Republicans have already damaged democracy

Rachel Maddow showed that by refusing to accept the election results, Republicans have already damaged democracy.

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Maddow said:

Democracy is mortal, it can be killed. It doesn’t go away if, you know, one day someone proclaims that we no longer exist here through a democracy. It disappears as soon as there is no longer an expectation that we will be governed by democratic means. When there’s no longer an expectation that elections are how we decide who’s in power, right? The way you lose your democracy is to lose the expectation that we participate in elections. Because all parties in that election intend to accept the outcome, right? To go home if they lose and to come to power if they win. Once we stop expecting we no longer live in a democratic system of government in many important respects.

Once one of the two major parties in government no longer believes that elections are binding, the ship of democracy has sailed in many important respects because they are no longer competing with each other on democratic grounds, right? As soon as one of the two major parties no longer promises to adhere to the election results. Whether they win or lose, the democratic system of government is not threatened with harm, it is already wounded.

And what do we do about it? One way to deal with this is to stop pretending it’s not happening. Threats to the rule of law are not a theoretical prospect that looms somewhere in the future. They are here, prosecutors and judges and jurors and witnesses now have to defend themselves because they are now being threatened. For example, those who defend Fannie Willis in Georgia, the Republican-led legislature in Georgia, are seeking to destroy and remove her to prevent her from prosecuting the alleged crimes of former President Donald Trump.

Who will defend her?

Threats to democracy are not a theoretical prospect that will emerge sometime in the future, just like threats to the rule of law, there are also threats to democracy. Now poll workers and election workers have been pushed out of those jobs by the thousands.

Video:

Rachel #Maddow “Once one of the two major parties no longer promises to adhere to election results, win or lose, the democratic system of government is not threatened with damage; it is already wounded.” pic.twitter.com/Wr6jnAxxuO

– Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) May 7, 2024

Republicans have already damaged American democracy by withdrawing from the agreement to honor the will of the people as represented as legitimate at the ballot box. As soon as one party no longer respects the legitimacy of elections, democracy in a two-party system has a major problem.

Under Donald Trump, Republicans have already damaged democracy, and it is up to voters not to allow them to kill the world’s greatest democratic experiment this November.

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