Democracy Is Over

These are such harried times and what was once critical thought has turned into an internet-fueled hysteria. Never a source to turn away from cheap news and having long ago let their journalists go, the media followed right along on a race to the bottom.

Headline follows headline, as one media source after another predicts the demise of the two party system and the sure death of democracy as well. It seems that ‘huge numbers of voters believe the 2020 election was fraudulently declared in Joe Biden’s favor.’

Thus, according to pundit after pundit (they follow one another like penguins headed for the water’s edge), the integrity of national elections is forever tainted. Democracy as we know it is unlikely to survive.

Really?

Anyone around these days remember WWII?

We lost 80% of our Pacific Fleet when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. Two days later, Hitler declared war against America after swallowing two-thirds of Europe. Thank god there was no internet at the time or a few thousand conspiracy theorists would have declared democracy dead and whined about the unfairness of war.

Instead, we hunkered down and built more aircraft than Germany could shoot down, launched more ships than Japan could sink and slugged it out until both were conquered. Then we threw in the Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany, Japan and nearly all of Europe in for good measure. No conquering nation has ever rebuilt their adversaries before or since

But America was a courageous nation in those days.

Have we lost both our courage and our direction? Given over to fear?

Americans were always at our best with our backs to the wall. FDR told us, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” and we believed. Has that confidence left us?

Are we really so fearful that we arm ourselves against our neighbors, believe the small and noisy group that doubt our elections, follow an ex-president who is a proven liar and urge on the elements that would narrow rather than expand our very right to vote?

The internet brought us a thousand ‘friends’ on Facebook and no one to have lunch with. We no longer make eye-contact with passersby, scrolling our social media accounts, terrified to be left behind by people we’ve never met. A portion of us (a very fearful and confused portion) believe those 117 elected Republicans  in Congress who disavowed the most closely watched and carefully counted election in our 245-year American history.

That’s the absurd basis of “the end of American democracy.”

Get a grip, people. Put your guns in a locked cabinet and go out and hug someone. There are Trump supporters to put your arms around, Build Back Better champions to shake hands with and kids to love—my kids, your kids, their kids.

So, who are these doomsayers? Republicans, I guess we have to acknowledge that. But having said that, the Republican Party is shrinking. Analysis found that 40 percent of all voters in party-registration states are Democrats, while only 29 percent are Republicans.

“Almost two-thirds of Republicans believe that President Joe Biden did not legitimately win the 2020 election, even as more than six-in-ten Americans overall believe he won fair and square, according to a new Monmouth University poll.

“The survey, conducted February 25 – March 1, found that 65 percent of Republicans believe that Biden’s win was solely the result of voter fraud. What’s more, 29 percent say they will never accept Biden as president.”

So, if my calculator is correct, 65% of the 29% who are Republican voters, leaves us 18.85% of total voters. Let’s be generous and say 19%.

That’s not a number to be dismissed, but it’s no landslide.

To be fair, it’s a number that’s based entirely on supposed facts that have been repeatedly and overwhelmingly dismissed in every case brought to court—in many instances by judges appointed by Donald Trump. That’s just not enough hair on fire to show me democracy Is over.

But it’s a very worrying case of the internet’s ability to bring together enough conspiracy theorists to be defined as a mob. An armed mob at that.

On other matters, Chris Cuomo has been found to support his governor brother. Horrors, cancel-culture decrees that CNN must fire the bastard. Now!

Cancel-culture is a raging business these days, MeToo having ruined as many lives as possible and apparently run out of steam (or hatred, or victims). But Chris Cuomo was both the most popular guy on CNN, with Cuomo Prime Time and their largest advertising draw. In the always important media race for eyeballs, he was a thoroughbred.

But he was also the disgraced New York Governor’s brother. Chris dropped (or was dropped from) his SiriusXM radio show as well and, of course, Harper Collins (that paradigm of publishing integrity) dropped plans to publish Deep Denial, Cuomo’s “provocative analysis of the harsh truths that the pandemic and Trump years have exposed about America--about our strength and our character--and a roadmap of the work needed to make our ideals match reality.”

A whole lot of dropping going on, without a lot proven on the charges. Cancel-culture operates that way, as did the Gestapo in Nazi Germany. No severance pay from Cuomo’s $6 million salary either. No actual charges, lots of innuendo and a career ending move by a gutless employer. A hat-trick of cancel-culture rage.

Hint to Chris: self-publish on Amazon KDP. With your name recognition, you’ll make a bundle and get the word out, far and wide.

Just sayin’…