Democracy is our duty in a society that values freewill and choice. But it is being attacked and slowly dismantled from within. I am referring to the recent United States 2020 election. What we saw was the power-mad 45^th president of the United States (who shall remain nameless due to his atrocities on democracy) pitted against Joseph R. Biden. Pre-election, the animosity was evident between these two people who each represented their own political parties. One democratic, the other Republican. However, do either of these parties still stand for what they used to represent?

On one side, we have the Republicans. They used to stand more for a fiscally responsible agenda that was hard-nosed, but generally respectful. But now, the perverted ex-president has twisted the morals and values of his party to levels of evil previously imagined in Disney villains. Now, however, this evil has grabbed hold of the party and redefined what it means to be Republican. We see the public re-emergence of unchecked racism among average citizens, disdain for fellow Americans just because of their morals, attacks on women’s autonomy rights, and centred around all of this is voting rights and secure voting systems.

After the 2020 election concluded, Biden was declared the victor through the established rules and regulations surrounding U.S. elections. It was certified and has since been re-certified in several contested states. That should be enough, right? Not for the “new” Republican far-right base! No, apparently, they have such hatred towards Democracy that they are willing to demolish the institution simply because they did not win. This is the proverbial kid taking the ball and going home because they didn’t win the game, except they’re also stabbing the ball with a knife, so it is rendered useless. The recent Arizona recount audit was even completed by a third-party contractor appointed by the State Republicans themselves, and even they found negligible evidence of voter fraud. In fact, they identified a net 360 additional votes for Biden, thus making his victory there even greater! So, did the Republicans give up and finally concede that Biden won the 2020 election? Of course not. Because they are so hateful that they cannot accept an outcome where they did not win. And why? Because they only believe that they are right and should be in charge and free to impose racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia on minorities they deem inferior. THAT is their platform.

This is a major problem to solve. The end result of all this is the slow decay of the voting population’s confidence that their vote counts and can make a difference, which is a cornerstone of democracy. Now, though, we have one party who hates democracy because they cannot accept the results of this practice, and on the other side, the majority establishment Democrats refuse to change anything to strengthen it. We have people like Biden and Pelosi who are unwilling to stand up to the State Governors who alter voting rules to ensure less people have access to their democratic right to vote. They refuse to stand up to supposedly “Democratic” Senators like Kirsten Sinema and Joe Manchin who vote selfishly and are stonewalling government because their corporate oil-executive donors tell them to look the other way. Without a functioning government that represents Americans’ majority interests, and that pushes back against the racism and hatred of the right-wing agenda, the country is slowly slipping further and further into unchecked chaos.

What kind of country is left when the police kill unarmed black citizens, the states prevent voting, voting systems are contested into oblivion, and women’s bodies are regulated without their consent? A totalitarianism society. And that is coming if we continue to support establishment democrats over progressive candidates.