Democracy nadir
Last week, President Biden hosted a two-day Summit for Democracy urging the nations of the world to push back against increasing authoritarianism, especially in places like Russia and China. In addition to announcing plans to spend more than $400 million to support anti-corruption work and independent media, he spoke on the urgent need to preserve and defend government institutions of, by and for the people.
Also last week, a short walk away from the White House, the Protecting Our Democracy Act passed the U.S. House along party lines, 220-208 (one Republican, Adam Kinzinger, joined Democrats in supporting it). Rep. Adam Schiff’s legislation would require presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns, shining light on conflicts of interest; strengthen enforcement of the Constitution’s emoluments clause; require campaigns to report offers of foreign assistance to federal law enforcement authorities; strengthen Congress’ hand in subpoenaing the executive branch; and increase penalties under the Hatch Act, which says federal employees can’t engage in campaigning while on the job.
Each of those is a needed line of stitches on a gash on the body politic sustained during the presidency of Donald Trump.
Yet the bill will almost certainly die with a whimper in the Senate, where the partisan divide is as close as can be and even many Democrats are skittish about some of its provisions. This, even though Trump continues to refuse to cooperate with the bipartisan investigation into the deadly Capitol riot of Jan. 6, which, fueled by rampant lies about phantom election fraud, sought to prevent the people’s choice from being made president. Thursday, a federal appeals court rejected Trump’s flimsy reasons for trying to keep secret records that the investigative committee considers vital to its probe.
Meanwhile, state legislatures make it harder for many citizens to vote, and carve up legislative districts to ensure ever fewer competitive seats, widening a partisan divide that has already pushed Congress to the breaking point.
American democracy is under strain. It won’t be saved by summits or speeches.