The midterms are just six months away in the primary
season already upon us. With that come questions not
just about the candidates running in these elections,
but how the elections themselves will be conducted
moving forward And the state of American democracy.
After what happened at the U. S. Capitol in January of
last year. This was the scene on January 6th 2021. A
mob of supporters of then President Donald trump dri
by his remarks at a rally beforehand, violently
storming the capitol in protest of lawmakers certifying
joe Biden's victory. Those challenging the results.
Also within that building, 147 Lawmakers, all
Republicans in the House and Senate objected to
certifying the election. This as members of the GOP
promoted trump's false claim that the election was
stolen since then a constant drip of information as the
bipartisan house Select committee investigates among
the latest developments, recordings that indicate
concerned by House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy that
some of his republican colleagues might have been
inciting violence the day of the riot. And a series of
text messages reported by CNN showing trump's chief of
staff. Mark Meadows was caught between factions of the
GOP pressuring him to challenge the election and
Georgia. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene this
week, claiming not to remember reported text she sent
to Meadows including the suggestion that trump declare
martial law. I'm sorry. I just don't recall. I don't
recall that we're talking about big tech. Yeah, I'm
sorry, I don't recall. Representative Green is the
supporter of the Q. And a on conspiracy movement which
believes the election was stolen from trump despite the
lack of evidence to support that. And there are others
like her running for office according to the latest
tally from watchdog group, Media Matters for America,
there are 61 current or former congressional candida
across 21 states who have endorsed or given credence to
Q and A. So a violent attack on the capitol. A false
election conspiracy, an idea to impose martial law. And
we haven't even touched on the changes at the state
level since the capitol riots, which have sparked
concerns about how elections are administered in the
future. And this all paints a picture of a democracy in
danger. In fact, the US now considered a flawed
democracy by the economist intelligence unit. It bases
this on five categories the electoral process, civil
liberties, the functioning of government, political
participation and political culture Norway. New
Zealand. Finland, Sweden and Iceland are the top ranked
democracies according to this index. The US notably Not
making the cut the us ranks 26th with political cultu
and functioning of government dragging down the overall
score. Joining us Now to discuss all of this is Uriel
Epshtein. He's executive director of the renew
democracy initiative, a nonprofit nonpartisan
organization. Uriel, we appreciate your time. How
precarious of a situation is the US in right now when
it comes to democracy. Thank you jay for having me on
um the situation is precarious. Uh you know, I'm not
going to try to mince words here, but I should note
that number one our institutions are strong and the
have survived significant tests The key is that we
actually need to be prioritizing those institutions
giving them the support that they need to survive. Now
in the list that you showed early on right, the
countries that are ranked really well in New Zealand
Iceland, these countries are much smaller, with more
homogeneous populations than the United States has.
That means that for us to maintain our democracy is
actually a much greater challen than it is for them.
Because we have an incredibly multi ethnic democra
We have an incredibly large democracy with an
incredible number of competing interests. Our founde
thought that these things were actually a benefit.
Madison believed that having a significant number of
competing factions would ensure that no one faction was
able to dominate all the others And so what we need to
be doing is empowering the institutions we already hav
in place, promoting the norms that allow for freedom of
speech, divergence of opinion and so forth, while
simultaneously promoting some s of a common set
of facts so that we can actually harness these vari
points of view, these various perspectives into a
single politician, to a single political system, into a
united political system. That's actually able to
deliver on the promises that we make to the public and
Uriel I mentioned earlier. Q. And on gaining traction
in the political world and to pull this year from NPR
episodes found two thirds of Republican respondent
believe voter fraud helped Joe Biden become president,
which of course is not true, mainstream republican
would say this is just a fringe wing of the party. So
just how pervasive is this within the GOP. And what do
these numbers say about where the party is heading
moving forward? These numbers are pretty significant
concern. You know, it's something that I've been
worried about for a little while now and the Republican
Party has been headed in a direction where I think a
host of significant prominent conservatives need to
take stock and need to pull back. And we've started
seeing this. I mean, there are a number of
conservatives that are starting do this, who may not
necessarily be the kind of leadership of the party, but
whether they're folks like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger,
Evan McMullin, who's running in Utah, there are people
who are trying to sound the alarm, the challenge that
we're faced with right now is that the crux of the
Republican party still remains very much indebted and
committed to those who would question uh the election,
those who would if not openly endorse the points of
view of Cunanan at the very least, be okay with those
points of view, being part of the broader coalition and
I think ultimately, our job is to try to convince these
people that in a functional democracy, we need t
reject those points of view it the same way that the
conservatives years ago rejecte the birchers And your
real I want to play a portion of a report from our Jo
ST. George from the Battleground State of Ohio. Thi
week. He talked to voters there about what topics
matter to them and I'll get your thoughts on the other
side. Let's listen. One thing that struck me, did you
ever think about what happened on January six, is that
like I know a lot of issues that dominate partisa
shows it's not really one of my major things didn't
come up during my visit. Voters have other priori
Now, January 6th obviously not top of mind and those
were two Biden voters and polling from late February
shows, they're not alone. NPR PBS News hour asked what
Americans want the Biden administration to priorit
no surprise here, inflation overwhelmingly the to
response, notably voting laws only had 11% in the
investigation into January 6th. 3%. So you're really
our president Biden and other democrats talking about
U. S. Democracy enough, is it incumbent upon them to
try to make voters care more about it? Yes. Yes, simple
as that. But the question is how you're going to talk
about it. You need to talk about democracy in a way
that is compelling to the average voter in a way where
people actually understand that this matters to them
and that it matters to their bottom line, much in the
same way as inflation matters to their bottom line.
That's why at the renew democracy initiative, we'
launching the front lines of freedom where we've pulled
together over 100 dissidents from oppressive coun
who can offer a positive message about how they were
inspired by American democracy even as they were
fighting for some small semblance of the rights that
you and I get to take for granted. And so what I woul
advise to the administration and two people in the
political system writ large is to think creatively
about how they can convey to people the importance of
democracy in a way that actually matters to them.
Because inflation is easy to understand, right, it hits
our pocketbook, how much money we pay at the grocery
store is something we feel every day. Meanwhile the a
lot of these culture war issues right are are really
emotional. So they're also really easy to understand.
Meanwhile the way that I've heard a lot of democratic
leaders talking about democracy has been incredibly
wonky and quite frankly it feels really distant from
what we feel day in and day out. And it doesn't really
surprise me, unfortunately that a lot of people are
starting to move past January 6th. And so what we
really need to do is I think highlight the voices of
those people who can understand the importance of
January 6th and be conveyed to folks the fragility of
democracy as a whole, That's why we're we've been
highlighting all of these dissidents. They know how
fragile democracy is, but they also can offer a message
of hope and that those are the two things that I think
need to need to pull together is, on the one hand, the
fragility and the threats facing our democracy, and on
the other hand, the possibilities for the future fo
you know, to offer people a positive vision of what our
democracy could look like. Uriel Epshtein with the
renew democracy initiative. We appreciate you coming
on. Thanks. Thank you so much for having me.