Jared Yates Sexton: The Intentional Dismantling of Democracy

[Nevilledog]

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Jared Yates Sexton
@JYSexton
The Big Lie that the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen isn’t just about that election.

It’s about the GOP weaponizing conspiracy theories to disenfranchise voters, refusing to accept future electoral defeats, and systematically dismantling democracy.

The Intentional Dismantling of Democracy
Popular rule was never supposed to be part of the American experience, and Republicans are working overtime to plunge us back into the aristocratic past as their popularity plummets
jaredyatessexton.substack.com
7:45 AM · May 24, 2021

https://jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/the-intentional-dismantling-of-democracy

Over six months have passed since Donald Trump lost his reelection bid to Joe Biden, yet still his faithful cling to fantasies of lawsuits, arcane parliamentary procedures, supernatural plots, and miracles from heaven overturning the results. His flags still hang from their porches, the yard signs remain in the lawns, collecting dust.

In Arizona, supporters are still fighting to “Stop the Steal,” relying on shady methods and biased actors to carry on a recount in order to hand the state’s eleven electoral votes to the disgraced, defeated ex-president. To realize their goal, the Right has turned to conspiracy theorists, agent provocateurs, and been reduced to searching for “bamboo fibers” for proof fake ballots were shipped in from China.

As surreal and absurd as the Arizona gambit is, the far-reaching effects of the recount, as well as the ongoing Big Lie of “Stop The Steal,” has never been the 2020 Election, at least not in totality. Already, Republicans around the country are echoing the conspiracy theories and blatant lies, requesting recounts amid accusations of voter fraud, and doubting even local elections of lesser import. The contagion of weaponized paranoia, partnered with outright disgust with democracy, desire for autonomous, fascistic rule, and a desperate need to return America to its avowedly white supremacist past, is creating a movement to dismantle our democratic institutions permanently.

*snip*

[Buns_of_Fire]

1. Law of Unintended Consequences.

It seems the people most agitated (and potentially discouraged from voting) by the Big Lie are the drooling fanatics who still get their gospel from Dear Leader - Qpublicans. Democratic voters, by and large, aren't buying it.

So, while they're busily suppressing the votes of people who are likely to vote against them, they're also self-suppressing their own voters.

When your entire election strategy is reduced to grabbing at straws, I suppose any straw will do.