Bye, bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Good old boys, drinking whisky in rye
Singing: “This’ll be the day that I die. This’ll be the day that I die.”
Song lyrics from Don Maclean, 1971
I’m going to give a date for the demise of American democracy. After this date, there is no turning back.
August 8, 1974
No, this is not the date American democracy was broken.
Senior leaders in the Republican Party marched into Richard Nixon’s office. They marched because the Republican Party was polling too low, and a rout was expected in the midterm elections. To save Republican skins, many members of the Republican congress were going to vote for impeachment and conviction of the President. The senior leaders gave the ultimatum. Nixon resigned two days later.
American democracy removed a political leader who had become ineffective. While this removal was a clumsy way to solve a problem, it showed that American democracy was able to self-correct when needed.
February 12, 1999
No, American democracy did not die on this day. But it tripped and had a little fall. A sign of things to come.
On that day, the US Senate voted to acquit Bill Clinton of charges related to the Lewinsky affair. All Democratic Senators voted for acquittal.
Enough Republicans of 1974 broke party ranks to remove an ineffective president. The Democrats of 1999 put their party above their country to support their lame-duck leader, who became a lame-duck leader through his own fault.
I’ve already heard all the Democrat apologists about how it was nobody’s business whatever two consenting adults were doing, which then justifies all the stonewalling thereafter. That kind of reasoning puts the blame on the citizens who don’t like their political leaders romping around with young vulnerable women. The real blame should be cast on a political party that chose a leader with a known history of controversy. But we can’t have that reasoning, can we?
Like it or not, the inability to deal properly with that president cost the Democrats the election in 2000. Enough soft D supporters stayed away from the polls to give the other side a very narrow victory.
Just think of the more reasoned response Mr. Gore would have likely given with 9–11.
The 1999 failure is still haunting the USA. Political leaders are above the law if they have the right politics.
June 16, 2015
Yes, Donald Trump descended the golden escalator on this day. But no, this is not the day American democracy died.
At that time, almost all of us reading this article believed that Mr. Trump would finish a respectable fourth place in the Republican primary, get some publicity, say “I tried my best to fix America,” and go back to the business world and reality TV.
Something happened.
Somehow he tapped into a political force most of us did not see. Methinks even Mr. Trump did not see this political force.
Somehow the left-leaning media and DNC seem to relish Mr. Trump as the Republican candidate for he was so beatable in the general election. They did their best to get Mr. Trump elected in the primary — and the snowball rolled down the hill. More reasonable Republicans — like John Kasich — were not given the airtime.
When Mr. Trump was leading the pack in the Republican primary, I realized: “This man could become president.” I was far ahead of the talking heads on TV.
November 8, 2016
Mr. Trump won the Electoral College vote. But democracy was not lost because he lost the popular vote.
The Electoral College is not an overly undemocratic institution. It will not vault a candidate with 40% of the vote into the presidency. Mr. Trump earned most of his 62m votes on his own merit. Like it or not, 46.1% of Americans preferred him over the other candidate. Like it or not, he was a viable contender for the job.
If this were a high school basketball game that finished 65 to 62, would you say the 65 team is vastly superior to the 62 team and destined to win the next time these two teams meet?
Weeks after November 3, 2020
Mr. Trump claimed massive election fraud. He had the right to make that claim AND bring his evidence to the courts. He lost all 60 or so cases. To me, American democracy performed quite well in this regard.
January 6, 2021
Democracy did not die that day. Rather, it showcased a possible future for the USA for all to see. It was a second warning shot.
November 2, 2021
On that day, Virginia held an election to elect a new governor:
28.0% of the voters voted for the Republican candidate.
26.9% of the voters voted for the Democrat candidate.
46.1% of the voters did not vote.
What this is saying is that one out of four Virginians:
1. Believed in the Trump presidency,
2. Overlooked its inability to prove voter fraud,
3. Overlooked its part — implicit or explicit — in the January 6, 2021 riots, which could have resulted in a constitutional crisis, and
4. Supported a political party that was showing signs of wanting to take the USA to an authoritarian state.
Twenty-eight percent is a lot of citizens. They are a significant political force. But they are still far from a majority.
Perhaps what is more astounding is that almost half of all Virginia voters did not vote in this election. They might not have liked either of the gubernatorial candidates proffered by the two parties. They might have been cynical or distrustful of both parties. They might have been apathetic towards democracy ever looking out for their needs and aspirations. But they still could have sent the Republican Party a big message to shape up, democratically speaking. Just like the message they were going to send in 1974, before the higher up Republicans of that day got in front of the problem.
The higher ups of the 2021 Republicans did not get in front. So it was up to the citizens. They were given a fair chance.
By November 2, 2021, the evidence was clearly there for all to see.
But 2,680,000 Virginia voters did not send the message that needed to be sent. Imagine if 500,000 of them had voted against the Republicans. There would have been reverberations throughout the Republican Party in the other 49 states.
While it’s so easy to blame these voters for being apathetic, we should be asking them why they didn’t vote. They have good reasons, even if you do not agree.
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry.
November 2, 2021
This’ll be the day that I die. This’ll be the day that I die.
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