Krugman has it right on the nose this morning, making the obvious historical comparisons to the not quite Republic of Rome:
And what happens to the republic as a result? Famously, on paper the transformation of Rome from republic to empire never happened. Officially, imperial Rome was still ruled by a Senate that just happened to defer to the emperor, whose title originally just meant “commander,” on everything that mattered. We may not go down exactly the same route — although are we even sure of that? — but the process of destroying democratic substance while preserving forms is already underway.
Consider what just happened in North Carolina. The voters made a clear choice, electing a Democratic governor. The Republican legislature didn’t openly overturn the result — not this time, anyway — but it effectively stripped the governor’s office of power, ensuring that the will of the voters wouldn’t actually matter.
Combine this sort of thing with continuing efforts to disenfranchise or at least discourage voting by minority groups, and you have the potential making of a de facto one-party state: one that maintains the fiction of democracy, but has rigged the game so that the other side can never win.
This is pretty much what I’ve been saying since the election, but not writing, as for reasons of my own I’ve tried to avoid being overly pessimistic, although really, you can’t be overly pessimistic.
Our election will quite likely henceforth be shams. We will go through the motions, but the outcomes will be preordained. People like Krugman will be ignored, even by the reporters at the Times. The normalization process has begun. It will take some time before it sinks in with the average voter that their vote truly doesn’t count, but the folks who own the country already know that they’ve achieved final victory. North Carolina is a harbinger.
I should give credit where credit is due. Krugman is not the only Cassandra at the Times. Charles Blow is trying his best.
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