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1 Jun, 6 tweets, 3 min read
Again: This is the only free speech crisis that matters.

Republicans are using the power of the state to outlaw dissent, restrict critical debate, and punish anyone who dares to question the righteousness of past, present, or future white reactionary rule.
It’s extremely dangerous, and it still feels significantly undercovered to me.

Just a few more examples from just the last week - here’s Missouri:
Idaho:
A deep dive on Texas, once again from @JeffreyASachs, who is laser-focused on these issues and is absolutely the person to follow and read on what is and what’s isn’t a “free speech crisis.”
While these attempts to whitewash American history are radicalizing, this sort of reactionary censorship and state-imposed myth-making has a long tradition, of course. Here’s a good overview by @juliacarriew:
This, by the way, is the silver lining in all of this. Doesn’t change the fact, however, that this bizarre rightwing panic is now animating and/or providing cover to many attempts to install state censorship, and that’s extremely worrisome.

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More from @tzimmer_history

Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
1 Jun
Great reporting by @ThePlumLineGS on the “Statement of Concern” issued by eminent scholars of democracy.

A few comments on this important document: Some historical context - and one objection to the final sentence, the idea that “History will judge what we do at this moment.”
First of all, I am grateful to @leedrutman and all the scholars who participated: “Our democracy is fundamentally at stake,” they write, and that is exactly the heart of the matter.

I reflected on the world-historic significance of this struggle in this thread a few days ago:
I’m also grateful that the Statement is entirely free of “both sides” nonsense or obscuring language of “unity.” It leaves no doubt that we are looking at a Republican assault on democracy - that is the threat we need to face.
Read 17 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
28 May
Unless the system is fundamentally democratized, we’ll soon reach the point where it will become impossible to stop America’s slide into authoritarianism through elections.

Some thoughts on what is at stake, based on this important piece by @RonBrownstein: 1/
If democratizing reforms do not come, all the states in which Republicans are in power will soon resemble apartheid South Africa much more than anything that could reasonably be called a functioning multiracial democracy. 2/
In about half the states, Republicans will be erecting stable one-party rule and install a system that is best described as a herrenvolk democracy: A system that is fairly democratic if you happen to be a white Christian man – and something entirely different if you are not. 3/
Read 28 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
26 May
If you want to unpack what the conservative movement has been all about since the 1950s and what is animating the Republican Party today, there really is no better place to start than “Dismantling systemic racism is Communism”
There’s a pretty straight line from “Race Mixing is Communism” - the slogan of those who opposed school integration in the 1950s and 60s - to Cotton’s fight to uphold the social caste system.
This famous photo, for instance, was taken at the Little Rock, Arkansas state capitol, August 1959 – the “Communist Race Mixing” in question was the integration of Little Rock’s Central High School (from a Library of Congress collection)
Read 5 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
25 May
I went on CNN on the weekend to talk about Trump’s “Big Lie,” and what history can tell us about why it’s captured the Republican Party. In the very short segment, I didn’t get to talk about why I’m actually somewhat skeptical of the focus on the #BigLie idea. Let me explain: 1/
The term “Big Lie,” as it is defined today, refers to a specific kind of political propaganda: A lie that is told for political purposes and that is so outrageous, so bizarre, that it’s hard for people to resist. 2/ merriam-webster.com/dictionary/big…
As the theory goes, people believe the Big Lie precisely BECAUSE it is so shocking, because it is difficult to imagine anyone would lie in this shameless fashion about important political matters. 3/
Read 40 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
18 May
I think @ThePlumLineGS has this exactly right: The protection of voting rights is a partisan issue – because democracy itself has become a partisan issue.

It’s the fundamental reality of American politics, and it’s worth putting in historical perspective. A few thoughts:
It’s crucial to understand what “democracy” meant in the U.S. before the civil rights legislation of the 1960s: A system that was fairly democratic if you happened to be a white Christian man – and something entirely different if you were not.
Until the 1960s, there was a pretty stable, bipartisan elite consensus that democracy should not interfere with the established power structure, and so the system was deliberately set up in a way that left white Christian male dominance largely untouched.
Read 15 tweets
Thomas Zimmer Profile picture
18 May
I went on the @DinDpodcast alongside @ConStelz for a wide-ranging discussion about the state of democracy in a transatlantic perspective.

If you’re interested in the past, present, and possible future of pluralistic democracy, I promise this episode is for you.
We covered a lot of ground – topics include:

- Angela Merkel’s legacy – and how worried should we be about the future of German democracy?
- Has the pandemic taught us anything about the ability of democracies to handle collective action crises?
- ...
Also:

- The dangers of the “politics of anticipated backlash”
- Why we should be more skeptical of established narratives of democracy’s supposed triumph after the end of the Cold War, the rise of “populism,” or the “crisis” of liberal democracy in the 21st century
- ...
Read 6 tweets

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