Democracy cannot exist without free and fair elections.
Democracy depends on the general belief that elections are conducted honestly and that the results are reported honestly.
Since the 2020 Presidential election, Donald Trump has told his followers that the election he lost was fraudulent. Despite dozens of court cases that his team lost because they were unable to produce evidence of fraud, Trump insists that he won in a landslide.
Despite multiple recounts and hand recounts, Trump continues to lie.
Despite the testimony of Trump lawyers that Trump lost, Trump continues to claim he won.
Trump’s campaign of lies is a direct threat to our democracy.
NPR undertook an investigation to assess the influence of four election deniers who work at the local level, spreading propaganda and misinformation.
Every citizen concerned about the health of our democracy should read the NPR report. The election deniers can say whatever they want. It’s a free country.
But the public should know who they are and what they do.
If you want to protect our Constitution and our freedoms, be informed to combat lies with facts.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
In a democracy the government is an instrument of the People’s will.
In a democracy the People entrust the government with sufficient power to protect the People from threats to their well-being and to effect the People’s will.
If the People come to feel that their government is something alien to their will and welfare, then that is a measure of how far the government has strayed from the path of democracy.
The answer is not to Kill the Beast, as some would have us do, but to bring it to heel for remedial obedience training, so it can return to its proper duties.
Above all, we should be extremely wary of those who would have us Kill the Beast, our own Watchdog, since they usually have a Pet Beast all their own, just waiting at the Gates.
— Jon Awbrey • July 3, 2012
Or with the Gates’
I knew you would catch that !!!
I have become too predictable.
Time to change things up a bit.
Throw a few curves or knuckleballs.
Maybe even bunt every once in a while.
Or better yet, punt.
To Trump and his empowered supporters, lying is not a moral wrong. It’s an instrumental strategy to maintain and enhance power. democracy to them is expendable tool not an inalienable right.
It’s the New “T” Party —
“T” for Trump Twits This Time …
The T-rump Party
Democrats should destroy the activists described in the NPR article with the truth. How do they do this? It has to be through the courts or through congress. These people must be required to swear before a judge that they are telling the truth, thus making themselves liable for jail when they cannot convince the judges and juries, they are telling the truth. Courts and congress are empowered to take sworn testimony. Lying in sworn testimony is criminal.
I am not a lawyer. I do not know how to do this. Surely someone does. Let’s do it.
Trump lost the 2020 presidential election; Stacey Abrams lost the 2018 election for Governor of Georgia. Both deny that they lost, all evidence to the contrary. This blog cares about Trump’s false claims, but has nary a word to say about Abrams’s false claims.
ttps://www.newsweek.com/stacey-abrams-refutes-comparison-trumps-fraud-claims-her-2018-election-bid-ahead-runoffs-1558594
She answers this false comparison this way. The fundamental difference is that Abrahams claimed that barriers to voting hurt her constituency. This has been demonstrated,and is now an on-going effort by Republican legislatures throughout the country.
Trump, on the other hand, has tried to build a case around multifarious claims of fake ballots, hacked software, and ballot tampering. H was unsuccessful in his attempts before the Jan 6 coup attempt. Subsequently, no official governmental agency has corroborated any of his claims or the claims of his supporters.
Don’t you see the difference?
Roy Let’s get Maria’s address and send her a new box of Sharpies. CBK
Catherine: Just by coincidence, there was a time back in the 1990s, when Shelbyville, TN was home to the manufacture of Sharpie ink. It happened because the German industrialists who manufactured pencils brought the pencil manufacturing to the town in the Thirties. By the 1960s, the town was known as Pencil City USA. AS outsourcing began to move pencil manufacture out of town in the 80s, it was replaced by the making of Sharpies and their ink. Then that left.
Roy Thanks for relating that Sharpie history. That’s why I love history . . . so enriching of the whole. CBK
Maria Segonia: False equivalency queen for the day. Trump claimed that there was massive voter fraud across the whole nation….A BLATANT LIE. All his claims flopped in a court of law. Did Stacey Abrams call for an insurrection? Abrams was talking about voter suppression which was/is a fact in Georgia and GOP controlled states.
Well, to be fair, “ensure election” kinda sounds like “insurrection”, so I can totally see how someone might confuse them, especially when they are said quickly on the news.
Maria Segonia,
Abrams’ organization’s lawsuit re “alleged that state officials ‘grossly mismanaged’ the election, depriving some citizens, particularly low-income people and people of color, of their right to vote,” and called for changes in GA election processes that would correct those problems. GA made some of those changes– so obviously not “false claims”– which narrowed the scope of the ongoing suit.
A quick glance (& perhaps a whole lotta listening to rwmedia) might cause some to equate this to #45’s claim he in fact won, & continuing to impede a smooth presidential transition with scores of lawsuits. GA’s citizens apparently disagree, as evidenced by their later unseating the state’s incumbent Rep senators.
The phrase “shouting fire in a crowded theater” has become synonymous with speech that, because of its danger of provoking violence, is not protected by the First Amendment.
“In 1919, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes introduced the specter of a man falsely
shouting “fire” in a theater into First Amendment law. Nearly one hundred years later,
this remains the most enduring analogy in constitutional law. It has been relied on in
hundreds of constitutional cases, and it has permeated popular discourse on the scope
of individual rights.”
I wonder if todays theofascist majority in the US Supreme Court are going to overrule that, too.
https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1748&context=wmborj
“Many states and the federal government have enacted laws prohibiting inciting riots, violence, or insurrection, whether by those names or under laws prohibiting disorderly conduct, public disorder, mobs, or breach of peace.”
https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/inciting-to-riot-violence-or-insurrection.html
“More than 150 people have pleaded guilty to storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, but relatively few defendants have received prison time for their role in the insurrection.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/04/jan-6-insurrection-sentencing-tracker-526091
If our justice system doesn’t harshly enforce these laws, then it will happen again and again and again. The threat of violence and living in fear of it has already become normalized in the US.
Lloyd “I wonder if today’s theofascist majority in the US Supreme Court are going to overrule that, too.”
No, probably not. True to form, they’ll just twist it around and make it work FOR them and against their “enemies.” You can do anything if you pay no attention to the truth or to your own dead or dying conscience.
Also, I don’t care if you or others here use “theo-fascist” in your narratives. Have at it. However, let me add my view: that it’s more fascist than “theo.” The fascist playbook is clear on this.
The powers that be in the Catholic Church in the US at present (notably, not Pope Francis) unfortunately have drunk the poison of the rich and arrogant neo-liberal/Libertarians. They are spiritually confused at best. At worst, they are like wannabees to power and money who use what’s left of the Church, and the good people in it, to fuel their own lust. In doing so, they give anything “theo” and especially, anything Christian, a bad name. Camels and needles come to mind. Presently, I think they are grabbing at straws trying to get back what they, themselves, have driven away. CBK
Officials of the Catholic Church (including, I am sure, the Pope) are very pleased (if not ecstatic) over the recent Supreme Court rulings.
And in at least one case they were actually complicit in getting the desired outcome. The US Catholic Bishops actually submitted a friend of the court brief on behalf of Kennedy , the praying coach. The Supremes ruled in Kennedy’s favor based on a fanciful version of the “facts” that was actually the opposite of reality, in claiming that his prayer was “private”.
Did the Catholic Bishops complain about or even mention this blatant DECEPTION that was used to get the result they wanted. They did not. Instead they celebrated the lie. That makes them complicit.
People can’t pretend that churches like the Catholic Church (headed by the Pope) have played no role in rulings of the Supreme Court like Kennedy and the overturn of Roe . They have been directly involved for decades in getting a certain outcome.
They made their bed and there they must lie. And, as demonstrated by the Bishops in the Kennedy case and the massive protection racket for the pedophile priests (whose orchestratiin extended all the way up to the Pope, previous. If not current) they seem to have no problem at all lying.
SomeDAM “Officials of the Catholic Church (including, I am sure, the Pope) are very pleased (if not ecstatic) over the recent Supreme Court rulings.”
as with abortion. . . but not climate change or others that concern human well-being. You are talking about the fascist way of “cloaking,” or of giving in order to take much more later.
In m y view you are also right in what you say about the coach and prayer: “That makes them complicit.” Yes, my view is that they are shooting themselves and religious expression in a democracy in the foot. They either are complicit, or they are defensive in the extreme (as are many), or they just don’t understand what’s at stake (as in: conflict, if not war, and ultimately political and spiritual chaos).
“People can’t pretend that churches like the Catholic Church (headed by the Pope) have played no role in rulings of the Supreme Court like Kennedy and the overturn of Roe. They have been directly involved for decades in getting a certain outcome.”
Yes, but not all, especially where economics and the well-being of all are concerned (lending towards social order if not “socialism.” (See my earlier note about Pope Francis’s thoughts on the matter of “extreme capitalism” in the US. and also, Commonweal Magazine (online).
The second rule of fascism, however, is to encourage everyone to think in black/white, either/or terms (no pun intended) or even simplistically.
“They made their bed and there they must lie.” <–Absolutely in agreement there. THAT bed won’t be a choice but an historical given. Sometimes, however, the arch of history takes too long to manifest. . . for most of us. I for one appreciate your distinction between past and present popes. CBK
SomeDAM According to a Wikipedia source, the Kochs “opposed George W. Bush on many issues, are pro-choice, support same sex marriage, and worked closely with the Obama White House for the Obama administration’s criminal justice reform initiatives that aligned with their own.[23][24]’”
It’s the money and power (big oil, mostly). They probably couldn’t care less about abortion, either way. So, let’s wear that cloak and let the others have it. So like Trump. CBK
Thank you for posting this, Diane. CBK
Since our ‘elected’ Congress only passes laws the are wanted by the rich (see the famous Princeton study), how can we call this a ‘democracy’?
Daedalus It’s not Congress as such, but its corruption that sets the decline of democracy. Overused but still true cliche’s: Let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater. With our break from our old naive-optimistic sense of democracy (that it will take care of itself), let us ACTUALLY clean the swamp.
My hope is that, with the initial push-back of courageous people coming before the January 6th Committee, there is a flood of more to come.
As an aside, I don’t think the arrogant Libertarian rich, who actually do lust for power, do anyone any good by their long-term concerted efforts to destroy democracy, much less themselves. CBK
Libertarians hate democracy and insist that the US is not a democracy, they say that it’s a republic. OK, sure, the US is a republic and a republic can also be defined as a representative democracy. The US is both a democracy and republic, we use the terms interchangeably, from presidents to mere peons. I remember Rand Paul having a hissy fit when one of his colleagues described America as a democracy. Paul was engaging in verbal pettifogging.
Joe Jersey Ha! “Pettifogging.” Where’s SOMEdam when you need her? CBK
In Wisconsin and North Carolina, the Democratic Party has worked to keep third parties (e.g. Green Party) off ballots. Doing so is an example of voter suppression.
The Extreme Court just announced that it will be taking for next term a case dealing with what is known as Independent State Legislatures Theory. This is the theory that Eastman and Trump’s fake electors scheme was based on. Look for this Extreme Court to codify that into law and usher in the Nullification Era of U.S. governance in which a Repugnican state legislature can overrule the will of the people.
The case is Moore v. Harper
Timothy K. Moore, in His Official Capacity as Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, et al., Petitioners
v.
Rebecca Harper, et al.
So, let us have taps for the end of democracy on this fourth of July.
For a complete backgrounder on this independent state legislature theory, see this paper:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4047322
Excellent source, Bob– thanks.
Lol, Democrats have not accepted the election of any Republican President since 2000. Stacy Abrams still thinks she is Governor of Georgia, for God’s sake.
Quit projecting.
jacquilenhardt5598 Yes . . . I vote democratic most of the time, but I cannot vote anymore because and I just got out of jail for trying to tear down the Capitol Building from when Gore “won” the election. CBK