Thomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023

Is 2024 really “the most important election” ever?

I’ll say this: For the foreseeable future, the fate of democracy hangs in the balance - and is on the ballot! - in every single election.

And those who seek to subvert and abolish democracy might only have to win once to get what they want.

Thread: 1/

Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
The question that defines the political conflict in this country is this: Should America continue the path towards the kind of egalitarian multiracial, pluralistic democracy it has often promised, but actually never has been yet - or abandon that experiment altogether? 2/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
In a functioning, stable democracy, the stakes shouldn’t be that high. Elections should be competitions between political factions who disagree with each other, but accept the legitimacy of their opponents and are committed to upholding the democratic system. 3/
Show threadThomas Zimmer
In America, that’s evidently not the situation. It has become dogma on the Right to see Democrats as the “enemy within,” a fundamentally illegitimate, “Un-American” faction out to destroy the nation, an enemy that must not be allowed to govern. 4/
Oct 3, 2023 at 5:27pmIvory for iOS
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
We like to pretend we are having policy debates over taxes, health care, or “the economy.” But right now, these debates are almost always defined by the underlying struggle over whether or not America should ever become an egalitarian multiracial, pluralistic democracy. 5/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
We like to pretend that the parties ultimately agree on the end goal for America, that they only differ on the best path to get there. That’s simply not true. The political struggle is defined by two fundamentally incompatible visions of what America is and should be. 6/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
This is not an entirely new situation. How much democracy, and for whom? There has never been a consensus around that question. America: Defined by the idea of egalitarian democracy – or imagined as a land of and for white (wealthy) Christians, never allowing democracy to undermine that order? 7/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
Democracy has always been a contested issue. The struggle over democracy has been the norm in U.S. history, as the question of who should get to actually participate – and participate as equal - in the democratic process has always been the defining fault line. 8/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
But the fact that this struggle now overlaps so clearly with party lines is indeed the result of a rather recent political and ideological reconfiguration of the major parties, a process of party realignment or partisan sorting for which the 1960s civil rights breakthroughs were a major catalyst. 9/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
The establishment of the civil rights order in the 1960s sped up a process by which those opposed to egalitarian, multiracial, pluralistic democracy ultimately united in the Republican Party. Their voices have dominated the GOP since at least the 1970s. 10/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
While the Democratic Party came to (mostly) embrace the idea of extending the democratic promise, conservatives were willing to tolerate democracy only as long as it wouldn’t undermine established hierarchies – the supposedly “natural” order of white Christian patriarchal dominance. 11/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
Today, the struggle over democracy maps onto the conflict between the parties. That is the fundamental reality of U.S. politics: Democracy itself has become a partisan issue. The fact is that as of right now, the Democratic party is the country’s sole (small-d) democratic party. 12/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
The fundamental question before the American people is whether or not the Republican Party’s aggressive turn against the democratic experiment and open embrace of anti-democratic extremism in the pursuit of power is an electorally viable strategy? 13/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
The fundamental question is: Will the party that remains largely united behind the man who spearheaded a coup attempt and plans to dismantle democracy have to pay a severe price - or be able to consolidate power? 14/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
There is a large cadre of pundits out there entirely devoted to fighting back against what they deride as liberal/leftwing “alarmism.” It is all hyperbole, they say, because the Republican Party isn’t that bad, or because maybe it is, but the mythical guardrails are working. 15/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
It should be clear by now that these self-proclaimed arbiters of reason will not change their tune, regardless of how straightforward the evidence in front of them, no matter how many times Republicans yell “We really don’t like democracy! We want to get rid of it!” 16/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 3, 2023
The Right’s slide into authoritarianism is accelerating. If the country is to ever realize its promise of egalitarian multiracial pluralism, those who prefer democracy need to defend it - even though it’s currently deeply flawed and nowhere near what it often claims to be. /end
Show threadRabbi Jill ZimmermanOct 3, 2023
@tzimmer_history thank you Professor. These are treacherous times & we all need to step up for the good of all
Show threadcat static 🇺🇸🇺🇦Oct 3, 2023

@rabbijill @tzimmer_history 🕯️For those partial to audio visual learning, this PBS film "Preserving Democracy: Pursuing a More Perfect Union," explores much of what you've shared here.
https://www.pbs.org/video/preserving-democracy-pursuing-a-more-perfect-union-xpblv8/

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/preserving-democracy/

Preserving Democracy: Pursuing a More Perfect Union | Season 1 | Episode 1 | PBS

Follow the pursuit of democracy from the Revolutionary War through recurring cycles of...

PBS.org
Show threadNicole ParsonsOct 3, 2023

@tzimmer_history

Republican billionaire donors, foreign and domestic, spent over a $1 billion on the 2022 midterms.

They are prepared to spend whatever it takes to end democracy.

They are prepared to buy as many Supreme Court Justices as it takes to end democracy.

They are prepared to buy as many corrupt politicians as it takes to end democracy.

They are prepared to ally themselves with foreign despots to end democracy.

They are prepared to start wars to end democracy.

Show threadGeoff BernerOct 3, 2023
@tzimmer_history There is a consensus, however, about democracy in South and Central America: Both parties' leadership have always opposed it. So this is just U.S. foreign policy coming home to roost. America has actively destroyed democracy in south and central America no matter which party controls the domestic government. The "banana republic" is just moving inexorably north as the planet warms. You've already lost Florida to authoritarianism, after all. You can't be democratic at home and a Nazi-helper abroad. As it turns out.
Show threadMiles LongOct 3, 2023
@tzimmer_history the carrot party cannot see the end of the stick party, it would end the grift. Liberals will always side with fascists to maintain hierarchy.
Show threadKid ManiaOct 3, 2023
@tzimmer_history
Etdst jdiah kdak ejit maoa "Edward Bernays" kaex ugsb akeu "Propaganda" majejgc hgt iom "illusory truth effect” kanekux jaeubvd "doomed" ajkjheu jgeu kya iehn oprs
Show threadTransitBikerOct 3, 2023
@tzimmer_history that idea has never been true.
Show threadCharles J Gervasi ⚡🛡️🥥Oct 3, 2023
@tzimmer_history "whether or not America should ever become an egalitarian multiracial, pluralistic democracy."
I don't understand what #MAGA wants. Technology has made travel and communication easy, so we're not going back to times when geographic barriers mattered. Maybe it's a backlash against the fact that, for better or worse, we're becoming one world. It seems like they throw a tantrum about that but don't have specific policy goals.
Show threadNonya Bidniss 🥥🌴Oct 3, 2023
@tzimmer_history And the result of that is that they are seen that way too, with plenty of evidence backing it up.