Publius.
Jan 28, 2026
Publius on Elizabeth Drew’s latest essay
Posted on February 2, 2012 by stephenkmacksd
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/feb/23/can-we-have-democratic-e…
Here is Elizabeth Drew’s latest essay in the New York Review of Books, Can We Have a Democratic Election? In which she raises many important questions that escape the ‘pundits’ who are covering the campaign as a ‘horse race’. She asks some basic questions that escape the handicapping mentality of her competitors, in the forth estate. That is what gives this essay it’s political resonance: her arguments are powerful, her reasoning hard to refute. She also describes a Republican Party, in the states, as engaging in a concerted campaign of ‘voter suppression’, and the devastating effects of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.
The Republican Party in desperation after the defeat of 2008 has progressively descended into political nihilism, using the idea of ‘voter fraud’ as rationale for restrictive laws that demand state issued ID’s, in order to cast a vote. No voter fraud has been demonstrated, but the laws were passed in the name of protecting the electorate, from a pernicious problem that does not exist. The young,the poor,black folk and students generally vote Democratic, so that restrictive election laws aimed at these groups make perfect sense, in the domain of Rovian politics.
On the Citizens United decision, one must just recall John Roberts thrilling encomium to stare decisis before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as not just a tribute to his intellectual brass,and mendacity but as simply a eulogy to that legal workhorse, when political motive rules the day. Have I gone too far in the arena of respectable bourgeois political commentary?
If the Republican Party is at the end of it’s political rationality, and Barack Obama asserts the right to execute American citizens by presidential fiat, to attack ‘terrorists’ by the use of drones, wherever they may seek refuge, and NDAA has been passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, which weakens habeas corpus protections: where are we as citizens?
Publius.
Editor: A revelatory quotation from the final paragraphs of Elizabeth Drew’s essay:
…
Citizens are now faced with evidence of the growing power of organized moneyed interests in the electoral system at the same time that the nation is more aware than ever that the inequality among income groups has grown dramatically and economic difficulties are persistent. This is a dangerous brew. Political power is shifting to the very moneyed interests that four decades of reform effort have tried to contain. The election system is being reshaped by the Super PACs and the greatly increased power of those who contribute to them to choose the candidates who best suit their purposes. But little attention is being paid to the fact that our system of electing a president is under siege. While the political press is excitedly telling us how the polls on Friday compare with the ones on Tuesday, little notice is taken of the danger to the democratic system itself.
Much of the citizenry has become more restive—less accepting of the way things are. Can an election that’s being subjected to such seriously self-interested contortions be accepted by the public as having been arrived at in a fair manner? And what will happen if it can’t?
Editor here are more of Elizabeth Drew’s commentaries:
Dividing to Rule: Trump’s Midterm MayhemNovember 2, 2018
November 2, 2018
How Obamacare SurvivedJuly 28, 2017
July 28, 2017
Trump: The Presidency in Peril June 22, 2017 issue
The president’s troubles will continue to grow as the investigators keep on investigating and leakers keep on leaking.
June 22, 2017 issue
Publius.
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