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| Senator Joe Manchin |
One thing we should all realize by now is that political power it the US is extremely diffuse. The number of separate and autonomous power structures in the US is immense. Election of a president conveys limited power if the other party controls Congress. Control of the federal government conveys limited power because so many matters are within the jurisdiction of states. And state laws may meets with resistance by counties that are unwilling to enforce -- or a state's refusal to enact a law may be countered by a city enacting an ordinance. And this is to say nothing of initiatives, school boards, elective judges, and so forth. The recent COVID outbreak should drive home just how many competing power centers there are, all acting independently of one another.
And here is the thing, Republicans understand this much better than Democrats do. We accuse Republicans of being authoritarian because they are restricting access to the vote, gerrymandering, stripping power from Democratic governors and other statewide officials, making it easier to overturn elections, and otherwise seeking to lock in one-party rule. And we are right. Republicans are being authoritarian and undermining democracy.
But Republicans see us as authoritarian as well, and not completely without justification. We take a notably top down approach to enacting reforms. During the Obama presidency, we tended to put all our eggs in the presidential basket and assume that once we won the presidency, we would get what we wanted. Republicans responded by mobilizing at all levels to counter him. With the Trump presidency, we have learned some lessons. Certainly, we were able to retake control of the House in 2018 and (with an extraordinary mobilization) of the Senate in 2020. We tried for other offices, as well, and failed. But we are still putting all our eggs in the federal basket, assuming that if we can only pass the right legislation at the federal level, states will not find ways to circumvent it. The For the People Act is itself revealing. Written in 2019, it addresses issues of the day -- making voting easier, resisting gerrymanders, and limiting the power of campaign contributions. Written before the 2020 election and aftermath, it does nothing to address Republican attempt rig vote counters and make elections easier to overturn. And doubtless no matter what Congress might manage to pass, states would find ways around it. State governments are smaller than the federal government and therefore more agile. They can all try separate and independent vote suppression and rigging techniques and leave the federal government playing a game of whack-a-mole.
So in the light of all this, what can Democrats do? I would say our only hope is to follow the example of Republicans and mobilize at all levels and fight Republican attempts to rig outcomes, state by state, county by county if necessary. Consider the following:
- Voting rights lawyers are challenging Republican laws in multiple states
- Democratic PAC's are launching a three-pronged drive to challenge Republican restrictive voting laws in court, inform voters of the restrictions, and fund voter protective organizations on the ground
- Protect Democracy is challenging the Cyber Ninjas "audit" in Arizona
- Democratic resistance and publicity have softened some of the worst measures in Georgia and (probably) Texas.
These measures are not adequate. But then again, they are just getting started. They are the beginning of a serious, decentralized counter-mobilization to fight Republican vote rigging at all levels. And given the choice between this sort of decentralized, multi-pronged mobilization and all levels and relying on the federal government, I would take the non-federal approach any day.
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