The two-party political system in the U.S. goes all the way back to 1776. Political agendas have come and gone and both parties - each by nature a coalition of extremes and centrists - have evolved over time. Republicans date back to 1854, when they were formed to oppose the expansion of slavery into American territories. In 2020, Republicans were known not only as the party of corporate wealth, but of white supremacy. If you doubt that, explain to me why 90% of African-American voters who voted voted Democrat in 2020.
Back in the dark ages, when American kids still had to take civics classes in middle or high school, I was inspired by the notion that political elections were about the best man winning (there were precious few women in politics in the 1950s), and that once a senator or a congressman went to Washington, they got up in front of the Senate or the House and debated policy. When the time allotted for debate was over, they voted and everybody abided by the vote. If you didn't like it, you "voted the bums out of office." Another aspect of this elegant narrative was that we could expect gentlemen to "agree to disagree."
My father and his two brothers were all Republicans and it was from Republicans like them that I absorbed the values of independence and responsibility and the importance of dignity and fair play. My best friend in high school befriended and went to work for Lowell Weicker, the Republican Senator and later Governor of Connecticut who eventually got pushed out of the Republican Party for being too liberal. New England, or "Rockefeller," Republicans were my people back in the day before I had time to get serious about developing a more extensive understanding of American politics, and to this day I mourn the destruction of this once noble party.
That image of American government and a battle between two worthy opponents who shared the best in American values and differed only on how to use them to guide policy decisions is now a hopelessly quaint memory. These days, with very few exceptions, only the rich have a say in who gets elected in either party. And since the election of Barack Obama, the Republicans have stated openly that their goal is to gain power again by any means necessary and to keep it. Nowadays the zeitgeist is cultural war, and hostility seems to have been ratcheted up to white hot hatred between the two sides in the war.
But despite all those people of good will calling for compromise, and for "listening to the other side," I am struck with the philosophical dilemma of how honesty compromises with dishonesty, how malicious misrepresentation is supposed to work hand in hand with empirical truth. George Orwell predicted it. We are now living in fascist times, and two of the more characteristic features of fascism is the willful misrepresentation of truth, and the embrace of power for power's sake.
We're slipping off the edge. We're surrendering democracy because the will to keep it alive as a dream seems to have waned. We're remarkably close to the edge. Republicans have come out of the closet as white supremacists and Democrats continue to act as if they have the god-given right not to involve themselves in politics.
Jon Favreau, Barack Obama's former speech writer, now runs a podcast company called Crooked Media and a podcast, which he runs with Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor. Dan Pfeiffer co-hosts "Pod Save America" with them. All are former Obama employees. In a recent podcast, Favreau brought up the upcoming attempt to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom.
At the risk of sounding alarmist as hell, consider this: We all know how Republicans have given themselves over to keeping black people from voting, particularly in key states where electoral college votes will decide the presidency. And how they have managed to work their way, while Democrats were not looking or caring, into school boards and other ways to control politics locally, including especially grabbing the right to establish gerrymandered election districts to gain and maintain Republican hegemony in regions where they are in fact the minority. But now they've gone for New York and California. Not to let Andrew Cuomo off the hook for his part in being a male chauvinist pig - if that's in fact what he is - I claim no insider knowledge here. But Biden has just asked him to step down. Not exactly a good move for the Democratic Party.
But what's happening in California is even more dramatic. Governor Gavin Newsom is on the fall ballot to be recalled. If Democrats turn out and vote no, that's not a problem. But polls show 90% of Republicans intend to vote in this election, while only 58% of Democrats expressed a similar interest. An old old story by now.
The way the system works is this: There are two questions on the ballot. No. 1 is "Should Gavin Newsom be recalled?" If a majority of voters votes yes, the governorship will go to the next candidate with the highest number of votes. And that means a Republican, since they're the ones working hardest to line up a replacement.
A Republican, remember, is likely to work to impose the following policies:
- repeal the minimum wage
- microchip undocumented immigrants
- restrict access to abortion
- limit restrictions on guns
- support oil exploration
- replace Senator Diane Feinstein, who just turned 88, with a Republican if she dies or retires
And that's how Republicans are within range of getting to run the show, even in a state where Democrats outnumber them by double-digit leads.
There are lies of commission when the bad guys grab the floor and spread them abroad. And lies of omission, when people fail to speak the truth and sit back when lies of commission are told, and say nothing.
In politics, there is a similar thing going on when it comes to voting.
Check out Jon Favreau's podcast in its entirety
here.
