Perspective 82. American Democracy: Eroding?

President Biden says that the fundamentals of democracy in the United States are being challenged. Republicans counter that they are simply ensuring the future elections will not be subject to charges of fraud like the last one. Are the measures that they are pushing really an attack on the basic principles of democracy?

Yes. When Republican-controlled state legislatures are tweaking election procedures to reduce voting among certain groups, gerrymandering legislative districts shamelessly to gain disproportionate representation, and arguing that they have the right to reject presidential electors chosen by popular vote – all this is a direct assault on the basic idea of democracy.

In perspective, the basic principle of democracy is majority rule. The current Republican campaign aspires to assert control without regard to what a free and fair election of the entire electorate, without manipulation, would produce. This campaign crosses lines that have been sacrosanct in the past.

Most of us can recall from the past the general mantra of “getting out the vote.” The common bromide was that whether we agree or not, everyone should be urged to cast a ballot and the process should be made as accessible as possible. This consensus has been lost; it’s now considered (by some) perfectly acceptable to push through measures openly designed to depress the vote of some groups. One of these measures was described by a state court as being aimed “with surgical precision” at minority groups.

Most of us can recall when the artisans of gerrymandering at least had the decency to deny what they were up to. Now, when computers have made a science of it, it is a matter of pride to devise a map that produces an 80 percent Congressional representation for a fairly evenly-divided state (usually for Republicans, but Democrats are now playing the game in self-defense). The Supreme Court will soon be considering a case that, given the court’s current neolithic composition, could remove all pretense of judicial control. Once again, consensus has been lost; the idea that a state’s representation should reflect its population is becoming a quaint artifact of another era.

The capstone to all this is the movement to return to state legislatures final control over the choice of presidential electors – the legal theory behind the failed coup of January 6, 2021. This theory exploits the wording of the U.S. constitution, which provides that “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors . . . “ This “appointment” has always been done by popular vote, but Trump and his co-conspirators tried to return the choice of electors, in certain states, to state legislatures that could ignore the popular vote (based on vacuous claims of fraud) and choose new slates. Unfortunately for them, Vice President Pence wasn’t ready to go along the gag.

But the gag is still alive; the Supreme Court, in the same gerrymandering case just mentioned, will have a chance to sanctify this “independent state legislature” theory and make it, potentially, the law of the land. The legislatures, whether representing a majority or not, could simply overrule the popular vote – or not bother having the public vote at all.

The proponents of the independent state legislature don’t seem to be embarrassed in the least by this departure from democracy.

It is therefore not too surprising to find many of them openly admiring Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban. To see where they want to lead America, take a close look at the demise of democracy in Orban’s Hungary.