Biden wanted to show how Donald Trump, by inciting the insurrection and trying to overturn the 2020 results, had violated the most basic principles in a democracy: free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power.
"Today, we're here to answer the most important of questions," Biden said. "Is democracy still America's sacred cause? This is not rhetorical, academic, or hypothetical. Whether democracy is still America's sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time, and it's what the 2024 election is all about." The alternative, Biden said, was "dictatorship-the rule of one, not the rule of 'We the People." That fundamental tenet of American democracy was gravely imperiled, Biden warned: "We're living in an era where a determined minority is doing everything in its power to try to destroy our democracy for their own agenda."
That's undoubtedly true. But the crisis Biden described-and the choice facing the nation this November-is much older and deeper than Trump. A determined minority has been trying to shape the foundations of American governance for their own benefit since the inception of the republic. For more than two centuries, a fierce struggle has played out between forces seeking to constrict democracy and those seeking to expand it. In 2024, the country is once again immersed in a pivotal battle over whom the political system should serve and represent.
From childhood, we are taught to venerate the Constitution as a civic religion, but the truth is that America's democratic experiment has been defined since the nation's founding by a central tension over whom the government should favor. The United States has historically been a laboratory for both oligarchy and genuine democracy. And to grasp the present-day fight, one must understand the long-standing clash between competing notions of majority rule and minority rights.
Denne historien er fra May/June 2024-utgaven av Mother Jones.
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Denne historien er fra May/June 2024-utgaven av Mother Jones.
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Data Blockers- Overturning Roe didn't just bludgeon abortion access. It sabotaged science, too.
Overturning Roe didn't just bludgeon abortion access. It sabotaged science, too. In early May 2022, reproductive health researcher Liz Mosley was at a dinner celebrating her first day as an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine when the news broke: A leaked draft of the Dobbs decision revealed the Supreme Court’s plan to gut abortion rights in the United States—the “worst-case scenario,” as one dinner guest put it.
Growing Pains - Why are governors rejecting funds for kids' summer meals?
The Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program for Children (EBT), the first new federal food aid initiative in decades, is a permanent extension of Congress’ Covid-era relief that sought to provide extra meals for more than 30 million school kids who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. But more than 10 million children will miss out this summer, according to the USDA. Thirteen other states—Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming—also chose not to enroll. And they all have something else in common: Republican governors.
Mission from God. Church And Statehood– A new Puerto Rican political party puts faith before status.
A new Puerto Rican political party puts faith before status. Puerto Rico’s churches, which in recent decades were mostly confined to private life, are now reshaping political dynamics. Proyecto Dignidad is a reflection of a broader populist global trend, and it draws inspiration from the Trump playbook and other domestic right-wing currents that helped him win over significant numbers of Latino voters in 2020.
40 Acres and a Lie
We compiled Reconstruction-era documents to identify 1,250 formerly enslaved Black Americans given land-only to have it returned to their enslavers.
The Conversion Therapist Will See You Now
The counselors once discredited for their "ex-gay" theories have rebranded. And now they're coming after trans kids.
"I Hope My Hindsight Will Be Others' Foresight"
A decade after Elliot Rodger's horrific massacre, his mother is on a quest to help threat assessment experts-and other parents-prevent the next tragedy.
RAGING BULL DONALD TRUMP'S PUGILISTIC SPOKESMAN HAS TAKEN CAMPAIGNING TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF LOW.
IN late February, after Donald Trump had nearly vanquished the entirety of the Republican primary field, his spokesman, Steven Cheung, took aim at the one opponent still standing. \"Birdbrain, are you a liar or just plain stupid?\" he posted on X.
SAVED
Finding self-love after Christian conversion therapy
WHAT WE ARE OWED
Technology and genealogy have made the case for reparations specific-and undeniable.
PARADISE STOLEN
Black families were cheated out of their land on Skidaway Island. Now it's a wealthy white enclave
