Given the Current State of the Republican Party, Can Democracy Survive?
I’m publishing this series of articles to share and discuss my ruminations on coping with a troubled and messy world. You can “follow” me to never miss an article.
Paul Krugman’s assertion that the current Republican Party poses a serious Threat to American Democracy couldn’t be any clearer[i]. It demands the utmost concern and seriousness, if it’s not already too late to anything meaningful about it.
In Krugman’s words:
“…I’ve found my self thinking: What would have happened if Democrats in 2020 behaved like Republicans in 2024?
“Imagine an alternative history in which Joe Biden, who was already by then the strong favorite to win the Democratic presidential nomination, had urged Democrats in Congress not to pass a (Covid) relief bill — the same way Trump has bullied Republicans into voting against a border security bill — because he believed that reducing American’s misery might help Trump get re-elected?”
As Krugman notes, his alternate History couldn’t have happened because President Biden is not like Trump and Nancy Pelosi is not like Mike Johnson. But under the Republicans, it’s happened repeatedly.
Krugman’s closing lines offer little, if any, consolation:
“…even if Democrats were to regain full control of Congress (and Biden were to win) — I’m worried about the future. One of America’s two major political parties is now dedicated to achieving power at all costs, and will try to make the nation ungovernable when a Democrat sits in the White House. How long can our democracy survive under these conditions?”
While no one knows for sure if and when our Democracy will expire for good, it’s clear that each and every day that it’s slip slipping away.
How does one prepare for living in an Autocracy?
[i] Paul Krugman, “Can America Survive a Party of Saboteurs,” The New York Times, Friday, February 9, 2024, P A23.
Ian I. Mitroff is credited as being one of the principal founders of the modern field of Crisis Management. He has a BS, MS, and a PhD in Engineering and the Philosophy of Social Systems Science from UC Berkeley. He Is Professor Emeritus from the Marshall School of Business and the Annenberg School of Communication at USC. Currently, he is a Senior Research Affiliate in the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, UC Berkeley. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Management. He has published 41 books. His latest is: The Socially Responsible Organization: Lessons from Covid, Springer, New York, 2022.
Photo by Bruno Figueiredo on Unsplash
