“Well, Doctor, what have we got? A Republic or Monarchy?” – Elizabeth Willing Powel
“A Republic — if you can keep it.” – Benjamin Franklin
Sep 12, 1787
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Why is Democracy seen by the Republican Party as part of the political problem and no longer the Lincolnian “government of the people” solution in a Nation now approaching 250 years of being the foremost Republic in the history of mankind?
In January, 2021, a Trump mob of angry white men took to the Capitol ramparts to stop the transition of political power by force.
Why? Because the clock is ticking.
Just this past week, Trump begged a white evangelical Christian assembly to come out and vote for him in November and when he wins they won’t have to come out and vote ever again.
No interpretation required.
The Republican Project 2025 would dismantle more than one -hundred and sixty years of bi partisan, inclusive policies that made America the greatest Democracy in the history of the world — in large part by empowering women and people of color, and lifting those in the margins of life. As Lincoln said —removing all artificial impediments from the shoulders of the people.
But not all our countrymen agree. The truth is the Republicans are a political party in disarray, and in a hurry. They have become by any measure a White Power Party. They are in a hurry because they can no longer win a national plurality of the votes; having won that vote only once since 1988.
The Electoral College(EC) is keeping the White Power party in the game. They are hanging on by an EC thread or two (Texas, Georgia, Florida) which inevitably will go purple. Then the EC won’t work. Their situation is desperate.
The white non-Hispanic population percentage of the whole is declining. It went from 64% to 58% from 2010 to 2020. A white minority is predicted sooner than 2050.
Democracy no longer works for the White Power Party. Hence all the micro measures to buy time, to suppress or delegitimize the vote, and employ arcane statutes and unaccountable local powers that hearken back to days of yore.
So, Democracy is not a long term solution for Republicans as long as they pursue a white majority that is dwindling. They know this; thus, their reverence for autocracy of any stripe …. Russian , Chinese , North Korean, Hungarian. They have to re-write the rules of the road in Project 2025 to begin the road to autocracy.
This 2024 election has taken an unexpected turn. Politics and history march to their own drums.
Knowing the Democrats were not on pace with President Biden to win a significant popular vote victory, Trump was confident of an Electoral College landslide — despite losing the popular vote. That is no longer the case.
Vice President Harris has in a short time changed the game. The key to her success is a surge in turnout of independents, young voters, first time voters, women in general, and all people of color.
There is evidence in the early going that the game is afoot.
Bernard ‘Bernie’ Kenny of Hoboken served as state senator of the 33rd District from 1993-2008.
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