I respect Kinzinger taking a stand against the authoritarian assault on democracy. But his continued insistence that his Republican colleagues are just scared and cowardly obscures the actual problem: Most of them are on board with the anti-democratic radicalization. 1/
https://twitter.com/duty2warn/status/1480204838143205376
The “cowardice” tale is so attractive for several reasons: It provides cover for Republicans (better a coward than an extremist); and it allows the news media to cling to the conception of the GOP as a “normal” party that is just struggling with an authoritarian insurrection. 2/
But the “cowardice” narrative fails to explain the actions of Republican elected officials up and down the country – particularly on the state and local levels – who are actively complicit and often seem to revel in the attack on democracy. 3/
We are dealing with true believers - and that’s a scary proposition: Much more convenient to pretend everyone loves democracy and some of us are just scared of the mean demagogue and his cult followers. But that’s not what’s happening. 4/
The real question then is: True believers in what? I think we need to start from the assumption that most Republicans are convinced they are waging a noble war against insidious forces that are threatening “real” (read: conservative white Christian patriarchal) America. 5/
Republicans consider themselves the sole proponents of that “real” America – and they believe to be defending it against the radically “Un-American” forces of leftism, liberalism, wokeism, and multiculturalism that have captured the Democratic Party and the Democratic base. 6/
What follows from that proposition is that Democratic governance – whether or not it has the support of a numerical majority of the electorate – is fundamentally illegitimate: The Democratic Party not simply a political opponent, but a fundamentally “Un-American” enemy. 7/
The “cowardice” narrative not only fails to grapple with the depth of the ideological struggle we are witnessing, it also conveniently ignores the longstanding anti-democratic impulses and tendencies on the Right. It’s a story that begins (and possibly ends) with Trump. 8/
But the Republican Party has been on an anti-democratic trajectory for a long time. For several decades, the GOP has been focused almost exclusively on the interests and sensibilities of white conservatives. 9/
And white conservatives tend to have a very specific idea of what “real America” is and should be: They define it as a predominantly white, Christian, patriarchal nation. America, to them, is supposed to be a place where white Christian men are at the top. 10/
The overriding concern of conservatism as a political project as it has existed in the United States since at least the 1950s, and thus the GOP’s overriding concern since at least the 1970s, has been to preserve that white Christian nationalist version of “real America.” 11/
Due to political, cultural, and most importantly demographic changes, Republicans do not have majority support for their political project anymore – certainly not on the federal level, and even in “red” states, their position is becoming increasingly tenuous. 12/
No one understands this better than Republicans themselves: In a functioning democratic system, they would have to either widen their focus beyond the interests and sensibilities of white conservatives, which they are not willing to do; or relinquish power, which they reject. 13/
They have chosen a different path: They are determined to do whatever it takes, regardless of how radical, of how anti-democratic, to protect their hold on power and preserve existing hierarchies and the traditional order. 14/
This anti-democratic path has finally led many Republicans to a point where they are openly embracing authoritarianism – because their previous attempts to uphold white Christian patriarchal rule within the confines of a restricted version of democracy have failed. 15/
Yes, conservatives are radicalizing against democracy – but rather than going from "pro-democratic" to "anti-democratic," what we're seeing is a shift from "on board with a restricted version of democracy" to "determined to prevent multiracial, pluralistic democracy." 16/
Good on Kinzinger for refusing to cross over into open authoritarianism. But instead of focusing on “cowardice,” it’d be great if he could grapple with why he was willing to accommodate, even embrace the anti-democratic tendencies and forces on the Right for so long. /end
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