentences, Congressional investigations, and constitutional decisions based on how much money the parties involved have, political beliefs, or who are friends with whom. If we don’t believe that the judicial system is fair, then there is no reason not to take the law into your own hands and we are back to rampant violence in the country.

Which party is accusing the judiciary and the Justice Department of bias while “their” Supreme Court justices openly accept bribes? Which party is advocating locking her up through extra-judicial processes? Which political party wants to use Congressional and criminal investigations to further their political goals and ambitions?

COMMENT: How important is confidence in our judiciary and criminal justice system? How can we support a return to an impartial judiciary?

Protecting Our Democracy by ONLY Voting for Pro-Democracy Candidates

That the Republican Party is anti-democratic is painfully obvious. They aren’t even trying to hide it. They are actively undermining our democracy by favoring violence as the way of enforcing their political will, refusing to govern if it means compromising with their opponents, and tilting the scales of justice into a dunking arm to drown all opponents as if they were common Medieval witches.

Unfortunately, we have a political press willing to dub Republicans who just voted for an election denier and opponent to civil rights as Speaker, normies, as in normal people. Worse, we have an electorate who continues to elect these authoritarian proponents to office.

Our democracy will remain under grave threat as long as every election isn’t about electing pro-democratic candidates and defeating anti-democratic ones.

It is long past time for us to rise up as one people and in one voice demand that our democracy continue. The Republican Speaker “fight” shows us who they are. As Mad-dog Greene said, they have a Speaker that reflects their views and values, which are profoundly anti-democratic. Now, we have to defeat them up and down the ballot at the local, state, and federal levels. It is the only way of preserving our democracy.

COMMENT: What are your thoughts on the erosion of democratic principles and practices in our society? How do you believe we can safeguard and strengthen our democracy?

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Imagery Attribution

This image was generated using Poe’s StableDiffusionXL bot using the prompt, A 1950’s style movie poster for a movie called “The Great Civics Lesson” using the House of Representatives as the backdrop..