Law and Order
The Republican party has given up all pretense that it believes in democracy. It does believe in the rule of law, though. That is why throughout the country republicans are moving systematically to create legal frameworks that will enable them to control the outcome of elections. Their determination to suppress the ability of people to vote is now widely documented. This suppression is tied directly to their instance that the last election was a fraud, and they are determined to make sure the next one comes out the way they want.
Within three months of the failed January coupe a major report entitled “Democracy in Crisis” chronicled the efforts of state legislatures around the country “to politicize, criminalize, and interfere in election administration.” Because of the speed of changes at the state level, a new update was just issued, explaining that dangerous legislation has grown from 148 proposals in 36 states to 216 in 41 states, and 24 of them have become law. The most notable slowing of this trend was, of course, the Texas walk out to halt legislative action.
“The commitment of many state legislatures to attacking the foundations of our democracy appears to have deepened,” says the report from Protect Democracy, States United Democracy Center and Law Forward. “The trend toward threatening election administrators with criminal penalties is more pronounced and aggressive, and attempts by legislatures to perform core elections functions has grown more brazen.”
This new legal framework is designed to make sure that the majority of people never rule. Rightly, people are mobilizing to resist these efforts, mounting public education campaigns, speaking out, and taking direct actions.
But little attention is being paid to the equally dangerous shifts taking place among those who will be depended upon to enforce these new laws. Yet all the signs are that state and local police departments are moving toward greater authoritarian power.
Here in Michigan we have seen this power directed with force against those who have opposed police abuse. By now, most people know that the Detroit Police, under Chief Craig, engaged in the unlawful arrest and detention of hundreds of people demonstrating against police brutality.
But most of us are less aware of similar abuses in our neighboring suburbs. In Shelby Township, the Chief of Police called protestors of police brutality “vicious-sub humans” and “wild savages” in social media posts. He advocated beating and shooting people and putting them into body bags.
These comments sparked outrage and public protests. People, lawfully and peacefully marching were charged with felonies. While charges were finally dropped, but they revealed the willingness of authorities to bend the law to protect their order.
In nearby Chelsea, young people who emerged to support Black Lives Matters staged a lawful march, yet many of them found themselves cited for “impeding traffic.” It seems a small thing, but reflectes the same attitudes by the police as those in Shelby Township and Detroit.
Public demonstrations are to be curtailed. Across the country, the same state legislatures that are suppressing votes are moving to find ways to suppress the capacities of people to voice our outrage, concern, and compassion through public actions.
Democracy is about more than voting. Right wing legislatures and the police that support them know this. They are moving to both erode support for public action and to criminalize it. These next few years are critical in defining the kind of people we will become. The possibility of creating a true, multicultural democracy that engages all of us in vigorous public life is emerging with new force. And so are the efforts to hold on to the old order.