Removing Joe Biden sets a precedent for future elections; If it can be justified now, it can be justified repeatedly
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Texas Insider Report) — In this election cycle – as in the last two – the Democrats have presented themselves as the champions of an imperiled "democracy." Donald Trump, they say, is a threat to American "Democracy" – which only they will or can "save" by keeping him from public office.
The Democrats are flunking the test of democracy.
In the last few weeks, with the chaos since President Biden’s disastrous debate performance, culminating in his being forced aside as the party’s nominee for the presidency, the Democrats have made a ridiculous spectacle of their party and in the process have revealed themselves as the enemies of what they say they want to preserve.Leading up to Biden’s decision, 39 Congressional Democrats had called for him to end his campaign – as had major donors to the party. The calls for Biden to step aside had also been pressed by elite organs of Democratic opinion such as the New York Times. These elected officials represent a small fraction of the Democratic representation of the national institution in which they serve, about 15 percent. And, of course, the Times, other media organizations, and prominent members of the donor class don’t represent any voters at all.
By succeeding in their undertaking, the elected nominee of one of our major political parties has been forced aside by a tiny number of people. Is this anybody’s idea of democracy?
But, some reply, news reports say that many more congressional Democrats wanted Biden out but are unwilling to say so publicly. Even if true, this claim does not improve the democratic legitimacy of what we are witnessing. Forcing the elected nominee of one’s party to drop out of the race – thus creating a situation in which party insiders will select a new nominee from among people who did not even run for the presidency – is hardly a democratic exercise. The process from this point demands extreme transparency in order to retain legitimacy.
Such openness might ameliorate but not erase the undemocratic character of recent events.
Suppose all elected Democrats in national office wanted Biden out. They don’t have the authority to choose the party’s nominee. That prerogative belongs to Democratic primary voters, who exercised it over the past few months, casting millions of votes for Joe Biden as their choice. Getting rid of Biden effectively nullifies the will of those voters – an outcome that no one can seriously regard as democratic.
This is not just a Republican taunt, but a serious problem and a grave omen for the future of American democracy.
The effort to force Biden aside is a precedent for future elections. If it can be justified now it can be justified repeatedly.
This is not just a Republican taunt, but a serious problem and a grave omen for the future of American democracy.
The effort to force Biden aside is a precedent for future elections. If it can be justified now it can be justified repeatedly.
It’s now established that the primary results can be voided if the poll numbers of the elected nominee are not sufficiently robust by the beginning of July. Primary voters’ choice will turn out to be a mere suggestion, reversible by party insiders depending on their own political judgment. This is not democracy.There is also something unworthy of democracy in the argument that is being put forward for pushing President Biden out of the race.
The Democrats who want him to leave have all said something like this:
The Democrats who want him to leave have all said something like this:
Biden has been a great president and had a very successful administration, but he needs to get out now because he is about to be beaten in a landslide.
This claim is so ridiculous as to amount to a fraud on the public.
The American voters who turn the outcomes of national elections are pragmatists. If they thought the present administration were a success, Biden would be cruising to victory now. Such voters would think: “He may be a bit diminished, but he must know how to manage his team, because the country is doing so well.”
The truth is, Biden was doing poorly even before the June debate – precisely because many Americans are not satisfied with the results of his administration.
What the Democrats are now attempting, then, is a last-minute switch to evade responsibility for the administration that they elected and supported for the last three and a half years.
They are trying to hang on to power by a desperate trickery that insults the voters’ intelligence and tries to deprive them of their right to hold this administration to account electorally.
What the Democrats are now attempting, then, is a last-minute switch to evade responsibility for the administration that they elected and supported for the last three and a half years.
They are trying to hang on to power by a desperate trickery that insults the voters’ intelligence and tries to deprive them of their right to hold this administration to account electorally.
We have reached a surprising point in our nation’s history. Leading Democrats need a remedial lesson in democracy.
Let the primary voters choose the party nominees. Let the American people choose the president.
Democracy means that the people decide – it does not mean that Democrats get to throw out all democratic norms in a frantic bid to win every election.
Carson Holloway is a Washington Fellow at the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life where his research focuses on American Constitutionalism and the liberal nationalism of the American Founding.
