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The Party of "Less Government" Wants To Govern Every Aspect Of Our Lives
9 Apr 2022 5:53 am
IN RELATED NEWS:
And just like that, our democracy could be a thing of the past | Opinion
Americans are watching a slow-motion stealth coup of our ideals | Miami Herald
What if the coup already came and nobody noticed? It sounds nonsensical, yes. How does a coup go unnoticed?
The conventional wisdom, as we learn more about the election of 2020 and the insurrection of 2021, is that by the machinations of Ginni Thomas, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump and others, America came this close to suffering an extralegal seizure of power, but escaped.
However, an argument can be made that another kind of coup — call it a stealth coup — has actually been underway for years... a coup that sneaks up on you, that isn’t obvious at first, because it slowly destroys not form but function... one that has overthrown not the government but, rather, one of its core tenets: the idea that that government is answerable to the will of the governed.
Consider the ongoing push by Republican lawmakers to restrict abortion, LGBTQ rights and the teaching of African-American history, while making it harder to access the ballot and easier to access guns. And then consider this: None of that represents the will of the American people.
Abortion? A 2021 Pew Research Center poll finds that most Americans support it.
LGBTQ rights? A 2021 Gallup poll finds that most Americans are fine with them.
African-American history? A 2022 CBS News poll finds that most Americans think teaching it is useful.
The ballot? A 2020 poll by Northeastern, Northwestern, Rutgers and Harvard universities finds that most Americans believe the last election was secure.
Guns? A 2020 Gallup poll finds that most Americans want stricter laws.
Yet most Americans are repeatedly overruled.
The culprits are manifold. They include gerrymandering, dark money, the lies and fear-mongering of right-wing media and the party-before-country gutlessness of GOP lawmakers. They also include the fecklessness of the political left, where voters often must be begged to vote, and it is not uncommon to hear them defend their detachment by whining how both parties are fundamentally the same."
And just like that, our democracy could be a thing of the past | Opinion
Americans are watching a slow-motion stealth coup of our ideals | Miami Herald
What if the coup already came and nobody noticed? It sounds nonsensical, yes. How does a coup go unnoticed?
The conventional wisdom, as we learn more about the election of 2020 and the insurrection of 2021, is that by the machinations of Ginni Thomas, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump and others, America came this close to suffering an extralegal seizure of power, but escaped.
However, an argument can be made that another kind of coup — call it a stealth coup — has actually been underway for years... a coup that sneaks up on you, that isn’t obvious at first, because it slowly destroys not form but function... one that has overthrown not the government but, rather, one of its core tenets: the idea that that government is answerable to the will of the governed.
Consider the ongoing push by Republican lawmakers to restrict abortion, LGBTQ rights and the teaching of African-American history, while making it harder to access the ballot and easier to access guns. And then consider this: None of that represents the will of the American people.
Abortion? A 2021 Pew Research Center poll finds that most Americans support it.
LGBTQ rights? A 2021 Gallup poll finds that most Americans are fine with them.
African-American history? A 2022 CBS News poll finds that most Americans think teaching it is useful.
The ballot? A 2020 poll by Northeastern, Northwestern, Rutgers and Harvard universities finds that most Americans believe the last election was secure.
Guns? A 2020 Gallup poll finds that most Americans want stricter laws.
Yet most Americans are repeatedly overruled.
The culprits are manifold. They include gerrymandering, dark money, the lies and fear-mongering of right-wing media and the party-before-country gutlessness of GOP lawmakers. They also include the fecklessness of the political left, where voters often must be begged to vote, and it is not uncommon to hear them defend their detachment by whining how both parties are fundamentally the same."