On-going Threats to Democracy

While the worst results were avoided in this year's election, Jessica Goodheart outlines six areas of concern:

1. An election system that can be subverted

2. A media ecosystem that breeds disinformation and mistrust in elections

3. Concerted attempts to undermine the voting process

4. Gerrymandering leading to partisan minority rule

5. Laws that limit who votes

6. Upcoming Supreme Court rulings that could upend elections

Regarding Moore v. Harper, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has a very simple question:

I don’t understand how you can cut the state constitution out of the equation when it is giving the state legislature authority to exercise the legislative power.

Update (December 12):  And just to underscore the threat we face, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has an "interesting" take on the January 6 insurrection.

If Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won. Not to mention, it would’ve been armed.

Of course, after sharp condemnation, it turns out to be a "joke".

The White House needs to learn how sarcasm works. My comments were making fun of Joe Biden and the Democrats, who have continuously made me a political target since January 6th.

Update (December 13):  Talking Points Memo released hundreds of text messages involving Mark Meadows. Representative Ralph Norman sent this message to Meadows on January 17, 2021:

Our LAST HOPE is invoking Marshall Law!! [sic] PLEASE URGE THE PRESIDENT TO DO SO!!

And Representative Jamie Raskin didn't find Greene's "joke" very funny.

If you and Bannon organized the violent insurrection against our government on 1/6 you'd be going to jail with everyone else convicted of seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to interfere with a federal proceeding. These are crimes, not stupid laugh lines.

Update (January 15, 2023):  Republicans across the country filed almost as many lawsuits over election results in 2022 as 2020. Marc Elias has an explanation. 

Republicans found themselves unable to persuade a majority of the electorate to support their candidates. This sparked a conviction among many on the right that their best hope to win elections rested on restricting who can vote and shaping the electorate.