Preserving Democracy

MY FATHER once said to mte that overall, the most effective, efficient, satisfactory form of government is probably a benevolent dictatorship. I can see his point. Most Christians would probably prefer an earthly kingdom of Christ. The fight for democracy is difficult. Democracy by its very nature is cumbersome, ineffecient, and chaotic. It requires a lot of hard work by a lot of people; another argument against it. Its worth remembering that Alexandere Hamiltion wanted George Washington to be king, not president, and many people agreed with him. Washington refused, which is the only reason why we have anything remotely resembling a democracy in the United States, or ever have. Its worth remembering that Alexander Hamilton wanted George Washington to be a king not a president, and many people agreed with him. Washington's refusal was and perhaps the only real reason why anything even remotely resembling a democracy has ever existed in the United States. Throughout American history, people have had to fight like dogs to get the right to vote, and it now appears that many more people will have to soon do the same - fight like dogs, to keep their right to vote. We Americans have a hard, if not impossibile time tryng to get away from, to evolve something better than, plutocratic oligarchy, and we still haven't done it, despite the best efforts by many good democratically leaning people. Not only did wemon and men of color have to wait centuries before being allowed to vote, they had to actively protest and fight for the "privilege' for nearly a century before white patriarchal America finally relented. The current quite serious attack on democracy began innocuously enough, with the president of the United States elling a lie. What else is new, right? But this lie was bigger and more obviously false than most; the one about the election having stolen from Trump. Trump's big lie was and remains so totally, completely, obviously false that it remains ever amazing that more than seventy million Americans believed it, or still do. Or at least they pretend to. Tragically, widespread belief in this insane, nonsensical lie led directly to the current highly undemocratic voter suppression movement dominating American conservatism, and the Republic party, in more than half the states, especially those governed by Republicans. They try to brainwash themselves into believing that rampant fraud in American elections resuires election reform, election reform consisting of making it much harder to vote, reducing the number of people voting. Even if voter fraud actually existed in American elections, which it almost entirely does not, the lawws being enacted and proposed will do nothing to eliminate it. Trump and the Republicans stole the election of 2020 by receiving Russian assistance, they tried and are still trying to steal Biden's election, and are already passing election laws making it easy for them to steal the election(s) of 2024. These laws, such as those reducing mail-in voting and early voting hours and drop boxes must be overridden by Congress. The truth is that if all eligible voters in the United States started voting, the Democrats would dominate. Government of, for, and by wealthy white men would be replaced by a truly American ethnically diverse democracy. In order to win, the Republicnas must decrease the number of people voting, any way they can. They are trying, and in many places succeeding, to do exactly that now. They must be stopped, to save American democracy.