As an American citizen, I am appalled that one of our two political parties, the Republicans, now espouses shrinking democracy in the U.S. The party has traditionally supported right-leaning ideologies of conservatism, social conservatism, and economic libertarianism. They say of themselves that they believe in liberty, economic prosperity, preserving American values and traditions, and restoring the American dream for every citizen of this great nation. But in fact, they have always represented the well-to-do and worked to maintain the privileges of the wealthy.
That was all before Donald Trump seized control of the party. Now, to be a good Republican, one must believe—despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary—that the 2020 election was lost to Trump due to fraud. One must declare that Trump is the righteous president. As a result, 121 Republicans in the House of Representatives and seven Republican Senators helped Trump try to overthrow our democracy by voting against certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. The evidence that Biden won fair and square was incontrovertible. And now a new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and The National Pulse finds that as many as 50 percent of likely U.S. voters support the impeachment of Biden.
And good Republicans work to reduce voting. That’s because there are far more Democrats than Republicans in the U.S. On December 17, 2020, Gallup polling found that 31 percent of Americans identified as Democrats, 25 percent as Republican, and 41 percent as Independent. I couldn’t locate national population figures by political party, but every count I found showed Democrats outnumbering Republicans by a healthy margin.
To win elections, Republicans should offer candidates and policies that appeal to a majority. Since they are not able to do that, they have instead sought ways to suppress Democrats’ voting. According to the Washington Post, at least 250 new laws have been proposed in 43 states to limit mail, early in-person, and election day voting. Wikipedia reports that the GOP introduced 425 voter suppression bills in 2021 alone.
In short, what was once a respectable if questionable political party has now become an anti-democratic force determined to restore to power the defeated candidate, Donald Trump, despite his having unquestionably lost the election. The will of the people prevailed. Donald Trump didn’t. Republicans want to change that.
If the Republicans are successful in restoring Trump to power in the face of overwhelming evidence that he lost the election, fascism will prevail.
Let’s put a stop to it now.
Tom Glenn, Writer 