On January 6 of 2020, we saw a first. We saw an attack on our democracy. It's not that we haven't seen attacks on our democracy before. Back in 2014, a study was published that showed that our democracy was under attack asp seen in the amount of attention that our government officials were paying to the concerns of the wealthy (click here and there) in contrast to the concerns of the rest. And as big a threat to our democracy that those with wealth pose, they are not the biggest threat to our democracy.
So why did I call the January 6 Insurrection the first attack on our democracy? It is because January 6 is the first attack on our democracy by non-elites, by common people. Despite the admission of Trump appointed officials and the ruling of judges, including several judges appointed by Trump, that the claims of significant election fraud were shown to be without merit, the insurrection went on. And yet, those participating in the insurrection are not the biggest threat to our democracy.
And even after the January 6 hearings by the House of Representatives where more Trump officials, and even family, not only acknowledged that the election was legitimately lost, there is a significant core of Trump followers who still believe in the big election lie. Trump followers are doing what they can to control the next election Those efforts include states passing laws that restrict voting by marginalized groups, especially blacks who belong to the lower economic classes, and followers of Trump as well as believers in conspiracy theories are becoming election officials. And yet, they are not the biggest threat to our democracy even though they pose a significant threat to it.
So who is the biggest threat to our democracy? It could very well be us. And how have we become the biggest threat to our democracy? It is because our democracy's kryptonite is apathy. The more we are apathetic toward our democracy and the world around us, the more vulnerable we make our democracy to those threats listed above.
When we approach voting as selecting the people we hope we can ignore until the next election, we have become the greatest threat to our democracy. Such an approach to voting indicates that we do not care enough to know which candidates we should reject. We do not know enough to reject them often because we're only concerned with how we are living today. And so we tend to vote for change too easily when there are hardships--like today's inflation. And those wanting to destroy our democracy will speak opportunistically when the nation is facing significant problems in order get our votes.
When we don't put the time into learning about and understanding why our nation is experiencing the problems it currently is, we become a threat to our democracy. That is because when we don't learn about and understand why our nation is experiencing what it is, we will be come vulnerable to voting for those opportunists just mentioned who aim to destroy our democracy. For example, when Mayor Daily wannabe Ron DeSantis blames our nation's inflation on our government's social spending during the pandemic, he neglects to tell us that much, if not all, of Europe is experiencing an inflation ration that is comparable to ours. If it was American pandemic spending on helping the vulnerable, how is it that other nations are facing a similar problem with inflation. That is not to say that our pandemic spending on helping the vulnerable could not have been more efficient. It is that scapegoating such spending for the inflation we see today is a tool used by opportunists who are hoping to manipulate their way into an elected office.
To understand today's inflation, we need to understand how supply and demand influence prices as well as what is the state of our supply chain and the level of demand for goods that exist today. But if we are apathetic, we will only vote on the current inflation rate without understanding why that rate is where it is. As a result, our vote could very well hinge on being deceived by opportunists.
Certainly there are other issues about which some of us are not motivated to learn. Other issues include our nation's problem with gun violence, climate change, and systemic racism. And here is our current dilemma, we are currently losing our democracy. And that is happening under the radar of many of us. We are losing our democracy to those with wealth. We could also lose our democracy to ideologues who believe that America belongs to them alone.
So while the part of the Republican Party that is under the control of Trump or other authoritarians are posing the most immediate threat to our democracy, the Democratic Party is still pretty much in bed with those with wealth who want to control our government. And so what we need to do is to make concerted efforts to educate ourselves so that we understand those who are running for office as well as what is going on in the world around us. Thus, we need to vote in ways that both avoid the most immediate threats pose by the Trump wing of the Republican Party as well as avoid the longterm threat posed by the Democrats who are in bed with wealth.
In the past, we could have had an easier time in voting for candidates who are true defenders of our democracy by voting for 3rd party candidates in previous elections, but that ship has sailed for the time being because of the Trump wing of the Republican Party.
We are the biggest threat to democracy in this nation. We become such a threat through passivity. When we let apathy rule over us, we become the biggest threat to democracy. When that apathy significantly limits how much time and effort we put into educating ourselves about the issues and the candidates, we make ourselves vulnerable to voting for opportunists who want to take our democracy away from us.
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