Who knew America was full of so many amateur social studies teachers?
Whenever I write about Republican-led efforts in state capitals across the country to sharply restrict voting rights (which disproportionately affect Black and brown voters who tend to support Democrats), I often receive a letter from an aggrieved conservative reader who reminds me: “John, you of all people should know that we are a republic, not a democracy.”
Strictly speaking, these readers are right. We are not a direct democracy. But the notes appeared with such surprising regularity that I had to ask myself: after decades of sending American forces around the world to spread and defend our particular brand of democracy, strengthened under President George W. Bush to almost religious zealwhat did conservatives suddenly have against him?
The answer came in as a November 2, 2020 essay in The Atlantic Claremont McKenna College political scientist George Thomas, who argued succinctly and persuasively why the GOP’s sudden insistence on this semantic distinction is a “dangerous and flawed argument.”
“Enabling permanent minority rule at the national level is not a feature of our Constitution, but a perversion of it,” Thomas argues, pointing to Republicans like U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah who toil over this corrosive chestnut as a way to justify a restricted type of participation in life political, as envisaged by the current incarnation of the GOP.
“The founding generation was deeply skeptical of what it called ‘pure’ democracy and defended the American experiment as ‘thoroughly republican,'” Thomas writes. “To accept this as a rejection of democracy ignores how the idea of rule by the people, including both democracy and republic, was understood during the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. It also ignores how we understand the idea of democracy today.”
He emphasized that President Abraham Lincoln, whom Republicans like to embrace when convenient, “used constitutional republic AND democracy synonymously, eloquently presenting the American experiment as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. And regardless of the complexity of the American constitutional design, Lincoln he insisted“Minority rule as a permanent arrangement is completely unacceptable.”
There is no doubt that Republicans are a minority, representing 43 percent of the nation but owning half the U.S. Senate, according to the study analysis by FiveThirtyEight.comwhich also pointed out that while Democrats must win a immense majority to govern, Republicans are relieved of this onerous task. The system is configured to ensure business continuity.
In addition to this imbalance in the Senate, “The Electoral College, House of Representatives, and state legislatures all favor the GOP,” the FiveThirtyEight analysis continued. “As a result, Republicans can control the government without winning a majority of the votes. In fact, more than possible – it has already happened, over AND over AND over Again.”
If you look at those who are most likely to make this tired store-bought argument, a different pattern emerges: They are white, privileged, and speaking from a position of great power. Therefore, it behooves them to imagine the idea of participating in political life as restricted as possible.
“This is a phrase coming from people who, looking back on American history, see themselves as safely at the center of the narrative and usually see their current privileges as a threat.” – Documentary filmmaker Astra Taylor he told Slate in 2020. “That’s why they want to reinforce the privileges they have and are looking for some kind of historical hook.”
Taylor points out that the United States has never really been a fully inclusive democracy — dating back to the Founders, who denied women and Black people the right to vote — and who didn’t even consider the enslaved to be fully human. Still, the political pendulum over the last few years has swung away from this idea toward a view of American democracy that is, while not fully majoritarian, nonetheless increasingly diverse and inclusive.
A recent report by Catalista major Democratic data firm, showed the 2020 electorate was the most diverse ever. Interestingly, the analysis found that while white voters still make up almost three-quarters of the electorate, their share has been dwindling since the 2012 election. This change “is mainly due to the decline in the number of white voters without a college degree, which dropped from 51 percent of the electorate in 2008 to 44 percent in 2020.” – notes the analysis.
Meanwhile, the analysis found that 39 percent of the coalition that supported President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were voters of color, while the remaining 61 percent of voters were roughly evenly split between college-educated and non-college-educated white voters. degree. Meanwhile, the Trump-Pence coalition was as homogeneous as could be expected: 85% white.
Republicans who wanted to “Make America Great Again” looked back to a very specific and mythologized view of the country: one that protected the rights and privileges of the white majority. With Trump gone, albeit almost forgotten, the “Republic is not a democracy” crowd is just another look at the same infinitely wronged face.