Call The Ongoing Republican Attack on Democracy What it is: A Second Coup Attempt
Through tactics such as gerrymandering, voter suppression, and outright refusing to certify election results, Republicans are making a concentrated effort to undo American democracy. If they are allowed to succeed, as they are currently on track to, we will be living under authoritarian Republican minority rule with no electoral path out of this situation. Though less showy than January 6th, it is critical that we call their ongoing attack on our democracy what it is: a second coup attempt.
The first step in undermining a coup such as the one Republicans are currently carrying out right in front of us is to spread the message that it is in fact, a coup. Authoritarians typically use a variety of tactics to obscure their undemocratic activities, modern dictatorships love phony elections because they allow them to project a facade of freedom while maintaining complete control. A common tactic is for authoritarians to say their opposition is rigging elections without evidence and use this to justify the passage of legislation which actually does rig elections for the authoritarian power.
Many modern democracies do not fall to military coups, but rather electoral coups of the sort Republicans are currently executing in our country. Rather than using physical force to seize control, they abuse their political power in warping electoral law to the point where they cannot lose elections. This technically legal approach to overthrowing the democratic order often leaves opposition parties confused and unsure of what to do until the coup party has already closed its grasp on power. Democrats in the US are currently falling into this trap.
This underscores why it is so important to spread the message that what Republicans are currently doing is a second coup attempt much like January 6th. It is also vital to delegitimize undemocratically elected officials who win through election cheating and the institutions of government they control. We must refuse to accept the authority of such individuals and institutions. The process of defeating authoritarian coups like this always begins with the public coming to see their new rulers as illegitimate.
It is only after this that mass movements can form to actively undermine their power by applying nonviolent political force in a variety of forms. With Republicans on course to take permanent control of the federal government through these coup tactics, it is very important that these messages begin spreading now and pro-democracy Americans prepare to fight back. Though the prospect of forcing illegitimate occupiers of state and federal governments out of power may seem impossible, such acts have been accomplished before through campaigns of strategic nonviolence all over the world. The article linked below describes what such a movement could look like in the United States.
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