News bits: American democracy eroding, etc.

Radical right propaganda and tactics are succeeding:

Voters are losing faith in democracy

The NYT writes:

Seventy-one percent of all voters believe that democracy is at risk, according to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, but only 7 percent identified that as the most important problem facing the country. Americans face more immediate concerns: the worst inflation in 40 years, the loss of federal abortion rights after 50 years and a perception that crime is surging, if not in their communities then in cities nearby.

But another factor is dampening people’s motivation to save America’s representative system of government: Some have already lost faith in its ability to represent them.

And Wisconsin, perhaps more than any other state, is suffering through the erosion of democratic ideals already. Though virtually every elected statewide officer here is a Democrat, extreme gerrymandering of state legislative maps has given Republicans near supermajorities in the State Senate and House. 

But that democratic erosion may have sent many of Wisconsin’s citizens on a downward spiral of feeling powerless, apathetic and disconnected as one-party control becomes entrenched.

One can see the anti-democratic power of all out Republican Party opposition and gridlock. As time passes and people increasingly accurately or falsely perceive that democracy is failing them, their willingness to fight for democracy wanes. This is where the propaganda advantage the Republican Party and radical right activism over Democratic and liberal messaging is really causing major damage.

Instead of seeing democracy failing to serve them, Democrats and independents are starting to buy into the Republican propaganda narratives that democracy has failed them and the left is hell bent on fostering socialism, tyranny and the death of Christianity. The left has simply been unable to counter the power of that false, negative propaganda.

 

The Middle East peace mirage

The NYT writes:

Resisting Israeli Efforts to Displace Them, Palestinians Move Into Caves

Israel’s Supreme Court has ordered the removal of about 1,200 Palestinians from their villages in the occupied West Bank. The United Nations says that could amount to a war crime.

Faced with expulsion from their villages and the demolition of their homes by Israeli authorities, hundreds of Palestinians are trying to stay by reverting to an older form of shelter: living in underground caves.

“We have no home to live in and no tent — we have no option but to live in the cave,” said Wadha Ayoub Abu Sabha, 65, a resident of the village of Khirbet al-Fakheit, in a rural area of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that the military is planning to seize. “The beginning of my life was in the cave, and the end of my life will be in the cave.”

Living in a cave

The Republican election integrity mirage

The NYT writes:

G.O.P. Voter Fraud Crackdowns Falter as Charges Are Dropped in Florida and Texas

Dealing setbacks to Republican-led voter fraud prosecutions, judges in Florida and Texas this week dropped charges against two former felons who had been accused of casting ballots when they were not eligible to do so because of their status as offenders.

A lack of evidence of widespread voter fraud has not stopped Republicans from aggressively pursuing it in states where they hold power. Now, the unraveling of the two high-profile cases has compromised the legitimacy of those efforts. 

Bryan Griffin, a spokesman for Mr. DeSantis, said in an email on Friday that the state disagreed with the dismissal of charges against Mr. Wood and would appeal the ruling.

“The state will continue to enforce the law and ensure that murderers and rapists who are not permitted to vote do not unlawfully do so,” Mr. Griffin said. “Florida will not be a state in which elections are left vulnerable or cheaters unaccountable.”

The NYT article goes on to point out that the court rulings have not dampened Republican enthusiasm for hunting people down for vote fraud, even when there was no intent to commit fraud for votes cast out of ignorance of laws, often new laws.

Who is victimizing whom?

Prominent Republicans and Christians constantly howl about being persecuted, under dire threat and insulted by the left. From the looks of it, that amounts to what psychologists call projection. The NYT writes:

As Representative Mary Miller embarked on her first congressional campaign, she described herself in salt-of-the-earth, all-American terms: a mother, grandmother and farmer who embodied the “Midwestern values of faith, family and freedom.”

But there is another side to Ms. Miller’s wholesome image. Since entering Congress, she has routinely vilified Democrats and liberals, calling them “evil” communists beholden to China who want to “destroy” America and its culture. And President Biden’s plan, she seethed on Twitter this spring, is to “flood our country with terrorists, fentanyl, child traffickers, and MS-13 gang members.”

Ms. Miller’s inflammatory words underscore the extent to which polarizing rhetoric is now entrenched among Republicans in the House of Representatives, especially among those like Ms. Miller who voted against certifying the Biden victory, according to an examination by The New York Times of partisan language over the past 10 years.

So there we have it. Many or most people who are not radical right Republicans or Christians are evil communists beholden to China who want to destroy America and its culture. Right Wing Watch reports:

We’ve Got to Make Them Hurt’: Ali Alexander Says Republicans 

Must Be Willing to ‘Jail Democrats’

Far-right activist and so-called “Stop the Steal” leader Ali Alexander appeared Tuesday on a program hosted by far-right streamer Anthime “Tim” Gionet, where he declared that conservatives have to be willing to do whatever it takes to gain political control and then start putting Democrats in jail.

Alexander, who recently openly advocated for Christian fascism and “a violent Christian crusade” against his perceived political opponents, said that the next three months are likely going to be among the top five most important moments in American history.

“It’s all about willpower,” Alexander said. “Are you willing to set yourself on fire for what you want? To win? And our side has got to be a higher concentration of ‘yes.’ Right now, [Democrats are] willing to break the Constitution, break the law, imprison prison political prisoners, act like Soviet punks, and do all of that. We have to plus-one that. We have to jail Democrats. We have to censor their asses. We have to make them beg for a peace treaty with us, for an understanding. There’s no point in coming to an understanding before we have buy-in from them, so we’ve got to make them hurt.”

So, who is canceling whom? It is not just Democrats as Republican elites are publicly claiming. Republican elites want to cancel Democrats and liberals into jail for merely opposing what the GOP wants to do. The right wants to do mass incarceration of people who broke no law,. They want to jail innocent, honest people for opposing radical right, uncompromising Republican and Christian theocratic fascism. 

There just isn’t equivalence between radical right Christians and Republicans and the Democratic Party and liberals. It’s not even close, morally, legally or rationally.