In the United States, we live by certain bedrock principles that effectively shackle the federal government, preventing it from becoming an authoritarian overlord: separation of powers, checks and balances, and judicial review are three of the most oft-cited that characterize and limit over-reach by our federal government.
While undeniably important, these are broad-brush principles that make for good material in a high school government class or the debate stage. However, the nitty gritty of governing a volatile democracy that 340 million people call home happens at the agency level. Three agencies, in particular, play pivotal roles in protecting our democracy.
The first agency is the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). In addition to being a law enforcement agency that concerns itself with criminal threats, both foreign and domestic, the DOJ’s mission statement includes ensuring fair and impartial justice for all Americans. In other words, the DOJ is sworn to uphold the rule of law for all Americans without bowing to the political winds of the day or undue influence from greedy politicians, including the President of the United States. The Attorney General, the leader of the DOJ, acts as the people’s legal representative, un-tethered to the whims of any person occupying the Oval Office.
The second agency is the United States Census Bureau, an agency we tend to think about only briefly every ten years, and for some, not even then. However, the Census Bureau performs a function so vital it was enshrined in the Constitution, one of only two agencies so mentioned. The framers of the Constitution chose population to be the basis for sharing political power, not individual wealth or land.
“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers…” - The Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 2.
In addition, our decennial census is taken for the purpose of “apportionment.” Apportionment is the process of dividing the 435 memberships, or seats, in the U.S. House of Representatives among the 50 states, based on the state population counts that result from each decennial census.
As the Census Bureau’s website puts it:
“The census tells us who we are and where we are going as a nation, and helps our communities determine where to build everything from schools to supermarkets, and from homes to hospitals. It helps the government decide how to distribute funds and assistance to states and localities. It is also used to draw the lines of legislative districts and reapportion the seats each State holds in Congress.”
The third agency is the U.S. Postal Service. Like the census, the Framers considered a Post Office and the means of carrying mail to be so important that they expressly gave Congress the power “to establish post offices and post roads.” Constitution, Article I, Section 8, clause 7.
While falling short of a guarantee, what was it about a post office that was so important it became part of Congress’ enumerated powers? In short, it is because our fledgling democracy (in a time before competitors like FedEx or UPS) depended on one. Only the government had the means to provide mail service securely and affordably. This service was vital for both commerce and national defense. Further, freedom of speech and the press remain only abstract concepts unless there was a reliable means of communicating ideas or transmitting news. Outside of large cities, the main way to deliver newspapers in the late eighteenth century was by mail. The Framers knew an informed citizenry was, and is, vital to the health of a democracy.
If a President with autocratic tendencies wanted to undermine and dismantle democracy in the U.S., a good place to start would be to “cronify” these three agencies. Such a President might appoint an Attorney General who viewed his role as sycophantic to the President’s will rather than the will of the people. Such an Attorney General would be all too willing to weaponize the DOJ, turning it against the very citizenry it is supposed to protect. Such a DOJ would, of course, want to take steps to suspend certain Constitutional rights in times of crisis (real or manufactured), and it might even take overt actions against the most marginalized voices by suppressing the freedom to protest against governmental abuses.
Now, imagine, by some stroke of good luck, this type of President happened to be in power when the decennial census rolled around, he or she could use this timing to his or her advantage as well. The Census Bureau is part of the Department of Commerce, so the first act by this type of President would be to to appoint yet another, corrupt “yes man” as Secretary of Commerce. This Secretary would blindly follow the President’s racist desires to omit counting certain groups of people in the U.S., but he would know this is actually just a “red-meat-for-the-base” sideshow to the real, more insidious purpose behind interfering with the census. If people are under-counted in certain areas versus others, those under-counted areas will be rendered politically and financially weaker relative to those areas that are counted fairly. This President might intentionally instruct his underlings to under-count certain groups of people both because of their race or ethnicity, but he would also under-count those who tended to live in regions of the country not supportive of him. With their voices weakened, those state and local governments would be left unable to provide the same level of services or infrastructure their people depend on — less funding for social services, education, health, and infrastructure. In time, this would naturally result in civil discontent or lack of trust in the government of those jurisdictions. Meanwhile, these same states and local jurisdictions would find their ability to address their loses in Congress also reduced by having fewer “seats.”
Finally, this type of President would be one who would not want to lose power under any circumstances. Power means everything to this kind of leader because, deep down, he or she is weak and frightened almost every waking moment of their life. Power represents a temporary antidote to feelings of helplessness and insecurity, but it is never enough to completely balm this President’s feelings of inadequacy. On top of that, this President’s mind is metastasized by a deep-seated hatred for his predecessor who had two terms in office. Thus, this President abhors the thought of being voted out of power.
Enter a well-time public health crisis that makes it dangerous for voters to personally interact with one another or go to the polls. Complicate matters with public health orders requiring everyone to shelter-in-place, stay a certain distance from one another, and wear masks to avoid catching a fatal illness. Let us suppose this public health crisis also tends to adversely and disproportionately affect areas of the country or voters that naturally tend not to favor this President. Such a public health crisis would spell trouble for any candidate seeking to oust this President at the ballot box.
The solution? Mail-in ballots. Let the people vote unhindered by mailing in their ballots in large numbers rather than endanger themselves by personally appearing at the polls. On the face of things, at least one adverse consequence of a public health crisis seems to have a simple, ready-made cure.
Yet, such a President still would not want to lose his grip on power so easily, so what does he do? Strike at the very heart of the government’s ability to ensure that mail-in ballots are received on time and, thus, counted in an upcoming election. In other words, strike at the U.S. Postal Service. Like the other attacks, start by appointing a die-hard, deeply corrupt, and financially conflicted campaign lackey to head up the Postal Service, someone this President can count on to use every tool in an ever-expanding toolbox of executive power to weaken, undermine, defund, and detract from the Postal Service. Do all this under the guise of saving the government money because that always sounds good. Meanwhile, issue edicts directing Postal Service underlings not to deliver mail on time and go so far as to take away vital pieces of equipment involved in sorting and distributing mail. The endgame? Leave the U.S. Postal Service a mere shell of an agency that cannot ensure that the people’s votes are delivered on time and counted. In other words, nothing short of mass voter suppression and denial of the franchise.
We should all agree that such an attack on any one of these three agencies and the jobs they perform, let alone all three of them, would be nothing short of an attack on our right to live in a free society. However, that is exactly what Donald Trump has done. He has systematically “cronified” all three agencies by appointing the most corrupt and self-interested agency leaders this country has ever seen. For example, Bill Barr is hands-down the most diabolical Attorney General in the history of the United States.
In addition, Trump has done everything in his power to discourage citizens of color and others in so-called “Blue States” from participating in the census, including veiled threats of government data collection, possible surveillance, or even deportation. Moreover, complicit stooges in the Republican-led Senate got in on the act by failing to pass the Census Bureau’s requested extension of time to complete the census, which has resulted in a speeding up of the census timeline. Mind you, this is a vital piece of the destabilization of democracy puzzle — having a corrupt Senate — whose majority has a political interest in ensuring a census under-count.
Finally, and most brazen of all, Trump is waging an open war on the U.S. Postal Service, admitting he is doing so specifically to prevent mail-in ballots, which he knows are popular in states and with voters that do not support him. Trump admitted on national television:
“If we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money,” Trump told host Maria Bartiromo. “That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting; they just can’t have it.”
And, so far, he seems to be getting away with these dire acts. Congress appears powerless to reign in Bill Barr’s corruption as he openly flouts legislative oversight at the President’s direction. Most in the Democratic leadership merely wring their hands about the census but seem unable to do more. As for the Postal Service, initially, the Democratic leadership’s response was to write an angry letter to Louis DeJoy, the head of the Postal Service. A handful of Democratic Senators, led by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, at least had the will to step up and call for an Inspector General’s investigation. Only in recent days have Democratic lawmakers in Congress called on DeJoy to testify at an “urgent” hearing on August 24.
If this leader is allowed to fulfill the wishes of his innermost demons, we will lose our democracy. He is playing by a set of rules that is straight out of Putin’s (or even Hitler’s or Mussolini’s) playbook. It is that simple. We should all be a lot angrier about this than we are. If need be, we should all be ready to stand up, en mass, and despite coronavirus, just like the brave people of Belarus did today, and declare, “Enough!”
