How secure is democracy in the United States?

Therefore, a vote for Biden in November 2020 is a vote to preserve democracy and stop fascism.

In a previous CityWatch column, I raised a number of problems with this Cliff Notes take on fascism, but I credit it with raising an important question. How secure is democracy in the United States?

For those who reduce democracy to electoral politics, the United States is in deep trouble. About half of the public votes for President, much less for Congress, about 20 percent in municipal elections, and only 9 percent for the LAUSD Board.

Furthermore, large campaign donors dominate these elections, from President to school boards. The November 2020 elections will generate $7 billion in campaign donations, most of it from PAC’s funded by secretive wealthy contributors. They expect and usually receive favorable treatment from the public officials they support. Then, after their favored candidates take office, the donor class keeps them loyal through deep-pocketed lobbyists and additional campaign contributions. While the public has the right to submit letters and attend public hearings, their participation has little bearing on the adoption and enforcement of legislation.

But democracy is far more than elections, and this is why the non-electoral erosion of the Bill of Rights needs to be carefully assessed.

First, in 1944 President Franklin Roosevelt proposed expanding the original Bill of Rights with eight additional amendments, none of which have been adopted.

“The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.”

Second, we know that due process before the law, the 14^th Amendment to the US Constitution, has serious violations, such as denying Washington, DC residents the right to vote in national elections, plus the 13^th Amendment, which prevents prisoners, even those released, from voting, as brilliantly presented in the Netflix documentary, the 13^th. Another telling example is regular violations of the Fifth Amendment, the summary execution of 1000 people each year by local police departments.

Third, the Patriot Act, similar Congressional legislation, and Executive Orders have further eroded the Bill of Rights. For example, the New York Times listed these unconstitutional practices:

Incarcerating people at Guantánamo Bay without charges, for nearly two decades.

Sending detainees abroad for questioning, often through extraordinary rendition.

Torturing captives.

Spying and surveillance of religious and dissident groups.

Inserting informants into Muslim communities and mosques.

Arresting and detaining of material witnesses.

Using undercover officers to entrap “terrorists,” who they cultivated and armed.

Monitoring all domestic electronic communications, including emails, snail mails, phone calls, and text message, without warrants.

Preparing secret no fly lists.

Fourth, the democratic rights bestowed in the U.S. Constitution, though curtailed, only apply to civic life in the United States, not to work. Even the small percentage of the work force that is unionized has limited protection through labor contracts, such as grievance procedures. As a result, once employees enter offices, stores, and factories in the United States, they forfeit such constitutional rights as expression, association, and due process. In nearly all work situations they are subject to the whims of their bosses, and nearly everyone has learned to appear subservient.

Despite the glaring contradictions between the Bill of Rights and the world off work, most employees routinely accept their plight as “normal.” They are used to the hierarchical structure of work to the point that the fascist leader (Furher) principle has become ingrained. To expand these same undemocratic principles to the rest of society during a sudden crisis is no different than Los Angeles Mayors Tom Bradley and Eric Garcetti requesting heavily armed soldiers to enter the city and impose “law and order.”

Camp Pendleton Marines patrol Los Angeles in 1992.

Fifth, the foreign policy of the United States is immune to the democratic rights applied domestically, even though “democracy” is frequently invoked as the rationale for U.S. military interventions. Nevertheless, a quick review of the authoritarian and racist regimes supported by the U.S. government reveals a glaring contradiction. In the World Without War website, David Swanson has identified 50 despotic countries, based on the U.S. government’s own Freedom House reports, that the U.S. provides military and surveillance funding, training, weapons, technology, often buttressed by U.S. military bases.

While it is certainly worthwhile to eliminate voter suppression, remove big money from campaigns, and restrict lobbyists, let’s remember that democracy is much more than elections. It also involves freedom of expression and association, due process, and habeas corpus, as well as the other freedoms that President Franklin Roosevelt proposed 76 years ago.

(Victor Rothman is a California-based policy analyst. He can be reached at [email protected].) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.