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Threats To American Democracy Chester County Democratic Committee

Leo Migdal
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threats to american democracy chester county democratic committee

“‘A Crisis Coming’: The Twin Threats to American Democracy,” David Leonhardt’s thorough New York Times report, concludes that “American democracy has never faced a threat quite like the current one.” Among a variety of problems such as the constitutional overweighting of small states, he also blames current political trends, quoting Steven Levitsky, co-author of the book “How Democracies Die”: “By any indication, the Republican Party — upper level, midlevel and grass roots — is a party that can only be described as not committed to democracy.” As for Pennsylvania, this chart is disturbing, putting PA’s R legislators among the most democracy-denying in the country: Just as disturbingly, R nominee Mastriano took an active role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential vote and hopes as Governor to take over the election process, including decertifying precinct results not to... In true Trump fashion, Mastriano won’t even say that he will accept an electoral loss this year.

Steven Pearlstein was a Pulitzer-prize winning columnist for the Washington Post. He is now the Robinson Professor of Public Affairs at George Mason University and a senior fellow at Penn Washington’s Fixing Congress Initiative. According to recent polls, more than three quarters of Americans believe democracy is on the line in this year’s presidential race. Voters fear the other party will try to steal the election and, once in power, will run roughshod over democratic norms. There is, however, another serious threat to American democracy: a dysfunctional Congress that has lost the instinct and capacity to resolve major issues facing the country. During this year’s campaign, hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent on largely issue-free House and Senate campaigns that are almost certain to produce razor thin majorities in both chambers with no policy...

As a result, unless Members and party leaders figure out how to engage in serious bipartisan deliberation and compromise, we are facing the prospect of two more years in which nothing significant is done... This current session of Congress has arguably been the least productive in recent memory. A session in which the Republican-controlled House spent most of its time and energy electing, deposing and replacing a Speaker, pursuing baseless, vengeful impeachment investigations and nearly undermining the war in Ukraine. A session in which a Democratic-controlled Senate couldn’t manage to find the time or political will to consider bipartisan proposals to secure the border, protect data privacy, reign in drug prices, regulate AI or... Over the past generation, the Democratic and Republican parties have become coordinated national teams, but democracy in the U.S. is mostly run at the state level.

This collision of nationalized parties and subnational institutions has led the parties to pursue their national ambitions through the state level, weakening democracy in the process. Through gerrymandering, voting restrictions, restrictions on civil liberties, and threats of election subversion, state governments have attempted to tilt the playing field of American democracy in favor of their national party. The collision of nationalized parties and state governance calls for new national policy to protect and expand democratic institutions across all states. U.S. democracy is under strain. Partisan gerrymandering has reduced the quality of representation for millions of Americans.

Restrictive voting laws have made electoral participation more difficult in many areas of the country. The possibility of election subversion in the upcoming 2024 presidential election continues to surface. In part due to the nationalization of political conflict in the U.S.1Hopkins, Daniel. 2018. The Increasingly United States. University of Chicago Press., and in part due to the attempted coup at the U.S.

Capitol on January 6, 2021, many researchers and observers have become keenly attentive to conflict over democracy among national politicians in Washington, D.C. Yet while the threats to American democracy are part of a national conflict over the direction of the country, the threats are not originating in Washington D.C. — they are mostly coming from the states. Historically, when conflict over democracy arises in the U.S., it is most evident at the state level. The American system of federalism bakes this in. Federalism is a system of government in which (at least) two levels of government share authority; in the U.S., it’s the national government in Washington, D.C.

and the 50 state governments composed of state legislatures, governors, and state courts. The U.S. and about 24 other countries have federalism, which is distinct from countries with “unitary” systems of government (including New Zealand, Sweden, Japan, and over 100 others) that place all of their constitutional authority at... But even compared to other federal systems, the United States’ system of federalism grants an outsized amount of authority to the lower level of government, the state level. Although some federal systems grant wide authority to the lower level in some policy areas, such as Canada with language and immigration policy, the United States redistributes fewer economic resources across regions and has... Although national policy in the mid-20th century generated economic convergence across regions of the U.S., state level policy has become much more important in recent years.

As national policymaking stalled in the face of gridlock in Washington, D.C., state governments have implemented increasingly distinct policies in areas like health care, taxation, and welfare. Compared to a generation ago, a person’s quality of life today is more tied to their state of residence.2Grumbach, Jacob. 2018. “From Backwaters to Major Policymakers: Policy Polarization in the States, 1970-2014.”Perspectives on Politics 16 (2): 416-435. However, not only is the United States’ system an outlier when it comes to the economic aspects of federalism — it also gives states control over key democratic institutions. Districting, election administration, vote counting and certification, and police powers are all under the purview of state governments, with wide-ranging consequences for democracy.

State legislatures and commissions can draw gerrymandered district maps, state officials can refuse to certify election results, and state laws can make it harder to participate in elections. by Carol Catanese, outgoing chair, Kennett Area Democrats Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s I remember the duck and cover drills in grade school, instructed to hide under our desks as protection against a nuclear attack! And into the 70’s the continued threats to our American democracy informed our foreign policy in every warlike enterprise, all to safeguard our country and deter the domino effect of Communist take overs. The threat to our country was over there, China, Soviet Union, then Russia, and more recently by Taliban and other foreign extremist religious groups. But now our democratic way of governing is threatened by the Republican Party leadership along with an extreme reactionary Supreme Court and domestic terrorist groups.

The attacks on our democracy are wide spread and constant. The January 6th insurrection was the culmination of years of undermining the moral integrity of elected officials. Meanwhile, PA General Assembly Republicans had time to push an 11th hour amended SB 106 through while they were supposed to be passing a budget. Be prepared for a May 2023 primary with constitutional amendments, one prohibiting abortion as a legal medical option. Meanwhile, Harrisburg Democrats continue pursuing legislation that benefits all Pennsylvanians. For some of their successes you can view recent reports from Democratic State House Rep Christina Sappey (158th) HERE, and Democratic State Senator Carolyn Comitta (19th) HERE.

American Oversight is taking a look back at 2024 and some of the biggest stories from our work building an informed public and a strengthened democracy. The past year has been a tumultuous one for our democracy, and significant challenges lie ahead. As American Oversight prepares to combat the corruption and abuses of power that President-elect Trump has promised, we’re taking a look back at 2024 and some of the biggest stories from our work building... We mapped out the vast network of national voter suppression efforts in our 2024 Anti-Democracy Playbook, which analyzed eight tactics used by anti-democracy activists and political leaders in states across the country to suppress... These include: The resource contains thousands of pages of public records we obtained, and has been continually updated.

This year, American Oversight launched its Threats to Democracy Tracker, a comprehensive, interactive resource that maps out and spotlights the actions of election deniers, election subverters, and partisan actors across the country who promoted... democracy. Experts and elected officials came together for “Democracy and Distrust: Overcoming threats to the 2024 election,” an event that grappled with violence in politics On Tuesday, September 26, voting experts, officials from battleground states, researchers, and journalists met for a temperature-taking of threats against democracy: what we’re willing to accept, what we’re defending against, and how concerned we... Through presentations and a panel discussion in an event co-organized by the Chicago Project on Security & Threats (CPOST) and The Guardian, a melding of personal and professional experiences and academic research on election... “Tonight’s program is an exploration of the threats to American democracy and the ways in which our institutions — government, community, education, and the media — can and must combine to preserve and protect...

Following a video message from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson delivered the keynote. Having overseen Michigan’s 2020 and 2022 general elections — which drew record-breaking turnout and earned her the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award and the Presidential Citizens Medal — Benson is keenly aware of the threats to free and fair polls. “I believe ultimately the best chance we have in our country for equality, for equity, for everyone having equal access to power and opportunity in our country begins and ends with equal access to...

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