The GOP Is Turning America Into a Failed Democracy
The prerequisites are already there. Republicans are doubling down. And if they’re left unchecked, it’s only a matter of time.
There comes a point where you struggle to find the words to aptly describe just how low the Republican party has sunk. Where you fail to come to grips with the fact that its default position is now the extreme — and that it keeps sliding further to the Right with every passing day. It defies logic, decency, and democracy.
But that’s where America currently finds itself. And the later it comes to grips with the reality that the GOP is fast heading to become one of the vilest political parties the world has seen, the more punches its democracy will have to endure. Because whether it’s blocking an investigation into the coup on January 6, comparing face masks in the House to Hitler’s concentration camps, demanding loyalty to Donald Trump, or telling a crowd to pick up arms against Big Tech, the GOP has not only refused to learn its lesson — it intends on turning up the heat.
The question is, how long before America realizes its democracy is facing an enemy from within? Before the GOP becomes “socially unacceptable?” After all, if things continue the way they have been, wouldn't Republicans — in political terms — turn America into a spitting image of the Third World? A country where elections are rigged? Where the one who loses tries to take power by force? Where extremism becomes the norm? Where minorities are made to answer for the country’s problems? Violently?
Wouldn’t you say — barring India — America’s the country that’s closest to that reality? I mean, hasn’t Trump already targeted Muslims and Mexicans? Hasn’t he already tried to overturn an election? Isn’t the GOP being led further and further to the Right by the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene? Isn’t violence against minorities rampant?
Wouldn’t logic dictate that things would only get worse? That left unchecked, the young blood in the GOP would do all within their power to make America the world’s next fascist nightmare? Because they've sure got reason to. Their electoral chances rest on whether they can be extreme enough to excite Trump voters. Whether they can go against the left hard enough. Whether they can find new “enemies,” “traitors,” and “heroes” for the people to fear, hate, and love. In short, whether they can dial up the rhetoric to a point where the mind of the Trump voter is filled with emotions and not rational thought.
It’s why there’s a new absurdity in the headlines every so often. Why you see the likes of Matt Gaetz calling for an armed uprising against large tech companies. Why Marjorie Taylor Greene compared a measure designed to protect the health of her colleagues to the suffering endured by Jewish people during the Holocaust. Why Lauren Boebert continues to defend the right to bear arms despite more and more mass shootings. For them, America has to be “under attack.”
And that leads us to this question — how does a country fare when one of its two political parties literally depends on brainwashing, gaslighting, and downright lying? When its only route to power in a democracy is by undermining democracy? What does it choose? I’ll tell you. Power. I’ve seen this before. When political parties depend on authoritarian tactics to win a democratic election, you can rest assured your elections will cease to be democratic very soon. Trump already tried to flip one after the fact. Next time, the GOP may very well try to take care of that beforehand.
Which — by no stretch of the imagination — should be a frightening prospect for Americans. Because the GOP has now adopted the same mentality as tyrants in the developing world rigging elections to high heavens. And if you think they couldn't possibly pull this off in America, did you ever think you’d see your Capitol get sacked? Did you ever think your president would try to overturn an election through the Supreme Court, by calling governors, or by fixing the certification vote in Congress?
And perhaps even more worryingly, did you ever think someone like that would, despite it all, still be the face of his party? To the point where Marjorie Taylor Greene demanded loyalty to him? Doesn’t that scream political dynasty to you? I’ve lived under two and I can tell you the GOP is fast heading to become one, if it already hasn't. Because just like them, the GOP has adopted a mentality whereby its leader can do no wrong. Where they will lie for him, gaslight for him, and brainwash for him. Why? Because they realize they don’t win without him.
It’s called selling your soul for electability. It’s what dynasties in the Third World are guilty of. And it’s dangerous. Because what it means is the GOP is now essentially a rudderless ship. It will go in the direction its captain seeks fit to steer it in. And once you consider how that captain is a demagogue who only knows how to go from one extreme to another do you realize that the GOP has embarked on a collision course. Who’s going to be on the other end? Democracy, of course. It’s already had a few bumps. The question now is not one of if, but when, the two will really collide.
As for what happens once they do, all you need to do is to look at the Third World. The countries where this has happened before. At the democratic dictators who employed the same authoritarian tactics long before the GOP ever did. The answer? Corruption. Police brutality. Election fraud. Exploitation of religion. Democracies began bearing the hallmarks of truly authoritarian regimes. And again, America’s closer to that reality than you think. After all, isn’t police brutality an all too frequent occurrence? And hasn't an election been tried to be overturned? Hasn’t Trump and his allies in the GOP used religion to further their own ends? Didn’t he say that if he lost, there’d be no oil, no guns, no God?
Do you see what I meant when I said the GOP was fast heading to becoming one of the vilest political parties in the world? Why I said America needs to realize an enemy to its democracy lies within its own borders? Why the later America comes to that realization, the more punches that very democracy will have to endure?
You see, the Republican party has been chipping away at American democracy ever since Trump came along. And by the time he left office, he’d made sure he’d left it with a dent. Whether that damage ever gets repaired or becomes destined to get even worse depends first on the outcome of the midterms. On whether the actions of the GOP get an electoral seal of approval. Because if they do, there's no stopping them. America would be saying it wants more — perhaps without even realizing how dark and miserable “more” actually is.
