Liars Running the Show

It should be unnerving that we are electing government officials, from governors and secretaries of state – directly responsible for election integrity – as well as members of state legislatures and Congress, who have campaigned to ensure that “liberal Democrats” cannot “hijack” elections under their watch. These new age White Christian conservatives believe (or at least say they believe) that Joe Biden is not the legitimate President of the United States and that massive election fraud – which to date lacks any meaningful proof anywhere – deprived Donald Trump of his rightful victory. That these candidates are telling their constituents that they will do “whatever it takes,” to preserve their conservative edge over the opponents, should trouble us all… but it doesn’t. Repealing democracy seems to be acceptable… as long as “our side wins.”

Most of these new GOP candidates are also proselytizing that the First Amendment does not require a separation between church and state. They favor of an NRA view that the Second Amendment was designed to arm Americans to overthrow a government with which they disagree. Their driving belief is that the United States must declare itself to be a Christian Nationalist nation, dominated by White traditional leaders, with necessary limitations on those who might object to that form of government.

They support the richest people seeking to avoid expensive regulations and generate the lowest tax rate possible – under the failed “trickle down” economic theory that tanked Liz Truss’ tenure as UK Prime Minister after 44 days in office – and tell us that we cannot afford programs aimed at containing climate change, which is (at least to them) a temporary natural cycle that will return to “normal” soon.

Under the guise of shoring up the financial stability of Social Security and Medicare, this rising GOP faction also openly states that it wishes to repeal recent enhancements in Medicare, capping medical costs and providing hearing/vision benefits to seniors; they want to rein in escalations in annual Social Security benefits and eligibility. Families struggling with student loans are watching Republican governors sue to stop the loan forgiveness programs for low- and middle-income taxpayers (even as mega-millionaires had no issue taking huge COVID era federal money). And they want to impeach against Joe Biden, although they have not come up with a reason yet.

In short, except for passionate believers in extreme religious views and debunkable conspiracy theories, unless you are really rich, there is virtually nothing in the current Republican agenda that would benefit you. They aren’t going to increase grants and loans to those slammed by climate change-driven natural disasters, events like Hurricane Ian which decimated Republican-run Florida. Seniors’ Medicare and Social Security benefits are targets for GOP downsizing. Very little new money will go into stemming the trillions of dollars of expected climate change damage, and our infrastructure is unlikely to get the very necessary upgrade money beyond the bills Biden got through Congress by avoiding a filibuster from lockstep GOP opposition; the legislation passed as filibuster-exempt “budget reconciliation” bills.

But for the privilege of getting this Republican effort into immutable law, likely to be sustained by a Trump-reconfigured rogue Supreme Court that is busy trashing earlier Supreme Court precedents, that GOP constituency must repeal representative democracy. That more than half the electorate does not favor these GOP policies or recent Supreme Court mandates/reversals does not matter, because our voting system – from the Electoral College to the equal representation of states in the Senate regardless of population to giving power to local election officials and legislatures even if minorities lose their proportionate political voice – cedes actual voting control to a conservative minority. Not to the middle. And definitely not to the left.

Writing for the November 1st Los Angeles Times prior to the election, Mark Barabak looked at this anti-democratic movement, particularly at what seems to be the poster-state for election deniers and advocates of limiting access to voting: Arizona. “[Arizona political independent, Steven Arechiga, campaigning in Tuscon told Barabak:] It’s bad enough… that candidates like gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake and Senate hopeful Blake Masters refuse to acknowledge President Trump’s defeat. Worse, Arechiga suggested, is what might come in 2024 if Lake and the [other election denying] GOP candidates for secretary of state, Mark Finchem, and attorney general, Abraham Hamadeh, seize hold of the state’s election machinery.

“‘Then you’ve got liars running the show. People who are in charge making decisions that suit themselves,’ said Arechiga, 69, who taught English as a second language before retiring. As he spoke, a steady stream of voters trickled in to drop off or cast early ballots at the public library, its slanted rooftop emulating the soaring peaks of the nearby Santa Catalina Mountains… ‘I just think that’s the road to authoritarianism,’ Arechiga went on. ‘People saying, ‘We’re going to do it our way, and everyone else gets pushed aside that doesn’t agree with us.’ That’s the fear I have.’

“After the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and Trump’s relentless peddling of his stolen-election fable, it seemed that the fate of democracy itself would be central to the debate this ragged campaign season… With a few exceptions — Senate races in Nevada and Utah, the gubernatorial election in Pennsylvania, a handful of other contests where culprits in the insurrection are running — that hasn’t been the case.

“But nowhere is there an election-denier slate like in Arizona… The state is not immune to soaring inflation, rising interest rates and the dour economic forecasts that have tanked Biden’s approval ratings and pushed Democrats back on their heels, imperiling the party’s control of the House and Senate. By some accounts, prices have risen faster here than anywhere in the country and, not surprisingly, inflation was generally the first thing voters spoke of when asked what they had on their minds.

“But in more than two dozen conversations in Tucson, the Phoenix suburbs and points between, many brought up Trump and the election deniers who have parroted his lies and baseless conspiracy theories… [Political independent, 52-year-old Travis Brady who teaches culinary arts to high schoolers in Casa Grande] insisted, in a voice dripping with disdain, that the 2020 balloting ‘was fine, there was nothing wrong with it,’ and Lake and others who suggest the contrary have served only to embarrass Arizona.

“‘The fact that these politicians, the ones that are Trump-endorsed, are already saying the elections this year are rigged, they’re the ones that are undermining election confidence more than anybody else ever could,’ said Brady… (Lake, who is well known as a longtime Phoenix television news anchor, won’t promise to accept the result if she loses.)... ‘I just can’t support that,’ Brady said… In many ways, Arizona lies at the heart of the still-roiling fight over 2020.”

Immigrants at the border are not coming to “replace” White voters. Many are fleeing corruption and violence in their home countries, fueled primarily from demand from US drug users and enforced by Latin American cartels with an endless supply of easily purchased American guns (including assault weapons). Crime is not on the increase except where guns are involved – now more easily obtained and concealed under GOP-mandated lax gun control. Per capita crime rates in New York are less than those in ultra-red Oklahoma. Fuel and food prices are soaring because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Other than taking away benefits for most of us, there are no GOP proposals to solve inflation. At least there are not hordes of brown shirts marching… Ugh, I forgot about the GOP militia, groups like the Proud Boys, 3 Percenters, Oath Keepers, etc… many of whom are law enforcement officers or in our military.

I’m Peter Dekom, and as any student of 20th century history knows, events that parallel these right-wing GOP movements led to genocide, territorial invasion, civil war and even world wars.