A pep talk about defending democracy
A pep talk about defending democracy
Attorney and organizer Ian Bassin on coping with loss and ensuring that democracy endures
Today we bring you a note that Ian Bassin, cofounder and executive director of Protect Democracy, sent to his members following the election.
Protect Democracy works — through research, advocacy, organizing, policy advice, and on-the-ground legal efforts — to protect and strengthen free & fair elections, the rule of law, and the public square, and to imagine and shape how democracy might evolve in the future. If you’re reading this, those projects are likely very close to your heart, and we encourage you to learn more about their work and, if you can, support their efforts.
Team,
This is a hard moment, with many more hard ones to come.
But we have known since we started this organization and this journey that we are engaged in a generational struggle.
The headwinds facing liberal democratic forms of government go beyond one person and one country. We are facing forces that are global and epochal.
This week, through a democratic election, our country voted for a politician whose past actions and statements give us good reason to fear he will endanger democracy going forward.
Our task is therefore to both respect the democratic process and ensure it endures.
From the get-go, we have been building an organization to do those things — to meet the threat of authoritarianism, help us navigate through this dark challenge, and emerge on the other side with a chance to turn this crisis into an opportunity.
We have always believed that on the other side of this crisis lies the potential for a Fourth Founding — an advance for our country to finally achieve our highest aspiration to create a thriving, pluralistic, multi-racial democracy. That future still lies ahead of us, it will just take us longer to get there, and the hill to climb will be steeper. I admit, actually seeing that destination at the present moment is hard. The fog, shock, and uncertainty of the moment masks it for many of us. But I am confident it is there in the distance, and in time our sightlines will clear to see it.
We will have more to share in the coming days and weeks about all of the work we have been doing to prepare for what lies ahead. And there are lessons to be learned from what has transpired that must inform that work.
But right now, as much as those specific strategies and tactics matter, I want to share a broader perspective, and that is this: Authoritarianism thrives on hopelessness, loneliness, and despair. The antidote is holding fast to our agency, embracing our communities and connections, and finding spaces for joy. In countries where autocracy takes over, it does so by grinding people down, either forcing them to retreat from public spaces or intimidating them into doing so voluntarily. We cannot do that.
So as you cope with this new era in your own ways, try where you can to lean into being with others, in public, proclaiming the values we still share.
It is always darkest before the dawn,
Ian
We hope The Ink will be essential to the thinking and reimagining and reckoning and doing that all lie ahead. We want to thank you for being a part of what we are and what we do, and we promise you that this community is going to find every way possible to be there for you in the times that lie ahead and be there for this country and for what it can be still.
Astrid Riecken For The Washington Post via Getty Images
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Here, in a nutshell, is what just happened: we held an election between candidates A and B.
Candidate A is an uncouth White male, a convicted felon, a habitual liar and grifter, a vengeful, hateful, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ, anti-science, anti-NATO, anti-free-press, fascist who kowtows to foreign dictators and who ran on a campaign of grievance and anger designed to pit us all against one another.
Candidate B is an accomplished, ethical Black woman who ran on a campaign of unity, inclusion, economic prosperity for all, freedom for women to control their own bodies, and for bringing us all closer together as a nation under the rule of law.
Those millions of citizens whose votes gave a clear mandate to Candidate A said they voted for him largely because the price of eggs is too high, and because they don’t want so many foreigners coming into our country illegally, and because they didn’t know enough about Candidate B.
Now, our newly elected leader, Candidate A, already is working busily to staff our nation’s government from top to bottom with people who share his values, people like himself, and, moreover, people answerable only to him. And the US Supreme court has given him total immunity to do as he pleases.
Meanwhile, I fear that we, the rank and file citizens, are in for a sh*t-show such as we never could have imagined. The election results have already given a green light to our nation’s worst haters and bigots to go ahead and do their worst with little or no fear of consequences.
Oh, and in case we don't like any of it, we can't look to future elections to turn it around, because our future "elections" will be like the so-called "elections" in Russia, Hungary, and other authoritarian states.
I hope the people who voted for Candidate A will get to enjoy some cheaper eggs while they watch our nation tearing itself apart, much to the delight of our foreign adversaries.
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” — Plato
Oh come on…you didn’t actually expect to win with a muddled message about finding spaces for joy. Do you want to know how to beat authoritarianism and defend democracy? You make it clear that you stand for the working people. This looks like prive controls, rent controls, child tax credits, forgive student loans, in short, restore rhe welfare state you turned your back on decades ago. What’s more, you no longer support genocide.
The messaging problem is a symptom of a deeper problem, the failure to defend the people. Stop lying to yourselves that corporate interests benefit everyone. The fact are, you either represent people or profits, you can’t do both. As long as you believe this lie, you’ll have a muddled message. And you know what’s more, this may require organizing a third party. I’m not confident that the Democratic party can be won back from corporate interests.