President Joe Biden gave a courageous speech on September 1st, 2022, attacking the clear and present danger that MAGA Republican extremism poises to American Democracy.
Biden is correct in his analysis of the threats we face. Without political Democracy, election integrity, civil liberties, and the rule of law, our rights to speech, conscious, and security are jeopardized.
MAGA Republican extremists have engaged in political violence to intimidate, threaten, and harass political opponents, to overthrow Democracy and subvert the will of the people. Eighty-one million Americans voted for President Joe Biden in the 2020 elections, repudiating four years of divisive hate speech parroted by Donald Trump and amplified by media outlets across the country.
Donald Trump and MAGA Republican extremists first accused this record turnout election as fraudulent. Then in a carefully orchestrated conspiracy, right wing militias supported by extremist elements of the losing Party stormed the Capitol on January 6th. They threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress for certifying the election and overseeing the peaceful transfer of power.
In 2022, these authoritarian anti-American extremists want to take over Secretary of State positions, and further undermine the ability of a majority of voters to elect their representatives.
MAGA extremists’ attacks on civil liberties and civil rights are a threat to a safe, pluralist society. President Biden mentioned that MAGA extremists want to take away “our right to choose, right to privacy, right to contraception, [and] right to marry who you love.” Often outspoken antisemites, anti-immigrant xenophobes, and open racists, MAGA Republican extremists know no shame.
The willingness to engage in political violence, blind loyalty to Donald Trump, and the propagation of conspiracy theories and lies characterize MAGA extremism.
Whether protecting elected officials right to enact legislation, or rank and file workers right to organize, Government in a Democracy has a duty to defend people’s freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom from reprisal.
That is why Joe Biden’s National Labor Relations Board ruled that Tesla employees have the right to wear pro-union t-shirts while working to build electric cars. That is why his labor board ordered Starbucks to rehire seven Memphis employees fired for union organizing. Democracy knows no boundaries.
While MAGA Republican extremists have attacked America’s electoral system of mail-in voting as fraudulent, President Biden has spoken forcefully about the need to respect the integrity of elections.
That is why Joe Biden came out forcefully on Labor Day in support of California legislation that would allow a secret mail-in ballot to allow farmworkers the right to unionize without fear of deportation or unjust firing.
Just as President Biden said in his September 1st speech at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, “We can’t afford to… leave anyone on the sidelines. We need everyone to do their part. So speak up. Speak out. Get engaged. Vote, vote, vote.”