Defending Democracy

I was asked to write an Op-Ed for Newsweek about the Democrats and democracy.  Here's what I wrote — hope you enjoy it.

I Hope Harris Wins. But the Democrats Need to Answer for Their Failures to Protect Democracy

Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz have been enjoying a honeymoon period in the presidential race that I expect will last at least through the convention. Their rise has caught former President Trump and GOP VP Nominee JD Vance flatfooted.

I myself endorsed Kamala Harris shortly after Joe Biden stepped aside. I am someone who finds Donald Trump to have the wrong character and makeup to be President. I ran for the office four years ago in part to try and keep him from returning.

And yet Donald Trump may win in November. After all, he won in 2016 and was about 43,000 swing voters away from winning again in 2020.

For months I have been dreading Trump's return to power. Why? The Democratic nominee was Joe Biden, who I thought would obviously lose to Trump, handing him back the keys without a fight.

It's easily forgotten, but if not for the early debate on June 27th, Joe Biden would be the nominee right now, and we would all be subject to endless stories about how he's still got it or is as sharp as a tack, despite overwhelming evidence of his decline. If Trump had simply delayed the first debate until after the conventions, when they customarily take place, he would be on the fast track to the presidency today.

Democrats are fond of saying "Democracy is on the line" when they talk about Donald Trump. Trump denied he lost the 2020 election and hoped to overturn it via an angry mob. We can easily imagine him refusing to accept defeat in November. And yet Democrats were inches away from handing him back the reins of power because of an unwillingness to challenge Joe Biden, who was clearly too old and faltering to run for re-election.

I saw Joe Biden dozens of times on the trail four years ago. I was on stage with him for seven primary debates. Back then, he was aging but vital. I saw him earlier this year in South Carolina, and his decline was evident. He hardly seemed like the same person; the last four years have taken a significant toll, as they might for anyone in his early eighties with such a stressful, demanding role.

One sitting Democrat made the case that Joe Biden was too old and infirm in the primaries—Congressman Dean Phillips. Dean's reward? Ostracization by his own party. A primary challenger for his congressional seat backed by an establishment eager to punish him. A premature end to his political career. Dean Phillips demonstrated more principle, courage and heart than all of the putative leaders in his party who were at the time falling over themselves to bolster Joe and brand Dean an outcast, only for Dean's case to be proven right less than six months later.

If Democrats are serious about defending democracy, there are a number of things that they should commit to.

First, they should pledge to hold robust primaries no matter what. They did not this cycle, canceling state primaries without a single vote being cast and refusing to hold debates, with the logic being that Joe was an incumbent and incumbents shouldn't have challengers. That is asinine. If an incumbent can't easily dispatch challengers from within their own party, they are probably not going to fare well in November. We saw that very clearly this year. Imagine if Joe's decline had been evident back in January; there could have been a genuine process that would have introduced the nation to the next generation of leadership.

Second, they should stop boosting election deniers. The Democratic Party has been in the habit of spending millions boosting extreme candidates like Doug Mastriano and Joe Gibbs in Republican primaries so that they have easier opponents in the general election. This may seem like smart politics, but it is cynical and accelerates the general loss of faith and confidence in our institutions.

Third, they should stop fighting measures like open primaries and ranked choice voting that promise to make the system more dynamic. Open primaries in particular simply enable more voters to vote. Democrats spend millions of dollars against these measures every year across the country including for this November. Ranked choice voting gives people the chance to vote their true preferences.

Democracy does not mean, "you must vote for us." Democracy means listening to the people and giving them real voice and choice.

One proven means of combating polarization is local news. Over 3,000 local newspapers have gone out of business the past two decades, to be replaced by social media feeds and cable news. Democrats should be supporting the Community News and Small Business Support Act that provides a tax credit for local businesses and publications. If you read local news you're more likely to vote in local elections.

51 percent of Americans now self-categorize as Independents, according to Gallup, and an even higher proportion of young people don't subscribe to either party. There is a bill in Congress called the Fair Representation Act. It would shift congressional districts, which currently have one representative, to new, bigger districts that would have multiple representatives from different parties. Some would be neither Democrats nor Republicans. This would give rise to new voices in our country and make us more resilient to authoritarianism because there would be more seats at the table that are not beholden to the leadership of one party or the other.

You know what would attract droves of Independent voters? Term limits for members of Congress. 75 percent of Americans are for them as we sense that our leaders are more and more divorced from the day-to-day of their constituents. Banning stock trading for members falls into the same category.

If Kamala Harris and the Democrats are triumphant in November, there will likely be much celebration and self-congratulation. I certainly hope the Harris-Walz ticket wins. But will they actually replenish democracy? Or will they say, "See, we were right all along!"

If history is any indication, they'll fail to do much while in power to truly modernize our democracy. Getting term limits, multi-member districts, and ranked-choice voting ratified into law have failed again and again, even with Democrats in power.

If Democrats start standing up for democracy in action instead of rhetoric, the country will be far better off. If not, new characters will continue to push for change, and Democrats will find themselves increasingly at odds with the people they claim to represent.