I have had several conversations here on IST and in my contact with people in my community on what will be needed to fix what is going wrong in our democracy….and of course not all the contact was positive….I do live in Mississippi which is bright Red and MAGA friendly….those interactions lead to a few ugly exchanges.
Most thinking agree that something needs to be done by the next government to repair the damage that Donny and the Band of idiots have done to this country….but will that be the will of elected officials?
An article in The Fulcrum takes a gander at the possibilities….an interesting article….
If he leaves, Donald Trump will not leave the Oval Office until January 2029. Seems like a long way off.
But whether it feels near or far, it is time for pro-democracy forces to begin thinking about the work needed to rebuild, revitalize, and improve the infrastructure and architecture of American Democracy. That should not be done as one part of a policy agenda, but as THE priority for a post-MAGA world.
Restoring and/or building a vibrant constitutional democracy will require that singular focus. The damage the Trump Administration has done and will do to the democratic fabric of American life is incalculable.
Addressing it can’t be a side gig. It will take a singular focus for a post-MAGA president to lead a “transition to democracy” in the United States and learn from the experiences of nations that have traveled that path before us.
But if you poke around on the internet, you’ll find several comprehensive projects that place the work of rebuilding democracy side-by-side with an ambitious policy agenda, many of which claim the mantle: Project 2029.
One of them holds itself out to be “a grassroots, citizen-led effort to reclaim our democracy. We are not affiliated with or supported by any political party or political action group (PAC).” But it says very little about how to rebuild democratic institutions and practices.
It offers a vision of government that does many things, like “prioritize(ing) people over profit, embracing policies informed by science, expertise, and empathy. It actively engages citizens as empowered participants in shaping their communities, rather than passive consumers of decisions made behind closed doors.”
https://thefulcrum.us/democracy/rebuilding-american-democracy-post-trump
In case no one read some of the included articles….this one caught my eye it is from a political abstract…..
- When elites agree to compromise during regime transitions, democratization is more likely to succeed. Human agency is therefore central to successful democratization; however, it cannot be divorced from structural factors, such as class or economic interests, which incentivize elites to compromise in the first place.
- Leadership plays a key role in guiding transition processes and can even help to break deadlocks between ideological opponents.
- When existing patronage networks remain strong, elite defection and, hence, the likelihood of authoritarian breakdown is reduced. Conversely, when authoritarian rulers either face dwindling resources or do not co-opt key political and economic elites with patronage, their incumbency is threatened.
- The nature of democratic transitions shapes the subsequent quality of democracy. Transitions that are “pacted” among elites may result in relatively smooth transitions to electoral democracy but they tend to permit political and economic elites to maintain their privileges, leading to less inclusive democracy.
- The most vociferous opponents of economic liberalization may not be the marginalized mass publics but rather well-connected elites who benefited under authoritarian rule. Forging a more inclusive political and economic system is challenging, in no small part because it is difficult to dislodge authoritarian coalitions even after democratic transitions have ostensibly occurred.
Some great stuff in there but I disagree with a large part of the abstract….
I do not see any cooperation on major issues…..lobbyists will still own the Congress….oligarchs will still get their way….
That brings me to the newest brain fart by Dems…..Project 2029 (they could not even come up something in an original title….that tells me a lot)
01 Reward Hard Work
Our economy should reward hard work and not just huge wealth. We need to rebuild the ladder of opportunity for Americans and for American communities getting left behind. (This is for the billionaires to keep them calm)
02 Give Americans Their Government Back
In today’s Washington, wealthy and well-connected people and interests call the shots and drown out the voice of the people. Government needs to work for everyday Americans – and it just plain needs to work by delivering real progress. (Good idea but I do not think the next Congress will be capable)
03 Restore Law and Order
No one should be above the law – whether they’re on the street corner, in the corner office, or in the Oval Office. It’s time we strengthened our laws and our law enforcement to crack down on dangerous criminals, corporate wrongdoers, and corrupt public officials. (Good one….but what if we get another Donny that just ignores the laws?)
04 Make America Affordable Again
Americans are working harder but still finding it harder to make ends meet. They’re getting crunched by rising costs for housing and health care and squeezed for time as they try to take care of their kids or parents. We need to give them a helping hand and stop corporations from ripping them off. (This one is my favorite….Just how will they go about this?)
05 Jumpstart Economic Growth
America needs to win the global race to make sure the jobs and technologies of the future in areas like AI and clean energy are here at home. New innovations need new rules of the road so that we protect consumers, lower prices, and stop big businesses from stifling entrepreneurs and competition. (Embracing AI will do little to make the workers important again….how will the lobbyists be controlled?)
06 Protect America’s Security and Prosperity
It’s time for a new global agenda to open the doors of global economic opportunity for American workers and business and to ensure America stands on the side of democracies and not dictatorships. (This is a shot for the M-IC to keep them calm)
All in all I think Project 2029 will not be as successful as Project 2025….using name recognition will do nothing to improve our plight.
The closing of the article says it all….
At the end of the day, the Brennan Center gets it right when it says: “A return to stable democracy requires sustained effort to revitalize democratic institutions to address the underlying weaknesses that made them vulnerable to begin with. While it may be tempting for leaders to simply revert to the status quo that existed before a country started to backslide, trying to do so may actually prolong a country’s period of instability.”
I do not believe the repair work can be finished in anything less than a whole generation for Donny and the Slugs have done damage that runs deep.
Any thoughts you would like to share?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
Everyone has an opinion on all if this… and I am no different. But this is who I will be watching for in a candidate… IF such a person makes themselves known.
The idea is not to “erase” Trump of what he’s done or allged to have done. In the end that would make us no better than Trump himself, but in reverse. The idea here is to make America believe in their government and their institutions again… more than they do now. That alone will quell the political divide. That alone will also take 4 years or better.
A new government administration should not be focused on “fixing” anything. The reason we have this national divide is because two sides.. nearly equal in public sentiment… you just don’t dismiss one side in a kneejerk that everything their guy did was bad/wrong. You run on the idea that the nation has just gone through a considerable change of revised persceptions and that we now need to evaluate how those changes have worked… modifying where necessary, changing if needed, but always improving along the way. We don’t kneejerk to impose a counter-will to “fix” the past. A new administration should NOT continue to alienate the country with “we need to fix” polarization. Our vision is for a “new” future to carry forward those things with a proven success and build upon them. No “getting even”. What happens behind th scenes is another thing. But… the entire next administration should be built on “building the future” not “going back” to how it was to fix the last guy.
What Trump has done may have taken him only two terms to fuck up… but re-gaining a balance in international respect and domestic unity will very likely take the better part of the next 20 years, and other administrations.
We have to depend on those we elect to do the right thing (or we use to) so our vote is very important and the candidates must be of unquestionable loyalty to the Constitution…I agree it will be a long process but can we keep it going once we start? chuq
Good gawd.. I typed up my entire prescription for making the world better.. and in typical form it got lost when trying to post it. Funny how that alway happens on long posts. I don’t have the time to repeat it all again. LOL Lost forever.
It came through as “Someone’……chuq
Jeezz… I posted something twice… of course the one post that would have saved the world simply vanished. I give up. lol.
They both came through just as “Someone”….maybe it would be better if you subscribe….just a thought…..chuq
The world hates Trump, and lays the blame squarely on the American people for allowing his obscene excesses. And the world is right, as few other countries would ever tolerate that, and there would be a revolution. I have come down to one basic dream. I just want that orange toad to die before I do. I would hate to die knowing he was still being pandered to, and his ass was being kissed by spineless Americans.
Best wishes, Pete.
I have had similar thoughts…..chuq
Americans brought this onto themselves with an open mind and a focused willingness — so since that is the case, until and unless there is a new generation rising, the nation will follow the same destructive instincts that got us here in the first place. Like begets like,.
A lot of us might not wish to admit it, but you’re absolutely right, John. Trump and the current crop of cowardly weasels in Congress didn’t get there by themselves, they were elected to office by the American people.
We definitely did this to ourselves….and we will probably continue to screw this up….chuq
They’re on the wrong side of the A.I. issue. This week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott backtracked mightily (i.e. rhetorically) on his support for A.I. data centers. Apparently, there is a full-scale Republican revolt going on right now.
Which is confusing….the GOP is never that committed to stop some upstart…..chuq