"Defending democracy" is not a winning issue

People can't feel it. And have other, more pressing concerns.

So, in this interview on a recent podcast (h/t to CapitolFax), I think Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker gets this exactly right, regarding the recent presidential campaign:

Pritzker: "If you knock on 100 doors, and I’ve knocked on a lot of doors in my day, probably way more than 100 a lot, a lot. And I can tell you that if you said to people that democracy is challenged, people wouldn’t know what you’re talking about. They know they go to the polls and vote every two years or every four years, and things just keep going no matter who gets elected. And so democracy being challenged or being at risk isn’t something people can even imagine. So in my view, it was a terrible message, even though it clearly was being challenged..."

"This was, in my view, an election that should have been all about, and we should have singularly focused on affordability. And again, I didn’t make any of the decisions about what the messaging would be. But I can tell you that if you just go walk down the street and stop 100 people and ask them what’s really bothering them and what they’d like to see it’s, you know, more focus on affordability."

If you follow my posts and videos, you know that, while there are Trump policies I think are ridiculous, I see many of them as survivable. The republican will come out on the other side.

My existential worry from Trump 2.0 is indeed our democracy - in a very specific way. I worry about the ongoing concentration of unchecked power in the presidency and then, on top of that, the personalization of that power. Trump will wield power to serve his interests first and only secondarily the country's. We see this most clearly in the January 6th pardons. We might see more of it if he chooses to weaponize the Justice Department and FBI - that is, pick targets for prosecution, then find crimes to fit the target.

But I freely admit it's hard to get average Americans to feel this threat. In fact, a lot of Americans won't be bothered by it at all - either just seeing it as the usual political games or, for the hardest core MAGAites, justified payback.

I’ve been trying lately to make my best case. Americans should worry about concentrated power - period - because while you might like your guy wielding that power, you might not be so happy when the shoe is on the other foot.

But again, this still feels too abstract. For most Americans, democracy = voting. And as Pritzker points out, people still see that happening. So, no threat to "democracy".

So, it's a losing political strategy, even if it's the most fundamental.

Maybe opponents of Trump need to focus on "affordability", as he suggests. This is important to me, personally, and hopefully good politics. Certainly, everyone hates inflation.

And I'm absolutely sure they need to change course on immigration and DEI/woke/Identarianism.

Other than that, your guess is as good as mine.

In the meantime, call or email your member of Congress and tell them to stick up for checks and balances.