Norm Ornstein on the crisis of democracy: "This is the same roadmap we saw in Germany"

[CousinIT]

https://www.salon.com/2021/10/06/norm-ornstein-on-the-of-democracy-this-is-the-same-roadmap-we-saw-in-germany/

. . .

The sheer volume of scandals dilutes the impact of each of them singularly and together. Most people don't pay close attention, day to day, to what's going on. When you see a scandal become something of political consequence is when it gets hammered away at, day after day and week after week. That can be a real scandal or a faux scandal.

An example would be the Afghanistan withdrawal. The American news media were all over that story for 10 days. Almost all of the coverage was harshly critical. For a large number of Americans who had not really spent three minutes thinking about Afghanistan previously, the story is processed as being something terrible that happened all of a sudden.

The signal that goes out to the general public is that if something is discussed on the front page on a regular basis, or on the cable news programs and the Sunday programs, over and over and over again, it must therefore be something serious and important. If a news story comes up and then disappears the next day, that must mean it is not important.

There is an obsession with being "neutral" and doing the "both sides" type of coverage. They do not know how to treat abnormal behavior, therefore the American news media largely normalizes it. And there's a certain amount of bandwidth that news organizations are going to give to stories about a president or a president's family or an administration. If there are 20 stories, 19 of them are not going to get covered — and the 20th story will soon be superseded by another one that comes along.

We are also in a situation where the mainstream news media wants to show equal treatment, which means they take a president like Joe Biden, who doesn't have scandals of any significance, and then blow them up by using the same amount of bandwidth as was used to cover Donald Trump. That story on Biden has more resonance because there is only one such story to focus on.

. . .

There is another disconnect as well. So many members of this political class I am describing have never faced discrimination. It is just not on their radar screens in the same way as people who have. They're not sensitive to it. How can you not look at what we have seen, with a violent coup and everything else that's followed, and not recognize that you are at risk of racism and nativism?

People who have had in their family histories a history of discrimination and worse are going to be more sensitive to the path that's being taken here in this country — and sensitive to the reality that this is the same roadmap that we saw in Germany.

SO MUCH MORE at the link. You should read it all.

[kairos12]

1. I see at least 2 parallels.

Hitler used the stabbed in the back and we really didn't lose WW1 theme. Same as Chump with the last election.

Second, Weimar politicians thought they could use Hitler as a Cat's Paw and later control him or jettison him. That didn't happen. Same with the Orange Blob and the Rethugs.

Hitler also got the military to cave. So far, that hasn't happened with the Slobfather.

[mucifer]

12. But, the danger is the trump followers controlling the electoral process.

[Kid Berwyn]

2. Now where would Dim Donnie Trump ever get that idea?

[BeckyDem]

3. Excellent. This man is determined to communicate the dangers so we

can reform our system.

[CrispyQ]

4. IMO, we really dropped the ball letting that AZ shit show go on.

DeVega: Is American democracy and its political culture and governmental system facing a legitimacy crisis?

Ornstein: Yes, the United States is experiencing a legitimacy crisis. One recent prominent example: the Arizona fraudulent "audit" says that Biden "won."

How do I analyze that? What it says to me is this is the setup for the next election. What is going to happen is that the Republicans and their agents will say, "We, we did it fair and square so we can do the same thing all over again." And then they'll bring in the Cyber Ninjas or whoever and overturn the results of the next election.

~more at link

This is the plan. How do we stop them next time, when we didn't even try to stop them this time?

[Evolve Dammit]

6. "How do we stop them next time, when we didn't even try to stop them this time?" Exactly.

[peggysue2]

5. Ornstein is right

How many times have we heard: we're approaching a constitutional crisis? To the point where the average person tunes out or assumes this is just Dems crying wolf and/or continuing to beat up Trump and his supporters

The reality?

We've zoomed past the constitutional crisis and are headed for a constitutional abyss, a national landscape where the Constitution is considered a quaint relic, a document of limited value to the power brokers, the grifters and thoroughly corrupt who see a unique opportunity to bring the house down, gobble up the nation's resources and prosecute any complainers.

Couldn't happen here? The prelude is washing over us now.

[OldBaldy1701E]

7. It is like this

There are four archetypes here. Those who are for it, those who saw this coming, those who did not see this coming, and those who do not care to know anything about it. The last group scares me more than the first one.

[Joinfortmill]

8. Not good, especially now when we are at the precipice.

[Moostache]

9. There is a truth that most of us avert our eyes from...

You cannot rebuild the foundation of a house without rebuilding the entire house.

The core tenets of our nation were never really "freedom" and "guns" and "god" or "abortion".
They absolutely were not immigration - as literally ALL of the founders were not from North American indigenously.

The core tenets of the United States were a secular, representative republic - drawn from the people (albeit white landowners only to start) and rejecting the "divine right of kings". The American Revolution is not a touchstone of human history because it birthed the right to keep and bear arms (which had been another 'right' of nobility for centuries prior to the American Revolution).

We live in the twilight of a 245 year long experiment to see if humans can manage to coexist and share power without reverting to despotism and totalitarian strongmen using power for power's sake to oppress some by promising others in the overall oppression slightly favored status overall.

That answer is enormously consequential to human history. It is not hyperbole to recognize that the failure of American Democracy in the 21st century will have dire consequences for billions. A second Civil War in the various states will destroy the global faith in democratic principles as strongmen across the globe - Putin, Bolsanaro, Erdogan, Kim (the very things Trumpism aspires to in earnest) - use the lessons to consolidate power and the carnage to propagandize their reluctant people and keep them in fear.

This situation - 30% of the population electing 70% of the Senate, the EC being a farce, gerrymandering and packed courts - demands action, but in our gridlocked system and with Republican "leaders" being simply able to do literally NOTHING, allow no votes, and propose ZERO alternatives to 'cut taxes, reduce regulations' leaves no action possible unless courage is suddenly found to change this untenable situation.

Change is going to come - the only thing certain in this morass is that the center will not hold. The change is demanded by the pressure building to confront this and either lose forever or win, and start over with core principles as a guiding north star. When the opposition position is eradication, there is no compromise available. I could not even articulate for you what the GOP position or ideal actually is - unless it is a return to 1500's style serfdom or 1850's style plantations, but they are angry, riled up and have all the tools they need to torpedo our republic because no one on the left is adequately assessing the remedy needed.

"Compromise" and "Bipartisanship" sound great - and when two separate groups have rational leaders it IS the preferable model to follow; however, we do no inhabit THAT reality any longer. Refusing to admit it and discuss it freely without calling people concerned "alarmists" or "panicky" or worse is only accelerating the inevitable course. If the course is not changed, then the brick wall ahead will solve the problem with maximum violence, injury and death....none of which is necessary, but all of which is the logical conclusion of cause and effect. We either change the cause together, or we'll all feel the effects.

[JHB]

10. That's why the GOP and FOX invented and hyped a daily stream of "Clinton scandals" in the 90s

How many of them were nothing but puffed-up horseshit?

The goal was to have a "scandal" headline every. single. day. It gave the impression that the Clintons were unprecedentedly corrupt and were actively harming the nation (and that their viewers should be outraged! and show their outrage! at the polls by voting for Republicans).

[roamer65]

11. One difference.

Germany was not a multiethnic country in 1932.

The United States is one. There are definite parallels to the former Yugoslavia, which was multiethnic.