berg80
Diamond Member
- Oct 28, 2017
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"There is one thing more powerful than the Constitution….That’s the will of the people. What is a Constitution anyway? They’re the products of the people, the people are the first source of power, and the people can abolish a Constitution if they want to."
en.wikiquote.org
I'm reading the seminal book, "How Democracies Die" by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. The warnings in it are daunting. One of the early chapters covers demagogues who rose to prominence in the US. Yes, we've seen it before. The authors mention Father Coughlin, Huey Long, Joe McCarthy, and George Wallace as historical examples.
After referring to Wallace's quote from above the authors go on to write, "Wallace's message, which mixed racism with populist appeals to working class whites sense of victimhood and economic anger, helped him make inroads into the Democrats' traditional blue-collar base. Polls indicated 40% of Americans approved of his third party run in 1968." That's more than I would have guessed for an overt racist like George. This........populist appeals to working class whites sense of victimhood and economic anger........stuck out because it seemed pertinent to today's politics.
In the preceding chapter there's an examination of why demagogues in other, mainly European countries failed to rise to power beyond their popularity with certain segments of the citizenry. The conclusion, it was the coalescence of the country's major political parties who joined hands to turn back the demagogues.
An opportunity for coalescence came in the US after the first non-peaceful transfer of power in our nation's history occurred in 2021. Along with JFK's assassination I regard it as the most significant single day event in America during my lifetime, having been born in 1956. With over two centuries of history behind us I can safely say no figure would have survived, politically, following Jan. 6. In an earlier time both major parties would have come together in recognition of the need to deal with an unique threat. One party stood ready to deal with the threat, the other did not. The other embraced it.
As Wallace pointed out, the people are the first source of power in America, not the Constitution. If enough people feel the constitutional principles that have guided the nation for all these years are quaint relics of the past, if they feel this president-elect's power should be absolute and beyond legal reproach, then the author's warnings have been realized.
George Wallace - Wikiquote
I'm reading the seminal book, "How Democracies Die" by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. The warnings in it are daunting. One of the early chapters covers demagogues who rose to prominence in the US. Yes, we've seen it before. The authors mention Father Coughlin, Huey Long, Joe McCarthy, and George Wallace as historical examples.
After referring to Wallace's quote from above the authors go on to write, "Wallace's message, which mixed racism with populist appeals to working class whites sense of victimhood and economic anger, helped him make inroads into the Democrats' traditional blue-collar base. Polls indicated 40% of Americans approved of his third party run in 1968." That's more than I would have guessed for an overt racist like George. This........populist appeals to working class whites sense of victimhood and economic anger........stuck out because it seemed pertinent to today's politics.
In the preceding chapter there's an examination of why demagogues in other, mainly European countries failed to rise to power beyond their popularity with certain segments of the citizenry. The conclusion, it was the coalescence of the country's major political parties who joined hands to turn back the demagogues.
An opportunity for coalescence came in the US after the first non-peaceful transfer of power in our nation's history occurred in 2021. Along with JFK's assassination I regard it as the most significant single day event in America during my lifetime, having been born in 1956. With over two centuries of history behind us I can safely say no figure would have survived, politically, following Jan. 6. In an earlier time both major parties would have come together in recognition of the need to deal with an unique threat. One party stood ready to deal with the threat, the other did not. The other embraced it.
As Wallace pointed out, the people are the first source of power in America, not the Constitution. If enough people feel the constitutional principles that have guided the nation for all these years are quaint relics of the past, if they feel this president-elect's power should be absolute and beyond legal reproach, then the author's warnings have been realized.
