Democracy erodes in a blink of the eye

Views from around the world. These opinions are not necessarily shared by newspapers.

The erosion of democracy can be slow and insidious – but on Tuesday, Pennsylvania state Senate Republicans demonstrated how fast it catches up on you. In the first Senate meeting after the 2020 election, Republican Majority Leader Jake Corman refused to swear in Jim Brewster, who defeated Republican challenger Nicole Ziccarelli by 69 votes. Ziccarelli disputes the results on technical issues and filed one suit, which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected, and another in federal court, which is pending.

Despite the fact the election results in the 45th Senatorial District have been certified by the secretary of state, Senate Republicans took matters

into their own hands and, citing a technical rule, announced they wouldn’t seat Brewster. When Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who presided over the session, wouldn’t entertain the motion to ignore the results from Brewster’s district, the Republican majority simply took the gavel from him in amotion to let Corman preside. Eventually, all senators but Brewster were sworn in.

It is the actions of Republicans – from the White House, Congress, and the Pennsylvania General Assembly – that have undermined faith in the voting process and served to question the results of the elections because they don’t like the outcome. The system is working. Democracy? Not so much.