The birthday of our nondemocracy

It’s the 4th of July, the day we celebrate our democracy. I don’t feel very celebratory, and neither do most people I know.

In four months we will elect a president amid widespread disenchantment with our choices. I’m not as down on Joe Biden as some are. I think he’s been a good president. But I worry that he’s not electable. He was already trailing Donald Trump in the polls before his weak performance in last week’s debate exacerbated concerns that he is too old and senile.

It is beyond my expertise to weigh in on whether some other Democrat might defeat Trump if Biden were to withdraw from the race. Political gurus can opine about that. I’ll just speak as an ordinary American outside the MAGA camp who is wondering, How did we come to this? How can we be on the verge of sending a felon, liar, misogynist, rapist, narcissist, fraudster, and demagogue back to the White House? 

We would not have had a Trump presidency in the first place if not for the Electoral College. A big disillusionment of my adult life is realizing how undemocratic the United States is. Hillary Clinton had 2.6 million more votes in 2016. It was the second time in this century that a Democrat had won the popular vote but not the presidency; Bush vs. Gore in 2000 was the first.

The US Senate is our most undemocratic elected institution. With each state getting two senators regardless of population, Wyoming’s 600,000 people have as much representation as California’s 39 million people. Based on current population trends, 70 senators will represent just 30 percent of Americans by 2040. 

There is ostensibly fairer representation in the US House, but partisan gerrymandering increasingly undermines it. Both parties draw legislative districts to their advantage, but Republicans have benefited more. A 2021 Associated Press analysis of gerrymandering showed that Republicans in recent years won more seats than would have been expected from the percentage of votes they received, and redistricting after the 2020 census has increased their advantage.

Moneyed interests hire lobbyists, while the opinions of the 90 percent of Americans who lack the money to bankroll politicians have no influence on the political process, a study by Northwestern and Princeton University professors found. Think about how the National Rifle Association has thwarted gun control legislation, despite the majority favoring it.

Then there is the unelected Supreme Court. Last week the six  justices appointed by Republicans, three of them by Trump, gave Trump substantial immunity from prosecution for trying to subvert the 2020 election. Can anyone still claim that the Supreme Court is nonpartisan?

We need to do more than grumble. But what?