{"id":5357,"date":"2020-12-19T08:25:15","date_gmt":"2020-12-19T18:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=5357"},"modified":"2021-01-09T06:14:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-09T16:14:46","slug":"pro-democracy-movement-needed-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2020\/12\/19\/pro-democracy-movement-needed-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Democracy Movement Needed\u2014In America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Emil Guillermo<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I will remember 2020 for COVID-19, of course. But I will remember it mostly as the last ugly chapter of the Trump years, a time in America where it came perilously close to being too much like the Philippines.

Here\u2019s what I mean. I have never felt that the gift I wanted most for Christmas was a pro-Democracy movement in America. What is that? Just ask yourself some simple pro-democracy-oriented questions.

Do you value your vote in free and fair elections? You should because there\u2019s a move to take it away and disenfranchise you.

Do you value the institutions of government like Congress and our system of services? You should because there\u2019s a move to shred it all up as deep-state BS.

Do you value a free press? You should, because a free press exposes the fallacies of Trump.

How about the rule of law? You should because that\u2019s what marks a real democracy as great.

If you care about any of those questions above, then you\u2019re ready to join my pro-Democracy movement in America. Or better yet, start your own. We all should start one. No matter what your political party.

A belief in democracy is a non-partisan issue. Democracy is us. All of us. It\u2019s the start and the end goal of all our politics. Our perfect union. We begin all believing in the same thing. And we end up together because we\u2019re one country.

Basic principles, sure. But we better start caring for these things we take for granted because Trump is doing all he can to destroy America\u2019s sense of itself on his way out.

This is no conspiracy theory of mine, just an observation. We\u2019re seeing it happen in front of our eyes these last weeks of the Trump administration. And yes, it\u2019s really happening.

Wait pare, conspiracy theory?\u00a0

You know, there are people out there who suggest that the moon landing never happened. Or that 9\/11 and the attack on the World Trade Center never happened. Or that the earth is flat. Or that the Holocaust and the killing of six million Jews never happened.

These are all legendary theories that we know are just mental exercises in spreading falsehoods, but for what purpose? To spread doubt and to tear down a sense of the truth that are the foundation of future actions and beliefs.

Trump Did Not Win
<\/strong>So, Trump is proposing another outlandish conspiracy\u2014that he won the election of 2020.

Trump does it every time he tweets or says he won the presidency despite all the votes being certified in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Make no mistake. The results are clear. Trump LOST.\u00a0 But weren\u2019t there irregularities? There may have been.

But even if you grant all the \u201cquestionable\u201d votes, there aren\u2019t enough to turn Trump into a winner.

He still lost.

Trump did get more votes than an incumbent ever got, more than 74 million votes.

But Joe Biden got even more votes. More than 81 million votes than Trump. It was enough to give him more than 300 electoral college votes. He only needed 270 to win. It\u2019s enough to make him president-elect.

And yet there are some who refuse to acknowledge the Biden victory, choosing instead to stick their head deeper in the sand while still listening to Trump who says the election was rigged or that there was voter fraud.

It\u2019s Trump\u2019s big lie.\u00a0

Every time he does it, nearly 80 percent of those believe him, according to reports. And that is the problem. The number of people who will believe the lie and doubt our democracy.

Doubts in our democracy are the last thing we need as a country to get it moving in the right direction.

Trump isn\u2019t just tweeting. He\u2019s out there conspiring with others to set up straw man-type actions. Like a lawsuit filed by the Texas attorney general that suggests that votes in elections in the four key states that gave Biden a win were somehow invalid. No evidence. And more importantly no standing.

I know just enough law from law school roommate osmosis to know that \u201cstanding\u201d is everything. It is the right to sue for damages.\u00a0

Does Texas have the right to sue Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia over their elections?\u00a0 No.

But by filing the suit, Texas is doing Trump\u2019s bidding trying to actually \u201csteal\u201d the vote away from the people. If successful, the suit doesn\u2019t just affect the four named states, but can negate the will of the people in states like Hawaii.

Trump is even talking about the case going before the Supreme Court where his block of court picks could help give him a victory.

Trump\u2019s Gamble\u2014The Silent Coup
<\/strong>For such a no-merit lawsuit, there are more than 100 members of Congress who back the suit. Of course, there are the hopeful Trumpsters who now further believe that the government is scum, democracy is terrible, and only Donald Trump knows the truth.

That\u2019s better than winning the lawsuit.

Some people are calling it the \u201csilent coup.\u201d\u00a0

The goal of Trump\u2019s conspiracy theories is always manipulation and power. Even a Republican loyalist like Californian Kevin McCarthy plays it down the middle. Too cowardly to condemn Trump\u2019s attempt to takedown the election, McCarthy says simply that Trump has the right to pursue all legal avenues.

It\u2019s McCarthy\u2019s way of being loyal and unloyal at the same time. The eggshell walk, when it should be a real stomp. But it shows Trump\u2019s control of the party as he exits.

As for the Texas AG, Ken Paxton who filed the suit, he\u2019s named in a number of felony cases, and is surely angling for a favor from Trump\u2014like some last day pardon.

This isn\u2019t how the presidency is supposed to be. But it has been how it works under Trump, who has destroyed our sense of what American democracy means and what it stands for. Trump\u2019s actions are real and lasting. And it\u2019s transformed American politics to this landscape from left and right, to left, right and Trump.

In 2021, beyond the rush for a vaccine, Americans will also need an antidote to four years of Trump \u2013 where all remnants of his self-serving nonsense is erased by a real pro-democracy movement in America.

EMIL GUILLERMO<\/strong> is a journalist and commentator. He worked in Washington as host of NPR\u2019s \u201cAll Things Considered.\u201d\u00a0 He was a columnist for the Star Bulletin and a member of the Advertiser editorial board. Twitter @emilamok. <\/em>

(Editor\u2019s Note: The US Supreme Court rejected a bid from Texas\u2019 attorney general — supported by President Donald Trump — to block the ballots of millions of voters in battleground states that went in favor of President-elect Joe Biden. SCOTUS rejected to hear the case and determined based on briefs that the case did not deserve standing.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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