The Republican Party, Trump, and Power
On October 8, 2020, Utah Senator Mike Lee tweeted,
“We’re not a democracy.”
“The word “democracy” appears nowhere in the Constitution, perhaps because our form of government is not a democracy. It’s a constitutional republic. To me it matters. It should matter to anyone who worries about the excessive accumulation of power in the hands of the few.”
“Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prosperity are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.”
“It’s a big deal, because in many ways, the whole idea of having a constitution itself, particularly a constitution that establishes a constitutional republic like ours, is materially different and distinct from a democracy.”
Senator Lee couldn’t be more wrong. His tweets state a few facts without telling the truth (facts which I largely address in the Ponder This… article Democracy, Freedom and Human Rights: The Troubled Journey of the United States posted on July 1, 2020).
The founding fathers did have concerns about a “pure” or a “direct” democracy as practiced by ancient societies e.g., ancient Athens. But that’s not what we mean by democracy in the modern world. And Senator Lee should know this. Or perhaps the Senator just lacks knowledge of basic history and the development of political thought. Ancient Athens in 6th century BCE is considered to be the world’s first democracy. But ancient Athenian democracy isn’t anything close to the modern concept of democracy. For hundreds of years before eighteenth-century America, democratic ideas were slowly but surely becoming embedded in political thought resulting in historic developments such as the Magna Carta, among others, that served as precursors of the development of the United States government. Still, modern democracy was in a nascent stage of development in the eighteenth century when the founders debated United States governance. And what the founders developed was a democratic government, that is a government that is legitimized by its citizens and dependent on their participation, and their elected representatives. Today, countries throughout the world have a democratic type of government with different forms of government architecture. The United States in particular is a democracy (albeit imperfect) with a republic (representative) form of government. The terms “democracy” and “republic” are not mutually exclusive concepts. And to be sure, the founding fathers feared majority rule in a “pure” democracy would threaten minority rights. This was a primary reason for the development of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. Individual rights are sacrosanct. And the individual rights guaranteed in the Constitution should not be compromised by either a majority or a minority rule within the government. So to be clear, Senator Lee, you may not like it, but the United States IS a democracy. Since Senator Lee appears to have a sophomoric understanding of democracy, perhaps this is why he employed the pejorative term “rank” to describe it. Although Senator Lee tried to “clarify” his tweets on democracy after a firestorm of criticism, I suspect his original tweets on this issue reveal his core thinking. Having said this, it’s not surprising that Senator Lee provides no context for the few facts he cites. To me, politicians and others who hold extreme views often don’t provide context for their assertions. And Senator Lee, in my opinion, does hold extreme views.
In July 2020, Senator Lee claimed that conservatives are censored on the internet and social media platforms. In so doing, he makes sweeping general statements about the censoring of conservative thought on online platforms but ultimately references a video retweeted by Trump claiming that hydroxychloroquine is a cure for Covid.(1) The video reminds me of an old west traveling medicine show pitching dubious cures and elixirs. It’s just dangerous medical misinformation. Of course, there isn’t a conspiracy to quiet conservative voices online. Quite the opposite (see Ponder This…article The Trump Conspiracy). Conservative thought is easily accessible on any online platform. I research both conservative and liberal ideologies consistently without any problems. Why Senator Lee expends effort to equate voices espousing dangerous medical information as conservative ideology or conservatism is baffling as it is unsettling.
In January 2020, Senator Lee claimed that Trump’s impeachment occurred because of a “deep state.”(2) Of course, there isn’t any evidence of a “deep state.” Career federal employees often have differences of opinion with any current sitting president. And it’s their job to provide the president with various perspectives on any given issue. Further, if federal employees become aware of any unethical or criminal conduct of any federal employee, including the president, they have the responsibility to voice that concern. As such, federal employees expressing a valid concern or voicing different opinions does not constitute a deep state; such a claim is laughable. Federal employees are expected to maintain high ethical standards just like any respected business. The claim of a “deep state” just isn’t tethered in reality.
You don’t need to take my word that Senator Mike Lee holds extreme views. According to a study (2015) by a Brigham Young University professor, Mike Lee is the most “ideologically extreme Senator serving today and the most conservative Utahn the state has ever sent to Washington.” (3)
If Senator Lee’s tweets on democracy weren’t sobering enough, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham asserted in a recent debate that,
Black Americans “can go anywhere in this state (i.e., South Carolina)” if they’re conservative.”
“I care about everybody. If you’re a young African American, an immigrant, you can go anywhere in this state, you just need to be conservative, not liberal.”
“To young people out there, young people of color, young immigrants, this is a great state, but one thing I can say without any doubt, you can be an African American and go to the Senate but you just have to share our values.”
Doesn’t Senator Graham’s words just scream freedom? According to Senator Graham, if you think like him, you’ll do just fine. Senator Graham apparently likes the idea that everyone has the right to his political opinions.
Of course, it isn’t surprising that both Senator Graham and Lee are big supporters of Trump who consistently commits egregious acts against constitutional standards and democratic institutions (see Ponder This…article Trump and the Assault on Freedom and the Law). Trump was willing to compromise our democracy by not committing to a peaceful transfer of power when he lost the 2020 presidential election. Sadly, the Republicans in Congress show fealty to Trump. As such, they are complicit in Trump’s behavior. One could reasonably conclude that the Republicans in Congress, Senator Lee, Senator Graham, and Trump are not particularly supportive of democracy and freedom as they are about their own political opinions and retaining political power. Surely, the Republican Party has taken a dark turn.
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Updated January 16, 2020
