I have written many times about how the Republican Party has become an authoritarian fascist party. 22 million Republicans have two beliefs - first that Biden stole the election (he didn't) and second that violence is justified to restore Trump to the White House.
Dana Milbank cites the Center for Systemic Peace's ratings of democracies around the world and they show that the U.S. is now an "anocracy", somewhere between a democracy and an autocratic state:
"U.S. democracy had received the Polity index’s top score of 10, or close
to it, for much of its history. But in the five years of the Trump era,
it tumbled precipitously into the anocracy zone; by the end of his presidency,
the U.S. score had fallen to a 5, making the country a partial
democracy for the first time since 1800. “We are no longer the world’s
oldest continuous democracy,” Walter writes. “That honor is now held by
Switzerland, followed by New Zealand, and then Canada. We are no longer a
peer to nations like Canada, Costa Rica, and Japan, which are all rated
a +10 on the Polity index.”.
I believe we need to be aware of and shine a light on what is happening in our beloved country. Trump has activated and empowered the worst elements of America, but even if and when he leaves the stage, these authoritarian, fascist people will be here. The first thing I ever wrote about Trump is that he would go away, but the people who support him will be with us anyhow.
I have to trust that the institutions of democracy in America can and will prevail to beat back the revolutionary fascist right wing despots bound and determined to take over the country by force. But, the institutions of democracy are just paper tigers if we the people do not pay attention and empower them by shining a light on the threats of authoritarianism, and demanding that the Rule of Law and the implementation of informed and non-propagandized democratic values prevail.
We are in a real danger, and an informed, aware, and active nation needs to stand up and demand that the United States return to a full +10 democracy and say no to the ever growing attempts to turn us into an autocracy.
