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   Thomas Zimmer (tzimmer_history@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Nov-2024 01:06:58 JST Thomas Zimmer

   Why the Stakes in this Election Are So Enormously High
    
   Democracy itself is on the ballot. If Trump wins, the extreme Right will be in a much better position than ever before to abolish it.
    
   Some thoughts from my new piece - while we all nervously wait:
    
   🧵1/
    
   https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/why-the-stakes-in-this-election-are

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     Thomas Zimmer (tzimmer_history@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Nov-2024 01:06:58 JST Thomas Zimmer

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     Consider this my closing argument: As of right now, only one of the two major parties in the United States, the Democratic Party, for all its many flaws, is a (small-d) democratic party. The other one is firmly in the hands of a radicalizing ethno-nationalist movement. 2/

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     Thomas Zimmer (tzimmer_history@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Nov-2024 01:06:58 JST Thomas Zimmer

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     The fault lines in the struggle over whether or not the democratic experiment should be continued map exactly onto the fault lines of the struggle between the two parties. Democracy itself is now a partisan issue. Therefore, in every election, democracy itself is on the ballot. 3/

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     Thomas Zimmer (tzimmer_history@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Nov-2024 01:06:58 JST Thomas Zimmer

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     In a stable democracy, the stakes shouldn’t be that high. Elections should be competitions between political factions that accept the legitimacy of their opponents and are committed to upholding the democratic system. In America, that’s evidently not the case. 4/

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     Thomas Zimmer (tzimmer_history@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Nov-2024 01:06:58 JST Thomas Zimmer

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     This whole notion that as long as you have elections, you have democracy, reveals an incredibly naïve understanding of politics. Democracy is not just a bunch of formal procedures, it does not just mean elections. It comes with substantive commitments. 5/

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     Thomas Zimmer (tzimmer_history@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Nov-2024 01:06:58 JST Thomas Zimmer

     in reply to

     The fact that we can’t just complacently rely on elections to always produce outcomes that sustain democracy is the reason why we create rules and institutions tasked with upholding and fostering a democratic political culture and defending constitutional self-government. 6/

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     Thomas Zimmer (tzimmer_history@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Nov-2024 01:06:58 JST Thomas Zimmer

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     We are here because of a system-wide failure to hold Trump accountable and mount an effective defense against the onslaught of authoritarian minority rule. And so, we are left with an election as the desperate last stand of a democracy under siege. 7/

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     Deborah Rose (deberupts@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Nov-2024 01:06:58 JST Deborah Rose

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     @tzimmer_history He should have been impeached. He should have been arrested January 7th, 2021. He should be in prison.

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     Robert Link (phaedral@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Nov-2024 01:06:58 JST Robert Link

     in reply to

     • Deborah Rose

     @DebErupts @tzimmer_history His head should be on a spike in front of the White House as a warning to all traitors.