The November 8 midterm elections could be the last in which the United States operates as a functional democracy.
by John Nichols, The Progressive Magazine
Not to be alarmist, but the November 8 midterm elections could be the last in which the United States operates as a functional democracy. President Joe Biden hinted at this when he declared on September 1 that America is at “an inflection point—one of those moments that determine the shape of everything that’s to come after.” Yet the President stopped short of stating the obvious: The 2022 competition pits his own relatively hapless Democratic Party against an authoritarian Republican Party that seeks power in order to rig the electoral process to its permanent advantage.

Biden got it right when he said, “Democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election: Either they win or they were cheated. And that’s where MAGA Republicans are today.” But then he asked us to imagine that MAGA Republicans are somehow distinct from the Republican majority.
A veteran of thirty-six years in the U.S. Senate and eight years in the vice presidency, Biden can’t wrap his head around the fact that the Republican Party of Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush is no more. “Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans,” he insisted, “are MAGA Republicans.”
Recent Posts
Gaza’s Looming Cancer Epidemic
September 4, 2025
Take Action Now The Many Ways Bombs Can KillBy Joshua Frank, Tom Dispatch A week after the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, a large explosion…
It’s Time For Chuck Schumer And Hakeem Jeffries To Step Down
September 4, 2025
Take Action Now We should be funding schools, health care, and education, not $50,000 signing bonuses for ICE agents.By Mehdi Hasan, The Guardian…
Let’s Fund Real Public Safety, Not ICE
September 3, 2025
Take Action Now We should be funding schools, health care, and education, not $50,000 signing bonuses for ICE agents.By Sonali Kolhatkar,…
The DNC’s Dark Money Hypocrisy Was On Full Display In Minneapolis
September 3, 2025
Take Action Now Party leaders decried secret political influence while lobbyists worked the room to kill a Gaza resolutionBy Nadia B. Ahmad…