Let Them Eat Democracy
The 2022 Electionsd and the Failure of the #NeverTrump Political Response
Republicans are poised for a big night in the House when election results and many are chagrined. Ex-Republican Tom Nichols lashed out:
Nichols’ complaint and the general dour mood among many former Republicans in the #NeverTrump movement shows the big flaw of their plan to “defend Democracy.” Their premise is that the defense of democracy depends on the Democratic Party winning every election until such time as the Republican Party abandons Trumpism.
In effect, this means voting Democrat in perpetuity. I’m old enough to remember George Will urging voters to vote for Democrats to take over Congress in 2018 and for Republicans like John Kasich urging America to vote for Joe Biden in 2020 to save the country from Trump.
These NeverTrump forces eschewed talk of a third-party or Independent efforts (except in Utah’s Senate race) because giving people choices that they actually wanted to vote for might hurt “democracy.”
A Shallow Vision of Democracy
Nichols is a stout defender of democracy as a form of government. And maintaining Nichols’ idea of “democracy” is the only that matters, it’s a second-order issue whether the government is responsive to the people’s concerns or priorities. Such demands are immature and foolish.
Should it matter to American voters that Biden’s withdrawal was a debacle that left Americans behind and dishonored our nation by abandoning those whose lives were at risk because they helped us? No.
Should it matter that the Biden administration is hurting Americans through a Utopian energy policy that leaves our country begging foreign regimes for oil rather than exploiting our nation’s own energy wealth? No.
Should it matter that Biden’s vanity and desire for political aggrandizement led to pass the bloated American Rescue Plan as the economy was already starting to recover COVID? No.
Should it matter that the Biden Administration’s contempt for life in the womb continues outside the womb in its refusal to get a handle on the baby formula crisis? Should it matter that in October, families are struggling to get the formula they need for infants. No, absolutely not.
Babies can’t get formula? Let them eat Democracy!
One of the problems with Nichols complaint is the assumption is that Democracy exists primarily to exist and sustain itself. However, it exists to serve the electorate and if if ceases doing that, free government is imperiled. During the post-Revolutionary period, many Americans were open to a return to the monarchy or some other less-than-free arrangement to stop the chaos that was happening under the Articles of Confederation.
In that case, the Republic was saved by the Constitutional Convention, which addressed the deficiencies of the Confederation and saved free government because they addressed the concerns of the people.
In the face of the assault of populist crankery, those who could have made a difference either did nothing or urged the election of unhinged leftist ideologues and bet everything on Democrats never losing another election ever again, something that is and was impossible.
Like Nichols, I’m alarmed by some of the people who will take office as a result of next month’s election. Yet if Nichols wants to blame anyone, the average voter dealing with high gas prices and crime isn’t to blame. They’re making the best of what the two-party system that Nichols and his compatriots champion has given them. And when you make people choose between the lesser of two evils, you can’t gripe when they choose the evil you hate more. Voters are going to do what they predictably were always going to do: not vote Democratic in an election.
Do the Democrats Care About Democracy?
One other point that Nichols calls to mind is whether the Democrats he champions actually care that much about Democracy. According to Nichols, we may be facing the gravest threat to Democracy in the last 160-plus years.
Democrats don’t act like this is the case. Consider the Second Impeachment Trial of Donald Trump. The Senate voted to call witnesses and then unexpectedly the House Managers didn’t do it because of pressure from Senator Chris Coons (D-Delaware). The reason? Valentines Day was coming: “Politico reported that Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), in seeming disregard for the momentous consequences of the proceedings, told House impeachment managers near the end of the trial, “The jury is ready to vote. People want to get home for Valentine’s Day.”
According to Nichols, voters need to disregard their own economic concerns, overlook the Biden Administration’s humiliation of our country in Afghanistan, and their own grave concerns about moral issues like abortion to save Democracy when it wasn’t a big enough priority for Senate Democrats to delay their Valentines Day plans.
Now, of course, there’s more to it than Valentine’s Day. The Biden Administration didn’t want the Impeachment Trial to continue. Coons was Biden’s successor in the Senate and a close ally. The Biden Administration wanted to get on with the hard work of pouring gasoline on the Inflation Fire and mostly flailing about legislatively for a year rather than the focus be on Trump.
The Democrats have supported the January 6th Committee to the extent they have because it was their best midterm argument prior to the Dobbs Decision and keeping Trump in the headlines is the Democrats’ best argument.
In short, the Democrats only defend democracy as cynical opportunists and folks like Tom Nichols expect voters to give them unquestioning loyalty for it.