'Crisis in democracy': Historian warns 2024 is a showdown between 2 'warring visions of society'
On September 26, The New Republic published an excerpt from historian Heather Cox Richardson's book "Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America." Richardson, a professor at Boston College, notes that two "warring visions of society" have been competing in the United States for many years. But the 2024 presidential election, she emphasizes, may determine which one finally prevails.
Richardson notes that during the Great Depression of 1930s, the United States — unlike some European countries — chose liberal democracy over fascism. But in recent decades, she laments, the Republican Party has "embraced authoritarianism."
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"When Americans elected Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020," Richardson explains, "he made it clear that he intended to defend American democracy from rising authoritarianism…. But despite the emerging defense of democracy, Trumpism did not die. [Donald] Trump and his loyalists continued to insist he had won the 2020 election, while extremists like newly elected Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has endorsed the idea that some Democratic politicians should be executed, told a right-wing newspaper that there was no difference between establishment Republicans and Democrats."
The "crisis in American democracy," according to Richardson, has "crept up on us" — and the U.S. is "at a crossroads" ahead of the 2024 election.
"Hitler’s rise to absolute power began with his consolidation of political influence to win 36.8 percent of the vote in 1932, which he parlayed into a deal to become German chancellor," Richardson argues. "The absolute dictatorship came afterward. Democracies die more often through the ballot box than at gunpoint."
READ MORE: GOP candidates must answer tough questions about Trump’s outright 'fascism': columnist
Read the full excerpt from Heather Cox Richardson's book at this link.
