*Background — Significance of Issue
–US Democracy is facing a Crisis — not only from foreign adversaries but from some of its own internal US citizens. The report from Law Forward, a Wisconsin based not for profit corporation, provides a detailed analysis of the nationwide trend of state legislatures considering laws that increase the risk of election subversion and its potential impact on election administration in the 2024 election. The report identifies 185 bills in 38 states that would make it easier to manipulate an election, with 15 of them becoming law as of May 3, 2023. To read it, click here.
In addition to legislative and political manipulations, democracy is also threatened by racist extremists and widespread misinformation. These concerns are also discussed in the Talking Points section of this page.
-Historical Perspective and Our Current Democracy in Crisis. In their book, Four Threats: Recurring Crisis in American Democracy, authors Mettler and Lieberman remind us that democracy has faced and survived challenges to democracy before our current time. For example, the Whiskey Rebellion and the notorious Alien and Sedition Act which made it illegal to criticize the US government. They cite four recurring factors that threaten democracy:
- Political polarization
- Exclusiveness: Conflict over who can participate in the political community via racism and voter suppression
- High and growing economic inequality.
- Excessive executive power
In the past, one or two of these factors were operative. They state that today all four factors are present. Far more than any one leader, the confluence of these four factors, threaten our democracy. To read a summary of the book, click here. To see how the Biden Administration works to mitigate the four factors, continue to Talking Points.
*Talking Points
-How the Biden Administration Supports American Democracy.
–Findings of the Bipartisan House Select Committee on January 6th
–FBI Director Wray Testifies on Threat of Racist Extremists
-Misinformation Threatens Democracy
-Biden Administration Supports American Democracy
Biden-Harris Administration supports American Democracy by combating the four threats identified in the book, Four Threats: Recurring Crisis in American Democracy, that undermine democracy:
—Political Polarization. Biden-Harris Administration continues to try to pass legislation in a bipartisan manner. The Chips and Science Act; the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; and the Safer Communities Act of 2022 [latest federal gun control legislation] are successful examples of these efforts. Even when a particular Republican legislator did not vote for a bill, such as the Infrastructure Act, they still show up along with the Democratic legislators and other officials for the ground breaking ceremony. Biden is someone who seeks the middle ground and avoids rhetoric that demonizes the opposition and polarizes the electorate, unlike Trump and many of his allies. His administration rejects extremism and firmly believes that seeking compromise is the bedrock of democracy. His administration is guided by that belief and so consistently acts in support of democracy.
–Exclusiveness. The Biden Administration promotes inclusiveness and combats racism, sexism and voter suppression. The Administration supports passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act which would modernize and revitalize the Voting Rights Act by strengthening legal protections against discriminatory voting policies. The Administration support every person’s right to be themselves and supports the live-and-let-live principle that is so vital to the peaceful functioning of a sectarian, pluralist, multi-ethnic, multi-racial democracy. The Administration has initiated several actions. One of them is designed to protect LGBTQI+ communities from attacks on their rights and their safety. The Administration is launching a LGBTQI+ Community Safety Partnership. The Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department serves as the Department’s liaison to the LGBTQI+ community. To read more about support of the LGBTQI+ community, click here.
––Economic Inequality. The Biden-Harris Administration is acting vigorously to expand the middle class and reduce economic inequality. The efforts include lowering health care costs by reducing drug prices on multiple medications and expanding Medicaid coverages; eliminating non-compete agreements that stifle wage growth and empower more workers to seek better job opportunities; lowering or eliminating the banking and credit card “junk” fees that many Americans pay; making the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes; reducing student debts; and reducing education requirements on many federal jobs. These are just of few of the Biden -Harris economic initiates. To read more about the many activities of the Biden-Harris Administration to grow the middle class and reduce income inequality, click here.
–-Excessive Executive Power. Biden respects the constitution and the importance of its checks and balances as well as the norms of governing in a democracy. At a town hall meeting televised by ABC on October 15, 2020, Biden said “Some of my Republican friends and some of my Democratic friends even occasionally say, ‘Well, if you can’t get the votes by executive order, you’re going to do something.’ [There are] things you can’t do by executive order unless you’re a dictator. We’re a democracy. We need consensus.” In contrast, Trump has famously said “I alone can fix it”. PBS News Hour on July 19, 2023 reports on Trumps plans to greatly expand presidential power if he is reelected in 2024. The plans include weaponizing the justice department and politicizing the civil service so that loyalty to the president rather than professional competence or adherence to the constitution become requirements for civil service employment. To read a transcript of the broadcast, click here. A thoughtful article about the growth of presidential powers over time appeared in the Harvard Law Today publication dated July 19, 2019. To read the article, click here. It makes clear that to preserve our democracy and our freedom, the country needs a president who not only respects the rule of law and the constitution but also abides by the norms of democratic governance.
-Findings of the Bipartisan House Select Committee Investigating January 6
As reported by American Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog organization, the Bipartisan Select Congressional Committe unanimously voted in December of 2022 to send criminal referrals to the Justice Department for former President Donald Trump and key allies for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. As the report states: Trump “purposely disseminated false allegations of fraud related to the 2020 presidential election” and “provoked his supporters to violence on January 6th,” the committee wrote in its executive summary. The criminal charges recommended for Trump include obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, and inciting an insurrection. The committee also recommended that Trump be barred from holding future office under the 14th Amendment. To read the article on the Findings of the Select Committee and other oversight investigations reported on by American Oversight, click here.
In 2023, subsequent to the criminal referrals of the Select Committee in 2022, there have been four criminal indictments at both the federal and state levels of Trump and his associates. To see a list of the cases, click here.
-FBI Director Wray Reconfirms the Threat Posed by Racist Extremists.
A report by Philip Bump on the FBI Director’s testimony to Congress was published in the Washington Post on March 2, 2021. Below is an excerpt from that report.
“Is there any doubt that the people who stormed the Capitol included white supremacists and other far-right extremist organizations?” Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) asked Wray later.
“There’s no doubt that it included individuals that we would call militia violent extremists and in some instances, individuals that were racially motivated violent extremists who advocate for, you know, the superiority of the white race,” Wray replied. “But the militia violent extremists is probably at the moment trending the biggest bucket, if you will.”
The following things can all be true — and appear to in fact be true:
- There remains no credible evidence that left-wing actors were involved in the attack on the Capitol.
- There were undeniable elements from white nationalist organizations involved in the day’s violence, though the available evidence is that militia-type extremists played a larger role.
- There is a pervasive and apparently growing threat posed by white extremists beyond what happened on Jan. 6.
This is according to the director of the FBI, who was appointed by Trump. It’s controversial only in the sense that it is, to some, inconvenient. It is not controversial as a matter of evidence.
To read the Washington Post report by Philip Bump, click here. [NOTE: Right click and select Open in new window to ensure return to this page.]
-How Misinformation Threatens Democracy
Misinformation is a serious threat to democracy, both in the USA and abroad. A well functioning democracy rests upon the people having a shared understanding and basic agreement about what is real and factual versus what is not. People often do disagree and have very different opinions on how to interpret the facts — what they mean –and therefore have different views on what public policies should be followed. Over the past few years, mainly via social media, there has been a sustained attack on our shared understanding of what is real and factual. This is dangerous to our body politic as well as to our physical health — for example, misinformation about the safety of vaccines resulted in the avoidable deaths of thousands. In a democracy, you are certainly entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts. How can we agree on policy solutions if we do not even agree on the facts?
An excellent article in USA Today on December 9, 2021 by Margeret Spellings and John Bridgeland not only describes the problem but also offers some remedies. The article recommends civic education for students at all levels to appreciate and understand the values of democracy. It also highlights a need for all citizens to learn media literacy and the tools of democracy, such as critical thinking and respect for truth — so as, for example, to be able to distinguish advertisements from news. The need is now even greater with the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence and the potential for deep fake audio and video. To read the article, click here. The National Literacy Project organization conducts webinars on dealing with misinformation and their website includes tips and techniques on recognizing misinformation. To visit their website, click here.
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