Rachel Maddow explained that election-denying Republicans want to stay in power without having to serve you and your needs.
Video of Maddow:
Maddow said:
It is about separating power from the preferences of the people. Instead, just ruling over the people by force for their own purposes and to meet their own needs instead of the needs of the people. If you are trying to get and hold power by force intimidation and not because the people want you there, that doesn’t end well for anyone. Not just in history, not just as a political abstraction.
But in terms of how we live and what the prospects are for our
families, right? What are the prospects for you and for your future and for your kids and their future? Whether or not you care about how it’s gone in history. Whether or not you care about how it’s gone in history when the antecedents to these folks got in power. Whether or not you care about majority rule or minority rule as concepts, the isms at the heart of these discussions.
This is about your life. In a practical, everyday sense, if there is a party trying to cast doubt on elections as the way we choose who is in power, they want to stay in control regardless of elections. They want to stay in power without your consent and without your ability to remove them, which means they do not want to serve you.
And that means if you want government to do anything at all to make your family’s life materially better, more stable, more dignified, this is a flashing red siren about the abandonment of that task. And it is sometimes easier to see that in far away countries than it is here and close up and sometimes easier to see it in history so we can recognize how it both leads to and rhymes with what we are going through today.
Republicans want power without obligation and accountability.
Americans have seen Republicans in the Senate ignore their obligations for years. The American people want common sense gun laws, but Mitch McConnell’s Senate caucus said no. The list of issues is lengthy where Republicans in the Senate have ignored the wants and needs of the American people.
The nation is experienced in watching the Republican Party ignore its obligations, but what’s relatively new is that the Republican Party, led by Donald Trump, wants power without accountability.
By delegitimizing elections, Republicans are seeking to stay in power without having to be accountable for neglecting their obligations.
A party or government that has been untethered from accountability will not serve its people.
That is what is on the ballot in six weeks.
Mr. Easley is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association