Sarah Palin, The Tea Party, Donald Trump, and the Rise of Fascism
When the 2008 campaign came around and as the economy began to crumble under the weight of neoliberalism, we saw the beginnings of the latest populist revolution. Panic swept the nation with the overwhelming majority of the pain being felt by the working class (as usual), and the Republicans were frightened about not only losing more seats in Congress – where they were already in the minority in both chambers – but the White House as well. So, their presidential nominee – John McCain – was encouraged by his party and campaign advisors to select as his running-mate a new up and coming governor who had developed a reputation for taking on the “old boys club” in her home state of Alaska. To McCain - though he wanted to go for a Lincoln-like unity ticket (also channeling Eisenhower’s intent of desiring a Democratic Vice President at first) by selecting Senator Joseph Lieberman – it came to seem like a natural decision to choose such a person willing to take on the establishment. After all, he was famous for going against his party and had long been called a “Maverick” for such. That is when the American people were introduced to Sarah Palin.
While McCain had recently asserted in the sunset months/years of his life that he regrets choosing Palin – who was supposedly not vetted by the campaign -, the fact remains that he remained silent as she unleashed a fervent pseudo-populist rage upon the people. At campaign rallies, Palin infamously capitalized on the Democratic nominee’s name with its origins in a culture where Islam dominates. She stated repeatedly that Obama was “palling around with terrorists” – a reference to his loose association with William Ayers, whom had been a domestic terrorist earlier in life long before ever meeting Obama – and had permitted other speakers at rallies to emphasize the use of Obama’s middle name “Hussein”. By the time McCain was forced to publicly confront and dispute the plethora of rumors floating around about Obama and his supposed allegiances or origins, the damage was done. The one time he stood up for Barack Obama in the general election campaign was nowhere near enough to put out the flames.
People were angry because they were scared. They were scared for numerous reasons. Number one, the economy was falling apart. Number two, the American people had been told for the better part of the previous decade to fear the presence of terrorists in every corner. Number three, the rightwing machine – from its propaganda artists in all forms of media to the Republican Party itself – had successfully told much of the white working class that their struggles were not the result of the wealthy exploiting our weak laws, resources, and labor, but rather that they were the result of affirmative action policies and weak immigration laws. This was the angst which Palin was tapping into and ultimately released out of the depths of hell.
Making matters worse was that blank check bailout for the wealthy. Working class citizens across all spectrums were outraged by this, but the Republicans – with a lot of financial help from the oligarchs looking to upend our democracy - twisted the narrative and blamed it all primarily on the government. The bailout, to them, was an example of Reagan’s old belief that “government is the problem”. So, they highlighted the bailout for banks, the bailout for the auto industry – which actually helped working class citizens to an extent, but that didn’t matter -, they attacked the incentives for environmental action, they exploited the fact that a recession causes deficits to explode, and they fought tirelessly against the relatively weak stimulus bill. The genuine populist anger about the collapse of our economy and the real pain it was causing working class citizens was manipulated by the Republicans to turn at least half of the working class against the government for fear of an alleged turn to socialism as led by their supposed Muslim imposter-president who just happened to be of African descent. This is how the Tea Party Movement was born.
As Obama sought to reform healthcare, the rightwing saw an opportunity. Just as they had with Clinton’s push for reform 16 years earlier they were determined to spread fear about some hidden Obama agenda to destroy our supposedly superb healthcare system. The unification of the conservative opposition drove thousands of “teabaggers” (as they once called themselves before liberals started mocking them for the hilarious sexual connotations thereof) to protest in the streets, takeover town halls, and otherwise oppose the actions of Congressional Democrats. When the Affordable Care Act was passed through Congress, the Republicans and their allies did not relent in attacking it. They had successfully branded the new law as “Obamacare”, which meant that the Republicans were hell-bent on ensuring that everything wrong with healthcare in America was now going to be associated with President Obama and the Democrats.
The weak stimulus, the oligarch bailouts, “Obamacare”, the rising birther movement, and the intentional manipulation of racial animosity all contributed to the Republican wave which not only flipped control of the House of Representatives in 2010 but also saw the Republicans seize control of state legislatures and Governorships throughout the country. It had proved beneficial to the rightwing that the Supreme Court ruled in January of that year in favor of corporate personhood and free speech protections thereof through limitless spending of money via political action committees. With the oligarchs now empowered to snuff out popular opposition to their agenda by buying as much ad-time as their hearts’ desired and with the genius conservative plot – as hatched by “Red Map” - to super-focus political ad-buys in the cheaper state legislative races, the Democrats were caught off guard in an incredibly vital year not to be caught off guard: a census year.
In 2011, those Republicans elected by their “red wave” in 2010 immediately got to work in states across the country and in Congress with one goal in mind: regaining power. At the federal level, Congressional Republicans used their gains in Congress to pump the brakes on President Obama’s agenda and did so in a way which virtually crippled the federal government. First, they seriously teased – on numerous occasions throughout the remainder of Obama’s tenure – the threat of a government default on our national debt; which would have triggered a global economic collapse and eventually caused the nation’s credit rating to be downgraded as a result. Then, they shut down the federal government in 2013 over repealing the healthcare law and de-funding Planned Parenthood. In the Senate, Republicans – who didn’t gain a majority there until after the next “wave” in 2014 – abused the archaic Senate’s procedural rules via the “filibuster” to block every piece of legislation supported by the president as well as holding judicial nominees hostage up until Senate Democrats finally eliminated the filibuster for lower federal courts shortly before they lost control of that body.
At the state level, the assault on democracy was far more egregious. In fact, much of the Republican agenda in the states was derived from the plot supported by “Red Map”, funded by the Koch Brothers, and advanced by the corporate lobbying group: ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council). This multi-pronged assault included the attempts across the nation to target organized labor by stripping public unions of their right to collectively bargain or eliminating state funds for local governments as a backdoor means of weakening the clout of public unions in negotiating with their local elected officials. While some states saw the backlash successfully pushback against this, there were quite a few examples of where the unions were defeated. Additionally, some of these states adopted or strengthened laws which preempted progressive local actions – like increases in the minimum wage rate - or even nullified local governance altogether by appointing “emergency managers” to do the bidding of their corporate-beholden state governments.
This says nothing about what the state-elected Republicans did with respect to how American democracy itself functions. The cornerstone of the “Red Map” plot was the desire to take gerrymandering – particularly as it had been exploited by former House Majority Leader Tom Delay when he spearheaded the redistricting in Texas ten years earlier – to a new extreme level so as to ensure an impenetrable red wall (if you will) Republican-favored at both the state and federal levels. When they were finished with the redistricting, they were successful in defending their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives despite losing the national popular vote for Congress. Then, the Supreme Court struck down a key provision in the Voting Rights Act which had prohibited discriminatory voting laws and had shielded the minority vote with an extra layer of scrutiny for states with a history of segregation. At that moment, the Republicans primarily in the South ratcheted up their purging of “inactive voters” and taking other actions – all supposedly aimed at confronting “voter fraud” – which disproportionately affected minority voters.
It was also in 2011 that Donald Trump jumped aboard the birtherism train. Spending much of the year mainstreaming the myth that our then-president was somehow an agent of the greatest underdog organized coup in modern history, Trump soon assumed the position as the Republican base’s favorite newly-adopted son. He even went so far as to declare – falsely, of course – that he was paying private investigators to research the matter and regularly updated his social media fans about same said fake investigation supposedly unearthing earth-shattering details in their efforts that never were. When the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary race got underway, Trump quickly emerged as the top choice among those polled. Though he decided against running at the time, it was clear that Trump may well have been able to secure the nomination four years earlier than he did. In his stead, anti-establishment candidates like Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain briefly led the polls while devout libertarian Ron Paul commanded the most loyal following. The establishment-preferred choice of Mitt Romney won the nomination battle, but 2012 was a warning sign of the coming storm.
By the end of that year’s presidential election, a number of events helped create the conditions for the crisis which befell us starting in 2016. For starters, Mitt Romney became the umpteenth establishment Republican – joining McCain, Dole, and Bush 41 - to lose to an otherwise seemingly weak Democrat in decades. This alone hardened the hearts of many Republican voters, as they saw any hint of moderation as an unacceptable trait. Their next nominee had to be uncompromising, at least in their presentation. Superstorm Sandy obliterated the East Coast, the aftermath of which led then-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to accompany President Obama in numerous events – complete with photos -, and this became a turn of events which convinced many pundits (and a great deal more Republicans) to conclude that Christie had effectively helped reelect Obama; Christie never fully recovered from this perception of him being a traitor of sorts. Finally, the tragedy at Benghazi took place and immediately served as a partisan issue exploited by the Republicans over the next four years (which you obviously hear NOTHING about now) to try and nail down Obama and his preferred successor: Hillary Clinton.
It was all-too clear to the Republican Party’s loyal supporters that the Party had failed them in attempting to oust the president whom the Republicans had long convinced them was a threat to the nation. The aforementioned shutdown in 2013 was partially a consequence of this rapidly growing rabid call for political blood in light of this electoral failure. Compromise meant political suicide for Republicans – just ask John Boehner, who was more or less compelled to step down as Speaker for even appearing to work with Obama - and the Party was increasingly powerless to tame the beast which they had nurtured not only for the duration of Obama’s time in office but which they had been training since even before the Reagan era. Although the Republican House had been leading a number of pointless investigations into Obama’s White House since 2011 those investigations multiplied many times over after he was reelected; with “BENGHAZI” leading the way. The admitted goal of that chief investigation for the terrorist incident in our Libyan Embassy was to destroy any hopes that Former Secretary Clinton – whose approval rating was rather high at the time in her post-service life - had of becoming president. More evident than ever before was the Party’s unyielding devotion to the pursuit of power.
By the time Trump announced his bid for office and won over the base with his xenophobic, conspiracy theory-driven, and otherwise bigoted rhetoric how in the world could anyone of sound mind have been surprised by his rise to political prominence? Acting like a reactionary strongman from an authoritarian country didn’t frighten the Republican base, because it is what they have been conditioned to desire by decades of the rightwing machine mocking the liberals for representing the polar opposite example of politicking. Nor did they run away and “dump Trump” when he mocked John McCain’s POW status, or when he publicly berated Rosie O’Donnell’s looks on a debate stage, or when he mocked a disabled reporter at a rally, nor when he promised to pay the legal fees of supporters who may take it upon themselves to punish someone of the opposing viewpoint. No, the Republicans didn’t blink an eye.
What the Republican base had railed against for Obama’s eight years is that he was “weak” and too concerned with gathering the facts before acting. This was not the characteristic that they had come to expect from a leader. Rather, they wanted a “decider” like ol’ Dubya again, but with more intestinal fortitude and far less compassion. After all, “compassion” was for the liberals and that was too much of a compromise this time around. They wanted someone who didn’t think twice before sticking it to the liberals – who the rightwing machine had long loved to troll at every chance they got in their various forms of “entertainment” - and the rest of the world, even if it meant making the Party establishment uneasy. Hell, especially if it meant making them uneasy.
Leading up to the 2016 primary fight, many political experts/pundits had made a lot of noise about how Trump was hijacking the Republican Party. He wasn’t a “real Republican”, they would exclaim, because he was not a man with a devotion to any ideology. His values were supposedly not the same values as the Party which nominated him to become the 45th President. The truth is far more disturbing than the notion that a wealthy (?) conman had somehow snuck in and co-opted one of our major parties for his own gain.
In reality, the Republican Party of today is the perfect political home for Donald John Trump. Like Trump, the Republican Party does not hesitate to attack the media, science, or facts in general as they openly question the trustworthiness thereof. Like Trump, the Republican Party is not concerned with the consequences of its actions or its rhetoric; no matter how harmful. Like Trump, the Republican Party gets a thrill out of antagonizing their adversaries at home and abroad – for they mastered the art of “trolling” before the word became a popular term -, as offending others is the primary objective for much of what they do. Like Trump, the Republican Party has no real loyalty to ideology, as the endgame is always self-empowerment.
Considering all of this, it seems only natural that the initial establishment resistance to Trump’s nomination collapsed once his primary victory appeared inevitable. The Party’s leaders knew exactly what Trump was (and is) all about, yet they didn’t fight him when the moment came to put a stop to this madness at the convention. What they did instead was call for the party to unite behind their new leader. In 2015 the base fell in love with Trump and in 2016 the Party handed its keys over to him. These conditions were set years – even decades – before Trump ran for the nomination, which is why the acceptance of him and his agenda has come so easily for them.
The last gasp of partial – and insincere - Party resistance to Trump came with the release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, but that again succumbed to complete Republican unity behind the cause of attaining power once then-FBI Director James Comey revealed publicly that the FBI was reexamining certain emails related to Hillary Clinton just under two weeks from Election Day. At that moment, the Party recognized that they had a shot to reclaim the power they so desired…even with Trump. Trump - however – was on the right side of history and barely needed the assistance of Comey’s badly timed letter. Did that letter help? Yes, as it left a bad taste in people’s mouths just as they were heading to the polls, but the American people reportedly hated both major party nominees. Instead, the primary historical factor working for Trump was that he was a candidate who represented a radical change of direction at a time when the people largely desired a radical change from a system which had long forgotten them.
In the past year and near-eight months of Trump’s presidency we have further witnessed just how far the Republican Party is willing to go in order to remain in power. Let’s be clear about this – once again – and point out that the Republicans could care less about Trump or whoever the public face of their Party may be. The ONLY thing they care about is power and Trump was only portrayed as objectionable by certain key Party members because he appeared to pose a threat to their ability to claim power. Now that he is in office - and is wildly popular with the Republican base - all of their actions (and inactions) since Inauguration Day 2017 has been meant to preserve that power.
No matter what you think about the investigation into suspected Russian meddling in our election, the fact is that the Republican Party has stood idly by as Trump has taken numerous public actions to put a stop to and undermine the credibility of the FBI’s work. They have even taken it upon themselves in Congress as well as through their official Party functions to join Trump in attacking the investigation both in rhetoric and in abusing the power they hold in Congress. These are not actions to protect Trump but to protect the Party at all costs. Yet they are so desperate to exploit this opportunity to enjoy the power they now hold that we have seen Party leaders and other prominent members shift from publicly condemning Trump to begging him for an Administration post and/or ultimately serving within the new regime.
Just as Bush 43 (Dubya) had appointed business allies to head parts of his administration (hint: Michael Brown as head of FEMA) as well as appointed others who would intentionally ignore the regulatory purpose of the agency or department to which they were assigned (as Coolidge had done almost a century ago), Trump followed this same pattern by choosing anti-government/pro-business interests to decimate much of the federal bureaucracy. Congressional Republicans were quite gleeful about Scott Pruitt heading the EPA despite his storied background as anything but an ally of the environment and while there was some resistance to the selection of private (online) school oligarch Betsy DeVos heading the Education Department, the Republican Party did everything it could to ensure her confirmation by the Senate in what became the first time ever that a cabinet position was decided by the Vice President’s tie-breaking vote.
Let’s not forget that Trump was largely protected by the Republican Party in his bid for the presidency because of the twist of fate which threw the Supreme Court’s future in the air after the reliably-conservative Justice Scalia passed away. Senate Republicans refused to so much as even hold one hearing for Obama’s nominee to replace Scalia throughout all of 2016. No, the Constitution does not require that the Senate confirm whoever the president nominates, nor does it require a hearing for said nominees, but the Republicans broke both Senate precedent and Capitol decorum in this blatant power-grab so as to shield their claim to power over the least democratic and most consequential branch of our government. Tragically for the future of progressivism and democracy, their Supreme Court gamble worked and paved the way for Trump to appoint Gorsuch to replace Scalia after Republicans acted to eliminate all filibusters for Court nominees (an act of revenge, no doubt, for the Senate Democrats eliminating lower federal court filibusters). And with the replacement for the moderate/conservative-leaning Anthony Kennedy looming, Republicans will yet again rally the troops to ensure a smooth confirmation for Trump’s second Supreme Court pick in less than two years. When it comes to the Court, the Republicans know that the battle for such is a battle for the heart and soul of the Republic and that shaping the federal judiciary is the backdoor path to undoing all of the progress fought for through democracy by the working class. It is the primary means by which they serve the end game of their oligarch masters.
This political need to maintain power is the reason why the Republican Party is willing to tolerate anything and everything Trump says and does. Trump is able to vilify whoever he wants and punish the same with impunity because the Republicans in Congress covet power more than they desire to protect the Republic. The base of support for the Republican Party has been warped into its current condition by the Party itself and their mainstream public advocates all so that the real constituents which matter to the Party – the Oligarch class – can achieve their ultimate objective of suppressing democracy and building a society completely subservient to their will.
At what cost will this blind and selfish obedience to the interests of a few come? You can already see some previews of what to expect from the Party’s conduct since Trump’s nomination and election. The president’s atrocious policies – largely used to distract us from some other despicable actions and meant to appease the bigoted political descendants of those former Dixiecrats – on matters like immigration, refusing entry to refugees, banning Muslims, and his wag-the-dog use of military force on poorer nations (particularly with Muslim-majority populations) will continue and with a broad swath of support by the Party and especially their base. He will also continue to utilize the new emerging wedge issues such as the anthem-kneeling at sporting events to further fan the flames of civil resentment. In addition to the needless dropping of bombs on nations like Syria, the president will further please the neoconservatives by repeatedly flexing our military arm at others such as Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, and the like; again, with very little protest by his Party. Trump will also continue to advocate for – and could even succeed in promoting – proposals such as the elimination of the Johnson Amendment ban on churches participating in politics, as an obvious nod to the remnants of the so-called Moral Majority (a branch of the conservative coalition which he also pleases with his Supreme Court picks), and you will be hard pressed to find many Republicans standing opposed to him.
Of course, pandering to the neoconservatives, the bigots, and the Religious Right are all meant to stifle broad and united public opposition to the agenda of wealthy interests like the Kochs, the Waltons, the Adelsons, and so forth. Remember that the ONLY significant piece of legislation that Trump and the Republicans made sure they passed by the end of their first year in total control of our government was a tax cut which was designed intentionally to reward the rich for their continued support. The President who campaigned saying things like our wages are “too high” and advocating for a national “Right to Work” law will take advantage of the Supreme Court’s Janus decision this past summer by continuing to push for weaker labor protections. Trust what recent events and our history has taught us: this is only the beginning. Our democracy is in genuine danger and it is time to recognize as much.
It is no coincidence that the rise of Trump was preceded, accompanied, and followed by a coordinated assault on worker’s rights and on the rights to vote and speak freely. Nor is it a coincidence that the animus which exists in our culture has equally produced an increase in hate crimes and support for Trump’s divisive rhetoric and policies; as well as his election. Furthermore, as a fake populist (a.k.a., a fascist), Trump’s populist-style tariffs and the appearance of opposition to “free” trade are designed to satisfy the demands of the working class for economic justice even as the president himself is enriched by exploiting cheap labor at home and abroad and despite the fact that the president isn’t necessarily using his stated trade policies to improve the conditions of working people everywhere. Yes, the Republican Party has publicly abandoned defending unfettered trade for the benefit of the few (instead, choosing which of the few to enrich by way of said trading behavior) because the populism which dominates our politics at the moment threatens their grip on power if they defy the president affiliated with their organization. In this case, the Republicans have gone the extra step in endorsing nationalism beyond what they promoted during the Bush 43 or Reagan years.
If the Democrats manage to retake the House of Representatives in November and even if they manage to capture the Senate as well, they will still require the cooperation of Senate Republicans to hold this president accountable. As of now, Congressional Democrats mostly show no intent of doing their job to employ their constitutionally-sanctioned tools to restrain the tyrannical impulses of a politician of any stripe (as they explain – just as they cowardly did back in 2006-2008 – that impeachment is just too divisive), but even if they were prepared to grow a spine and do their job there is absolutely no reason to believe that Congressional Republicans would turn on Trump when the time came to uphold the rule of law and thereby save the Republic. Betraying Trump is the same thing as betraying the Republican base so long as he maintains their overwhelming support and the Republican lust for power is so strong that it inhibits their ability to do what is in the best interest of all.
When (and let’s be clear that I hope I am wrong here) Congress fails/refuses to do what it is supposed to do pursuant to the system of checks and balances, the shift from an already weak democracy to an authoritarian state could well turn into a quick slide. Let us remember that this is bigger than Trump and precedes him by decades, but Trump is the catalyst which has finally exposed just how broken our system really is. Trump isn’t even the first president to toy with fascism, as Dubya did before him to a degree as did a few others throughout the last century. Trump is merely a symptom of an economic system – as promoted by Conservatives and neoliberals alike - which has left most of us behind and a political system which has become corrupted and is nearing collapse.
What is tragically clear here is that this Republican Party is no longer the party of Lincoln. In fact, it is no more the party of Teddy Roosevelt or even of Eisenhower. It has fallen quite a bit from the days when its forefathers advocated for the end of slavery and for civil rights. Gone are the days when progressivism held a comfortable place in Republican politics. No more will we see a Republican Party which warns against the dangers of for-profit wars corrupting the use of our military and infecting our politics. Hell, you will even be hard pressed to find a handful of Republicans willing to do the right thing and support genuine environmental reform.
Of course, all of those good things about the Party’s past also cover up the small steps taken throughout the course of its history which set the stage for the mayhem now eclipsing every level of American government. Republicans have always entertained or tolerated some form of xenophobia. They sold out their first arguably loyal base – the freedmen – just so they could secure the White House back in 1876. Creating an American Empire became a rallying cry for them shortly after they started dominating the political scene. When populism first began to take hold, the Republicans aligned themselves with the wealthy – including adopting libertarian tax and regulation policies - in an attempt to retain power. Later on, Republicans helped perpetuate the Red Scare in both of its waves and then allowed the influence of conspiracy theories to corrode our political discourse.
When it became politically expedient, Republicans completely abandoned their former mission of pursuing equality for all. They turned their backs on progressivism and attacked its accomplishments. Eventually, they became the greatest allies of the military industrial complex as they modernized the earlier love of imperialism. Attacking the patriotism of their adversaries and undermining the public’s trust in objective facts – whether scientific or reported by journalists – started early on and flourished as the last century closed. This party was not taken over by Trump or by fascists. Rather, it gradually became more fascist over time and opened its doors wide open to a figure like Donald Trump in the process.
History teaches us what happens next in this uprising of fascism. We know not only from the examples of Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany, but also from Pinochet’s Chile and Franco’s Spain. The past century was full of examples of fascist coup’s which toppled weak representative systems. The ability to speak or report the facts freely – two of the primary components of our core right to freedom of thought – is the first right which is typically undermined and which is currently under attack. Unimpeded, this is a path which leads to a much darker and deeper hole.
One common thread which strings all fascist regimes together is the exploitation of those nations in their time of governmental crisis by the oligarch class. Oligarchs know that a functioning and strong democracy inhibits their ability to reap the rewards of economic progress. However, a society ridden with corruption is ripe for the taking and this is why Oligarchs are naturally inclined to try and topple a representative system for an authoritarian one, because an authoritarian system is ran by selfish figureheads looking to line their own pockets and are likewise willing to allow wealthier interests to raid their nation’s resources so long as they get a slice of the wealth produced thereby. Oligarchs are allied with fascists for a mutually beneficial relationship. They both benefit from suppressing democracy – in politics and in the workplace - and from stifling dissent in general. Exploitation commands absolute obedience from the exploited.
It is imperative to recognize and react swiftly to this threat to our democracy as posed by a Republican Party which has finally devolved to its present state as an authoritarian organization. For our system to survive it is crucial that we genuinely resist this transition away from liberal democracy in a peaceful and democratic way. Not just at the ballot box, but in our persistent demonstrations and regular interactions with those who hold elective and appointed political office. Moreover, it’s crucial that this “resistance” consists of a united opposition – as mentioned in the prior post on the summarized history of the Democratic Party – which remains intact for the duration of the fight against fascism.
Does that mean that a debate on the issues affecting the working class should be postponed until later? Absolutely not! In fact, as has been stated before, this dismissal of the working class’s needs is precisely what permitted fascism to become so amenable to much of the American people to begin with. Remember, that fascism is merely fake populism and populism is the product of a system which has failed the people. The only way to defeat a fascist is with a populist and the only way to curb the populist anger which makes fascism possible is by satisfying the needs of the people.
It is by offering legitimate populist alternatives to the fascist message that we will be able to undermine and defeat Trump and his allies in the long term. The opposition – or, the Democratic Party in this case – must offer something tangible to the people while ALSO exposing the Republican Party for what they really are. The case must be made that the Republican Party has sold out the American people a long time ago and that their organization represents a clear and present danger to American liberty and the rule of law. In other words, the Republican Party MUST be defeated and extinguished into the history books the same way that the Whigs and the Federalists were vanquished.
Once the American people can be assured that the danger of fascism is passed us, then the Democratic Party should itself be dissolved and the people of this country should move to erect the very system which our founding fathers first envisioned and designed our Constitution to uphold: a nonpartisan system where individual candidates seek to represent their respective constituents from the smallest town councils to Congress and the Presidency itself. It also wouldn’t hurt to use such a revolutionary moment to change our Constitution so as to – AT THE VERY LEAST - rid ourselves of the misguided notions that corporations are people, that money is speech, that Supreme Court justices should serve for life, and that the Electoral College has any use in modern representative democracy.
What do you say? Are you ready?
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