Biblical republic(ans) and democracy on the ballot
Vote for the people and principles that keep democracy alive, this November, every November.
It’s official: the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, two heartbeats away from the Presidency (next in succession after the Vice President), does not believe our country is a democracy.
Speaker Johnson has explicitly embraced the idea that the U.S. was founded upon particular Christian principles, in 2016 claiming, “You know, we don’t live in a democracy . . . It’s a constitutional republic. And the founders set that up because they followed the biblical admonition on what a civil society is supposed to look like.”
https://time.com/6329207/speaker-mike-johnson-christian-nationalism/
And this choice of one of our major parties to lead the People’s House happens at a time of major international crises, and overwhelming evidence of the global climate crisis.
Don’t be sucked into debates about whether the U.S. is a republic or a democracy. For all intents and purposes, this is a distinction without a difference. Both terms refer to governmental systems in which a) the voting public holds power and b) all members of the society are equally subject to the rule of law.
(For a good summary, see the non partisan Represent Us page: https://act.represent.us/sign/democracy-republic)
The real danger is that the Speaker of the House claims to believe that this country’s government is fundamentally non democratic, and fundamentally Christian - and a single, patriarchal type of Christian at that. It’s barely a half step away from justifying that some people, based on their beliefs, should be in charge of all the other people; and those in charge should be exempt from the same laws that others must follow.
Elevating one particular religion or sect is not different than elevating one particular ethnicity, or gender. It sets people into categories of “more” or “less” worthy. And this exact separation of people into “less than us” categories is the root of violence and war, and of the climate crisis we all face together.
This is not new. Our country has always fallen short of truly full inclusion in the democratic processes that ensure the rule of law. The founders struggled to see beyond the blinders of gender and race, culture and time. We do, too.
But now, one of our major political parties is a hair’s breadth away from revoking our status as a constitutional representative democracy, and turning us into a one-religion nation.
(For more on the risks, read this piece on the plans to install “loyalist” attorneys at all levels of the federal government, should the current Republican front-runner win in 2024. They are not even trying to hide their plans - they are fundraising on them: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/01/us/politics/trump-2025-lawyers.html)
We must realize that democracy is on the ballot, every ballot. Vote for the people and principles that keep democracy alive.
This is the fight of our generation, and we cannot shirk our responsibility.
Thank you for your company on this journey.