A message from the Gettysburg DFA Steering Committee
Our democratic system of government just barely survived the Trump administration and the election of 2020. And, it is still in danger.
Our former president attacked and undermined our democracy in many ways. First, he governed in an autocratic way, ignoring laws and rules and norms such as the limits of congressional appropriations, requests from a co-equal branch of government for witnesses and information, undermining the independence of federal agencies such as the FBI and CDC, and demanding 100% loyalty to him from appointees and federal civil servants.
But he also engaged in a longterm and systematic campaign to undermine our most direct instrument of democracy, the election system. He slandered the system for five years, claiming even that an election he won was “rigged.”
In the 2 ½ months between the election and the inauguration of the Biden-Harris administration, Donald Trump repeatedly made improper – and probably illegal – interventions in our election system. He continued to repeat on a daily basis that there was wholesale voter fraud and that the election was “rigged.” He directly contacted county and state election officials and legislators, as well as the Vice President of the United States, demanding they ignore their oaths and the actual voting results and declare him the winner. He came to the verge of dismissing his newly appointed acting Attorney General to appoint a more plaint DOJ official who was willing to instruct state officials to over-ride the election results.
Even more discouraging than Donald Trump’s actions, though, were the actions (or failures to act) of one of our two major political parties. The Republican party watched in silence – or amplified the message – as the president told blatant lies about our election system. And after all 50 states had certified their election results, more than half the Republican members of Congress supported a proposal to have the federal government override the state certified election results and declare Donald Trump the victor.
These arguments undermine the presidency of Joe Biden by promoting the view that he is an illegitimate president. They undermine our ability as a nation to heal and to promote the compromises needed to fight the pandemic and recover the economy. And they leave us vulnerable to even more serious attacks on our democracy.
As residents of Pennsylvania, we all have a unique responsibility. Pennsylvania is ground zero of the attacks on democracy. These attacks on democracy are continuing, in Pennsylvania and in other states. If we are not prepared to fight, the term “democracy” may be a meaningless relic by the next presidential election.
And some of the most dangerous leaders of this attack on democracy are OUR elected officials. Our elected state representative, Dan Moul, has promised to introduce legislation to ban absentee ballot drop boxes and satellite voting facilities. Our state senator, Doug Mastriano, has gone even further, promising to ban “no excuse” absentee balloting. It is not difficult to imagine other steps our legislature might take to undermine free elections: more restrictive ID requirements, more expansive authority to remove names from voter rolls, bans on measures such as ballot curing, expanding the right to challenge ballots, cutting precincts and denying adequate voting machines to Democratic voting areas, etc. How far-fetched is it to imagine the legislature passing a law to allow the legislature to intervene in vote counting, declare a winner, and appoint their own presidential electors?
Locally, the Republicans have already developed amendments to the state constitution to gerrymander judicial elections and all but guarantee control of the state Supreme Court by Republicans.
The election landscape could be very different by 2024. Our democracy is under perhaps a greater threat than it was over the past four years. The DFA steering committee has pledged to do everything it can to resist these measures and protect our democratic process.
Raise awareness about Pennsylvania constitutional amendment proposals to gerrymander the state courts and reduce the governor's authority.
Identify ways our elected officials are subverting our democratic processes and pressure them to stop.
Identify and oppose legislative efforts to restrict voting rights
Encourage school systems to improve the way they teach the elements of our democracy and the obligations of citizenship to our younger generations
Support efforts to eliminate gerrymandered legislative districts
Use our web page and News and Notes newsletter to inform the public of actions taken by DFA and others to promote democracy.
Support local activities and organizations that promote democracy, civic engagement, and civics education.
Study the partisan makeup and demographics of our district and identify like minded groups we can work with.