Democrats bogus claims of 'Democracy under attack'

David Catron:

It has now become all but impossible on any given day to find a major media news outlet that doesn’t feature at least one apocalyptic opinion piece warning us that democracy is under attack by the diabolical Republican Party and its sinister leader Donald Trump. This kind of nonsense was once limited to nutty internet forums and social media sites. Then it metastasized to cable news channels. Now it is a staple of “serious journalism” in publications like the New York Times and the leading broadcast networks. This hysteria is not only unfettered from any genuine threat posed by the GOP or anyone else but is itself eminently dangerous to our system of representative democracy.

Perversely, the alarmism has only intensified since the Democrats took control of the White House and the Senate. The following headline from a recent Washington Post column is typically absurd: “Republicans are not in disarray. They’re united in their attack on democracy.” Its author, Paul Waldman, recites the usual catechism involving voter suppression and usurpation of state election administration by GOP legislators. He then declares the party and its “deluded base” illegitimate: “Where are the Republicans who object to this wide-ranging assault on democracy? There aren’t any.” Thomas Edsall echoes Waldman from the amen corner at the New York Times:

Republicans are enacting or trying to enact laws restricting the right to vote, empowering legislatures to reject election outcomes and adopting election rules and procedures designed to block the emergence of multiracial political majorities.… The precipitating event driving the current surge of regressive voting legislation in Republican-controlled states is Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020 and the widespread acceptance on the right of Trump’s subsequent claim that the presidency was stolen from him.

Like so many partisan journalists who wish to delegitimize Republican-led election reforms, Edsall and Waldman have conveniently forgotten that the Constitution explicitly endows state legislatures with the power to make or revise election law. Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 is unambiguous: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.” What these stout defenders of democracy in the media are really upset about is Republican electoral success in the states. Including the GOP’s recent gains in the 2020 election, the Republicans now control 30 state legislatures, while the Democrats control only 18.

Republicans are simply better at democracy at the state level, where it really counts. Yet even the taxpayer-funded Public Broadcasting System rejects this obvious reality in favor of ridiculous conspiracy theories. The PBS News Hour recently featured a story on its website titled “Some fear Republicans’ post-Trump actions are eroding democracy.” This irresponsible piece of yellow journalism cites such things as the Arizona Senate’s audit of Maricopa County’s election data, Georgia’s new election integrity statute, a stalled election bill in Texas, and the Jan. 6 “insurrection” as evidence of a coordinated nationwide Republican scheme to undermine traditional democratic conventions....
...

There is more.

 I do not buy the arguments of the Democrats.  There is nothing in the state laws being questioned that suppresses the vote at all.  Legitimate votes can always be cast at the precinct level as they always have been.  I have been voting for over 50 years and have never seen voter suppression.  Now when you vote you show your voter registration card and your photo ID and they hand you a ballot. If you don't have one of those things you get a provisional ballot.  But there is really no reason not to have either of those.  They cost nothing and ID cards are used routinely by everyone for some everyday transactions.  The argument that blacks are incapable of getting an ID is racist and absurd on its face.