Lesson 3: Beware the one-party state.
“The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not omnipotent from the start. They exploited a historic moment to make political life impossible for their opponents. So, support the multi-party system and defend the rules of democratic elections. Vote in local and state elections while you can. Consider running for office.”
Tim Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century, 2017.
That moment that is right now is the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2019. One of our political parties has taken this event and sought to use it to further their political aim of one party domination of politics in the United Sates of America.
This is a controversial claim. I know that. But, I also think that it needs to be stated out loud so that more and more people are exposed to it, hear it and contemplate it.
American abolitionist Wendell Phillips said “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Several democracies came and went in the 20th Century. They were the victims of major events combined with oppressive actions of the duly elected rulers in the 1930’s-’40’s. These fascist, Nazi and communists took advantage of their moments and democracy was disappeared.
As Dr. Snyder notes, most people who voted for the Nazi Party in 1932 didn’t consider that they would not be voting in another fair and free election for awhile. The only reason why Germans have free elections today is because the Nazis were defeated in 1945. That 1932 election might have been the last one that the German people would ever have. The last Russian election was in 1990. Will there ever be another one in Russia? Not until the Russian people say there will be.
Could this happen in the United States? The answer is, of course it could. When Dr. Snyder first published On Tyranny in 2017, he said this in the book: “We can be sure that the elections of 2018, assuming they take place, will be a test of American traditions. So, there is much to do in the meantime.”
Bruce- I find your first paragraph interesting in the fact you could put either party name as the one taking advantage of the pandemic- very different styles but with the same end in mind.
Pat,
I agree that the pandemic has been used by both parties for political hay.
But, I think that Donald Trump’s party has used it with malevolent intentions. That is why I attempt to make the connection between Trump’s handling of the pandemic and the Nazi treatment of the Jews.
Controversial to be sure, but a point that needs to be added to the conversation on why the country best equipped to handle a pandemic has bungled it so badly. Tens of thousands of people have unnecessarily died. It does have to make you wonder what happened. I guess we’ll know more when a new president takes over and has to deal with it.
Thanks for the dialogue. That is why I started blogging.
Bruce