In a previous newsletter shortly after the election, I wrote about the need to drop saccharine views of our American democracy. As I said at the time, that's not to say that democracy isn't important; it sure as hell is. But I bet that if you surveyed people who get real poetic about democracy, they would be the same folks who rarely suffer the consequences of antidemocratic policies (mass deportations, cuts to the safety net, etc.). For them, life generally goes on.
As my colleagues Ari Berman and Jacob Rosenberg write in a terrific piece today, our democratic system is broken—and Democrats would be smart to stop defending it. Think about it: Why would voters feel moved by flowery appeals to defend democracy when Democrats, while in power, can't overcome the structural impediments to majority rule? Example: President Biden had the political capital to enact filibuster reform and he still refused calls for it. I mean, look at what happened just today. Fifteen Democrats voted for the so-called "nonprofit-killer" bill that seeks to label nonprofit organizations as supporters of terrorists should those in power—Republicans—not like them.
That's smaller than the original number of Dems who supported the initial bill. But when Democrats support such antidemocratic moves, who can blame anyone for tuning out when the calls to !DEFEND DEMOCRACY! start blaring every election season? So I'll say it once more: You can't just run on democracy when it doesn't work for so much of the electorate. You've got to prove that our institutions can make a real material difference in their lives.
And to end on a warm note: How are you celebrating Matt Gaetz's catastrophic failure today?
—Inae Oh
