The Road Ahead
The day after Election Day 2023 dawned with considerable elation. League advocacy for rights and freedoms were confirmed by the will of the voters. Legislation has already been filed to raise the minimum wage and ban assault weapons. Steps to initiate amendments in our state constitution have begun including a guarantee of abortion access and automatic restoration of voting rights for former felons. Still to come will be removing language in the state constitution prohibiting same-sex marriage and replacing that language with protections. There will be more.
In a recent newsletter to League members, Joan Porte, President of the League of Women Voters of Virginia, emphasized our ongoing role in these matters. In three succinct lines she states:
- Are We Partisan? No
- Are We Progressive? Yes
- Will We Change Either? NO!
Joan reminds us that it is not partisan to support voting rights despite a minority of vocal people who want to restrict voting. She further clarifies that our support of women’s bodily autonomy, affordable housing, tending to our planet, educational equity, and gun violence prevention is progressive—not partisan, despite attempts to label it so. So, as we enter the holiday season, we are armed with League support for our progressive, nonpartisan mission ahead.
Are there challenges? You bet.
We in the League have two distinct missions: EMPOWERING VOTERS & DEFENDING DEMOCRACY
Both face existential threats. Legislative and judicial assaults on voting rights threaten how democracy functions. The rise of authoritarianism is a threat to democracy itself.
Authoritarianism
Over several decades, we have witnessed the rise of this authoritarianism in Europe, Central and South America and across the globe. Now, without question, it has come to our shores. Democracy has no room for authoritarianism. The two are not compatible. Healthy policy debates are the lifeblood of democracy. Authoritarianism is not a policy debate. Authoritarianism abhors debate. It strangles it. There is no such thing as liberal authoritarianism. That is an oxymoron.
Background: Before the 1990s, authoritarian leaders could upend democracy with a decisive blow, often by means of a military coup d’état. Over the last thirty years, threats to democracy have evolved. Now democracy dies gradually. By using “salami tactics” or slicing away at democracy a sliver at a time, modern authoritarians take power incrementally and gradually. There is no longer a singular bright red line dividing democracy and authoritarianism. But the outcome is still the same.
The Authoritarian Playbook is the product of the nonpartisan group, Protect Democracy. It was developed to help journalists and reporters contextualize and cover authoritarian threats as distinct from politics-as-usual. All of us would benefit from learning these tactics. They will not be unfamiliar to us. Our responsibility as defenders of democracy is to call them out.
According to leading scholars of democracy, aspiring modern authoritarians tend to employ, either by behavior or aspiration, these same seven basic tactics in the pursuit of power. Following is a condensed list.
- Politicizing Independent Institutions. Terminate career civil servants. Call non-political institutions “the deep state.” Fire non-partisans. Hire loyalists.
- Spreading Disinformation. Propagate lies & invent false grievances. Lie to sow doubt. Undermine the notion that anything is true. Rely on “alternative facts.”
- Aggrandizing Executive Power. Enforce unitary & imperial power. Invoke emergency & military police powers. Undercut civil rights, balance of power, rule of law, future elections, truth…. [A recent Public Religion Research Institute poll reveals 4 of 10 Americans would accept a leader who “breaks the rules.”]
- Quashing Dissent. Freedoms of speech and press are at risk. More so, the authoritarian will use siloed information to romance unique audiences. Dissent is silent in a silo.
- Marginalizing Vulnerable Communities. Demonize diversity. Race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, immigration status. These can be used as authoritarian bludgeons by unprincipled actors.
- Corrupting Elections. Call them “rigged,” “fixed,” “fraudulent.” A recent development is bracing. Nearly four billion Meta [formerly Facebook] users may see political ads claiming that the 2020 presidential race was stolen. It is the lie that won’t die.
- Stoking Violence. Align with violent actors. Look the other way. Deny affiliation. Refuse to condemn.
Ian Bassin, the co-founder of Protect Democracy, is convinced that our constitutional system is not built to withstand authoritarian rule engaged in unrestrained playbook tactics.
“It would likely mean our 247-year-old republic won’t live to celebrate 250.”
And yet we are increasingly witnessing these tactics play out before our eyes.
Voting Rights
We will address legal and judicial assaults against voting rights in the coming months as rights are protected or as rights are quashed. In the meantime, there is another equally concerning threat we should address immediately—voter apathy. There is a growing notion that the political cacophony is turning off voters. Voters of all ages are polling as lacking the need or enthusiasm to vote. We cannot let that happen. This is a mission uniquely designed for the League. Apathy or indifference are intricately intertwined and will make our jobs of defending democracy more challenging. There’s no better time than now to begin voter registration drives. Besides registering and informing voters on the mechanics, we will also have to hone our skills of giving citizens reasons to vote. Warning the electorate about the rise of authoritarianism and the attacks on voting rights should help. In the current climate, we will have to double down on the our messaging with conviction like never before.
We are now well into the season of twinkle lights. We need flood lights to shine on our democracy. To take a hard look at what threatens it. And what we can do to protect it. Looking down the road, as we engage in our mission activities, we might remind ourselves that every election in a democratic society could be the last election. It is essential to know exactly why that might happen. The facts and evidence will guide us. Sentinel will do its best to explain them as they unfold.
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