In the modern era, the authoritarian right has understood far better than the left – with some exceptions – the primacy of electoral politics in general and vote counting at the ballot box and in the halls of Congress in particular in effecting change.
Isn’t the main, overarching issue of this moment the passage of a voting rights bill at the federal level? It will require, if not a wholesale change in the filibuster rule, a modification of it as it applies to voting rights.
A national action of some kind would strike the right note at this moment. The pandemic, however, makes that difficult. But isn’t turning the difficult into the doable what creative minds in the main organizations defending democacy and fighting for social progress are supposed to do?
The storming of the Capitol on this day a year ago is more than a symptom of an underlying disorder, as suggested by a writer for the NYT. More accurately, it represents a new stage and readiness to overthrow the existing democratic order by violent means. It’s a continuation of politics for sure, but – and here’s the point – by other means. It tells us that an existing white nationalist, patriarchal, plutocratic movement has metatasized into something more menacing and dangerous – into a movement, fascistic if you like, that embraces in its actions as well as its words, armed struggle as a legitimate means to acheive its political objectives.
The authoritarian right wing and their talking heads on radio, tv, and social media relentlessly stoke the anti-government, anti-semitic, anti-corporate, homo and transphobic, misogynist, and racist feelings of a frightenly large section of white people. In their spin, covid is no worse than the annual flu. Vaccines are a hoax. Invermectin is a proven cure. Masks and safety protocols are the stuff of fools and government overreach. Neither scientists nor science can be believed. The “deep state,” liberal think tanks, Big Pharma, and Anthony Fauci, a Jew, are plotting against America. And Trump is right and Biden – “Let’s go, Brandon!” – is wrong.
These messengers of lies, peddlers of death and conspiracies, and the front edge of a creeping tyranny are embedded in the country’s (dis)information ecosystem and won’t go away. Countering them is only one challenge, but big one at that for the diverse, majoritarian coaltion fighting for a future that upholds humankind’s most noble ideals.
I don’t support the provocative and dangerous expansion of NATO to the borders of Russia, but by the same token, I can’t support the imperial claims of Putin either.
