The Death Of Democracy By A Thousand Cuts. When our nation was founded, the Framers couldn’t possibly imagine what the future would bring. So, the Constitution they created is intentionally sparse – a simple framework that would be able to accommodate change. Thus, most of the rules of our government are unwritten – the result of a sense of fairness and traditions that have been established over our nearly 250-year history.
Rules that Republicans seem all too willing to ignore.
Beginning with Reagan, they have labeled what Abraham Lincoln called a “government of the people, by the people and for the people” as the enemy. And, in recent years, their attacks on the unwritten rules and traditions of government have accelerated. In fact, they seem to rely on the rules only when they enable Republicans to gain power or to stay in power.
In this podcast, we list many of the rules and traditions Republicans have undermined – from free and fair elections to the rule of law. We call out the Republicans’ lack of respect for the truth and longstanding legal precedent. We explain how they have replaced honest negotiations and compromise with brinksmanship and hostage-taking. And how, by doing so, they have endangered our democracy as never before.
Indeed, this is how democracies die. Not by a single event. But by a series of events that erode democratic norms and allow autocrats to take hold.
