These are excellent suggestions. But if @perrybaconjr is right - and I’m afraid he almost certainly is - that we need all of these things to happen in order to save American democracy, the situation is grim indeed.
https://twitter.com/perrybaconjr/status/1401590478232076290
What @perrybaconjr is outlining here is absolutely how we would expect a functioning democratic system to react. Unfortunately, however, a functioning democratic system is not what America is.
The final point @perrybaconjr brings up - mobilizing a pro-democracy movement - strikes me as particularly urgent. As it’s becoming obvious that the slide towards authoritarianism is unlikely to be halted from within the political institutions, such mobilization will be crucial.
Too bad, however, that the leadership of America’s sole pro-democracy party seems decidedly uncomfortable with this sort of mass politics - and has actually emphasized de-mobilization since the 2018 midterms.
How can we explain such explicit disapproval of mass politics in the fight against Trumpism and authoritarianism? Some parts of the Democratic establishment fear nothing more than a mobilized base that might unleash a dynamic they might not be able to control.
The fact that such mass mobilization is strongly associated with the party’s left / progressive wing - and that wing being much more attuned to movement politics - certainly plays a role. Does the establishment want to see Bernie and AOC leading a mass pro-democracy movement?
And, of course, such mass mobilization might make Democrats look “radical” in the eyes of the one group the Democratic establishment believes matters more than anyone else: the white “moderates.”
There are certainly other reasons why the Democratic Party hasn’t been at the forefront of what @perrybaconjr rightfully suggests we need: A pro-democracy mass movement. Let’s hope Democratic leaders will change their mind before it’s too late. When democracy is gone, it’s gone.
https://twitter.com/perrybaconjr/status/1401590478232076290
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