“We’re one election away from losing the country to people who do not believe in democracy.”

As former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt tells MSNBC's Lawrence
O'Donnell, December 10, 2020 was indeed a "9-11 moment" in U.S. history—a definite before and after moment when 106 republican members of Congress broke with democracy and the vote by the people. By refusing to accept that Biden won the election, they abandoned their own trust and belief in democracy.

The choice is ours as a country. Do we want democracy or do we want autocracy? The 2020 Republican Party Platform suggests as much.

The people did speak in the last election. Through their vote, the people did say they wanted democracy. The thing about democracy, however cherished or manifestly revered, it is still always contingent, negotiated, and fragile. Ominously, Schmidt captures our precariousness as a country in which we find ourselves:

“We’re one election away from losing the country to people who do not believe in democracy.”

Hence, the task of every new generation is to take up the work of rediscovering anew our democratic values, ideals, and institutions not the least of which is the right to vote who will represent us in government.

-Angela Valenzuela