Elections and Fear that Democracy Is in a "Death Spiral"Close to 100 former high-ranking U.S. national security officials sent a letter on November 9 not to the President who is Commander-in-Chief, but to Congress. The people signing include those from the military, intelligence, and the diplomatic corps. They have served Democrats, Republicans, or administrations of both parties. While they focus on elections, they are more broadly concerned about a peaceful transition of power and keeping the rulers in power and the people out. The letter begins "We write to express our alarm at ongoing efforts to destabilize and subvert our elections... We believe these efforts are profoundly damaging to our national security." They add, "The rampant spread of election disinformation and the efforts to undermine confidence in the democratic process jeopardize our national security in a number of dangerous ways." Two of the more influential signers are James R. Clapper and Michael Hayden, who issued a joint op-ed in the Washington Post on November 10. Clapper is a retired Air Force lieutenant general who was Director of National Intelligence in the Obama administration. Hayden is a retired Air Force four-star general, who was director of the National Security Agency from 1999 to 2005 and principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence in the George W. Bush administration. He was also director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2006 to 2009. In their op-ed, the two are more direct in targeting Trump and the factions he represents. They state: "By now, it is well documented that in 2020 a sitting president and his allies tried to overturn the results of an election, triggering the worst political violence this country has seen in living memory. It is also clear that this attempt to undermine our democracy did not end with the transition to a new president, but continues with active efforts to make sure the next sabotage succeeds where the last one failed." Of course for them the broad and continuing racist police violence and killings, the genocide of mass incarceration, and sanctions and wars abroad are not "political violence." The point here though is the increasingly open expression of the profound antagonisms within the ruling circles. The vying factions have no solutions to the crises they face and necessarily will resort to increased violence, including potentially violent civil war at home and/or more imperialist war abroad. Current threats against Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, troops in Haiti, and war games targeting China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are an indication of this. So too is the fact that included in the Pentagon funding bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, is a requirement for women to now register for the draft. Up until now it was all young men turning 18 that had to register. And while it is currently not being enforced and many do not register, the military routinely secures from high schools lists of students turning 18. Now the Pentagon wants all women turning 18 to register as well. This law can be enforced at any time. Adding women is an indication that the U.S. is preparing for increased use of the military abroad and possibly at home as well. In their op-ed, Clapper and Hayden express the legitimacy problem of the rulers and their preoccupation with defeat writing, "At the heart of the attack is a homegrown disinformation campaign meant to sow doubt in the U.S. voting system. Unfortunately, it is working -- poll after poll shows declining trust in our elections and declining belief in the concept of democracy ... and these effects will not be contained to our borders... A society struggling to separate fact from fiction is the perfect environment for these actors to further erode electoral trust and kick democracy into a death spiral." They continue with fear of U.S. decline on the world stage: "There are also serious foreign policy consequences to this crisis. The United States' power since World War II has come not just from our military might but also from the political stability and economic prosperity a thriving democracy provides... But the once-high regard for American democracy is in steep decline, and with it America's global influence and moral authority." They conclude: "While the situation is dire, it is far from hopeless. There are clear and simple steps the Biden administration and Congress must take now to harden our defences against the risk posed by election destabilization... Three decades ago, the promise of American democracy helped us prevail in the Cold War. Today, our enemies can smell the weakness in our political system, and they will be ready to exploit it. We must be prepared to meet that threat -- for our national security, for our democracy and for the future of our country." Similarly, the letter to Congress also shows this morbid preoccupation with defeat and desperation to save U.S.-style democracy. Both are contending with the widespread consciousness of the dysfunction of U.S. institutions, such as Congress, and increasing rule by the President through the exercise of executive powers including decisions to go to war. The letter says, "We have strong democratic institutions and traditions, but they are being placed in severe jeopardy in the current climate. We call on you to meet this challenge squarely and put in place the defences that will safeguard the integrity of our sacred democratic institutions." The letter also hints at what its signatories think is required to do so. They ignore the broad demands to increase the role of the people in decision-making, whether it concerns police violence or wars or budgets or expanding the right to vote and measures for an electoral system that provides the equal right to vote and be elected. Instead, they raise the issue of blocking the right to speak: "We all must recognize and speak out against destructive speech and practices that undermine fair elections and respect for their outcomes." This speaks both to the contention among the rulers -- that a peaceful transition of power is no longer within their reach -- and their concern for all those speaking out about the failure of U.S.-style democracy and its institutions. This is in part directed to the "disinformation campaigns" of the Trump forces and an effort to unite the military and civilian bureaucracies, an effort which continually fails as this letter and op-ed indicate. More importantly, it is a call for further attacks on the many organizations and forces putting forward that U.S. elections are not fair and are designed to keep the people on the sidelines and out of power, and who are rejecting the fraud of election outcomes far beyond the 2020 election for president. The anger and resistance to the institutions is growing, along with the consciousness that they are failed institutions that do not provide accountability at any level and in fact stand in the way of the demands of the people against war and for rights.
The letter and op-ed are just recent examples that openly express the conflicts among the rulers as to how to save their system and block the peoples, both abroad and at home, from advancing their struggle for change that favours their interests. The rulers' preoccupation with defeat means they will be more violent, aggressive and dangerous in the coming period. This makes all the more urgent and necessary the resistance by the peoples as they organize to defend the rights of all and fight for a democracy that empowers the people to govern and decide.
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
Webinars and other
activities are taking place against AFRICOM --
which is used to militarize Africa and repress
resistance; in support of opposition in Japan and
Korea to U.S. bases and war games, to bring troops
home and close U.S. bases, with veterans speaking
out against the crimes of U.S. aggression; to
stand with Cuba as the U.S. seeks regime change;
and more. The International Tribunal on U.S. Human
Rights Violations saw many people testify about
their own experience with U.S. crimes. They joined
people across the country, such as nurses,
immigrants, warehouse workers and many others who
are speaking out in their own name demanding
rights. All reflect a very different conception of
security, one that recognizes that security lies
in our fight for the rights of all. It is these
many forces that this call against "destructive
speech" is aimed at.