BRATTLEBORO-A lecture and discussion, "How Did We Get Here? Democracy in Peril," led by retired history teachers Nick Biddle and Tim Kipp, takes place Thursday, Dec. 4, at 6 p.m. at 118 Elliot Gallery.
According to a news release, this lecture explores what Kipp and Biddle call "an authoritarian coup began during the first Trump term and has matured significantly since 2016. Not since the Civil War has the United States confronted such a crisis of democracy. This is not an unconstitutional assault; it's an anti-constitutional assault."
The historic and contemporary causes of what they call "a slow-motion coup" will be examined, as well as key aspects of the past and current circumstances that have led to and continue to exacerbate the current crisis.
"How has the oldest democratic republic in the world become so vulnerable to powerful antidemocratic forces? As a nation we have withstood devastating wars and depressions, all the while retaining the fundamental principles and structures of our government. While never a perfect system, there has always been enough freedom for citizens to fight for the expansion of democracy. Are we now experiencing the demise [of] a country that has struggled over the past 250 years to make a 'more perfect union?'"
Biddle will start with the Founders' ideas of a democracy and a republic. Then he will trace critical points in the evolution of the nation's governing system up to this day. The focus will be on the power and influence of corporations on the political process. With attention to "corporate personhood," Biddle will explain how economic elites have shaped our politics and underscore how democracy is being fundamentally undermined. While extolling the virtues of democracy, he says these elites "actually strive to disenfranchise citizens with an unprecedented consolidation of wealth and inequality that ultimately leads to the disintegration of democracy."
Kipp will explore historic and current flaws in our system that he says "enables autocrats, demagogues, and sycophants to willingly demolish representative government. While there have always been these types in our history, never have they wielded so much political power."
Today, Kipp says "the principles and structure of the constitution are called into question and under vital threat. The separation of powers and checks and balances within the three branches of government are in jeopardy of extinction. As more power flows to the executive, there is an abdication of responsibility by the other branches."
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson described the "long train of abuses" by King George III that led to the American Revolution. Today, Kipp says, another long train of abuses threatens us and "we are now confronted with the struggle of our lifetime and with the existential obligation to respond to defend and expand our democracy."
This event is co-sponsored by Indivisible Brattleboro, the Windham County Progressive Party, and Democracy Forum.
This Town and Village item was submitted to The Commons.