How to Undermine Democracy
Tomorrow’s Election Day 2020, and I want to highlight how the Republicans are attempting to undermine our democracy. Here is a list of the 20 steps a political party would take to undermine a democracy. Republicans have already done 19 of the 20, and the only one they’ve yet to do is the last one, which completes the takeover.
That’s where we are.
The Republicans are a step away from becoming authoritarian, and if you think American democracy will save us, or that my opinions are swayed too much by the media or PhDs/professors, then I encourage you to look at #7. That point explains how those excuses made on behalf of Republicans are exactly what aspiring authoritarians would want you to say to someone like me who highlights their authoritarianism. We need to vote them out or they will succeed, and things will get much worse in the USA.
Sabotage the education system, especially politics – If people understand politics, they’ll be more likely to notice corrupt power grabs. If they don’t, the party will have an easier time tricking them. Examples: Texas GOP specifically denouncing the teaching of critical thinking in schools, Betsy DeVos trying to destroy public education, “socialism” is used all the time in US political discourse, but I’d be shocked if half of voting Americans know what it means.
Have a propaganda news outlet – With this, the party can brainwash a portion of the populace into unwavering support. Example: Fox News, who’s argued in court that they don’t need to tell the truth because they’re not actually a news source.
Unify the entire political party to operate as one – Checks and balances rely on those in charge of enforcing them actually choosing to do so. A party of independent actors would be willing to stop corruption from other members of their party, but a unified party would not. This is how the party overcomes checks and balances, which is essential to undermining a democracy. Examples: Trump’s impeachment vote after he admitted to both crimes, Paul Ryan caught on tape saying not to do anything about Trump & others working with Russia, 2020 RNC platform being to just support whatever Trump wants.
Have a charismatic leader who can deceive the populace – Likely, the party will need two: one to start off the move to authoritarianism, and one to complete it. The first can win over a generation of young adults, many of whom will reliably support the party for decades no matter how authoritarian they become. The second is the magician who distracts the populace while the takeover happens behind the scenes. Examples: first – Ronald Reagan, second – Donald Trump, one was literally an actor, and the other has the nickname “Don the Con” because he’s a life-long con artist – these are probably the two most perfect backgrounds for the role of deceiving people.
Target single issue voters – As long as the single issue isn’t “maintaining democracy”, these voters won’t care about the party undermining democracy, as long as they side with these voters on their single issue. Examples: the two biggest single-issue voter bases in the US are anti-choice & pro-guns, both of which Republicans target.
Target gullible voters – Similarly, gullible voters will be easier to convince to continue supporting the party as they dismantle democracy. Example: uneducated people & conspiracy theorists would be more gullible on average, and are reliable Republican bases; in 2016, Republicans hired Cambridge Analytica specifically to help them target gullible voters.
Convince people to:
Believe democracy is infallible – If the voters realize the truth, that every democracy that has or ever will exist is possible to overthrow, they will stay vigilant and pay attention when a party is undermining democracy, and they will vote them out. By convincing the populace that this can’t happen in our democracy, the party get voters to let their guard down and not notice the assaults on democracy. Example: Part of Trump’s platform is to teach American Exceptionalism in schools.
Not trust the media – When the party is corrupt and trying to undermine democracy, the media is responsible to alert the people of it. If the party convinces people to believe them & their propaganda outlet rather than the media, those people will never learn of or believe the corruption from the party. Examples: Republicans call the media “Fake news”, Nazis called it “Lying press”.
Not trust experts – Similarly, historians, political scientists and other experts would be the first to notice similarities to past authoritarians, and thus the first to sound the alarm on wannabe authoritarians. So the party has to convince people not to trust experts either. Examples: demonizing doctors during COVID, calling college “socialist brainwashing”.
Fight war on truth – If truth doesn’t matter or everyone has their own “truth”, then supporters won’t believe others when they rightfully call out the party’s attempt to overthrow democracy. Examples: “alternative facts”, Trump promoting QAnon.
Align your party with the military and police – If the military and police aren’t on the party’s side then they’ll be able to stop a takeover. Having their physical power at the party’s disposal will help facilitate the takeover. Example: Republicans promoting “support the troops” and Blue Lives Matter rhetoric even though they refuse to help vets and 9/11 responders.
Align your party with corporations – Corporations control the entire economy and pay many peoples’ salaries, making them very powerful. If they don’t like the party in power, they could likely force a change, so the party needs them on their side. Examples: Republicans have been in corporations’ pockets for decades, breaking up unions, cutting taxes & deregulating.
Suppress votes & gerrymander to retain power with minority support – Undermining democracy is going to be unpopular, and the process will take a while, meaning the party will need to win elections while undermining democracy. So they need to rig things in their favor to retain power despite not having majority support. Examples: Endless suppression & gerrymandering from Republicans, the Senate and Electoral College undemocratically favoring Republicans.
Suppress protests – Protests are how democracies start in the first place, and how democracies can resist a takeover if voting doesn’t work (because of the previous point). To take and hold authoritarian control, the party need to suppress these protests. Example: Trump sending DHS secret police to Portland.
Rile up paramilitary groups – They will help suppressing protests, and aren’t encumbered by all the same rules police officers are. They can also be used to intimidate voters. Example: “Proud Boys … stand by”.
Align the country with other dictatorships rather than democracies – Authoritarians typically prefer other countries be authoritarian as well, and will assist in undermining democracy, which other democracies won’t do. Example: Trump being friendly with Putin, Erdogan & Jong-Un, while alienating NATO.
Play up a boogeyman enemy to oppose – Fear is a very potent tool in politics, so if you can make people afraid and tell them you’re the one that will protect them, you can attract votes even with an undemocratic platform. Also, a party trying to undermine democracy will almost certainly not fix any of the country’s problems in the process, and they can then blame it on that scapegoat. Examples: Mexicans, Muslims, Central American Caravan, Antifa, all of which are painted as way more harmful to this country than they are.
Call the other political party radical, extremist, and corrupt – All authoritarians are going to be extremist & corrupt, which most voters don’t support, but if they paint their opposition as extremist, it makes it seem like they’re closer to the center than they are. This also allows for the “both sides are just as bad” argument when the aspiring authoritarians get caught being corrupt, even if it’s not true. Examples: Republicans calling the longtime conservative Democrat Joe Biden a radical socialist, Republicans claiming Democrats put abortion language in the COVID stimulus bill when really the Republicans were the ones doing that.
Violate rights – Rights are put in place, among other reasons, to help uphold democracy. If the party removes peoples’ rights, they become less powerful and the party can use the police to arrest them for things that were once legal when they call out the party. Examples: DHS in Portland, talk of undoing Roe v. Wade & gay marriage, banning trans people from military, punishing whistleblowers.
Fill the courts & other high appointed posts with sycophants – If you control enough of the courts, laws can be completely changed in your favor. Also, any attempt at a takeover would likely result in several cases being sent to the courts as a final hope of stopping the authoritarians. If the authoritarians control the courts, that final check is lost. Other positions throughout the government could help resist a takeover as well, so as many as possible should be replaced. Examples: Amy Coney Barrett; “drain the swamp”, which actually meant fire people who aren’t Trump yes-men.
Make power grabs during crises – A crisis is the best time to make power grabs because you can do so under the disguise of “security”. Manufactured crises work, too. Examples: PATRIOT Act, Trump’s purposeful sabotage of COVID response.
Arrest political opponents – Once this happens, democracy is officially dead, and the party in power can just arrest anyone who might challenge them. Examples: luckily, the Republicans haven’t successfully done this yet, but “lock her up” was a huge rally cry in 2016, and Trump a couple weeks ago was raging at Barr because he didn’t arrest Biden for no legitimate reason.
