without which, this would not be possible.
Since Reagan there has been a steady erosion, dismantling protections as the conservatives/oligarchs/white men chose dictatorship over losing. It was so unthinkable, we didn't see it coming.
The failure is possible is due to our constitution's weakest links, it's worst compromises, the 1st 3 staring with the founders:
1. Non-proportional representation in the Senate: With proportional representation, the Senate would be consistently Democratic.
2. The Electoral College: Without the Electoral College, Gore and Hillary would have changed the makeup of SCOTUS. That's without getting into Florida for Gore, and Ohio for Kerry (and electronic voting machine issues before safeguards were put in, vote totals diverging from exit polls....). Dems would have a 7-2 or an 8-1 majority.
3. Rules for appointing Supreme Court Justices that allow the above to abuse the system. For example, if every president got to appoint 2 justices and their terms were for 20 years, McConnell and Trump would not have been able to pack the court for 2 generations, and we'd have SCOTUS to protects us.
4. The fillibuster: creating gridlock and making people discouraged about democracy
5. Gerrymandering: Without Gerrymandering the House would be consistently Democratic.
4 is a racist construction, & 5 is cheating, currently allowed by a corrupt SCOTUS.
When Trump is taken down, his sycophants are politically ruined or in jail for their crimes, and corrupt justices impeached, we'll have a chance to learn from all this and make democracy even better than before. Just as the aftermath of the Civil War brought improvements like the 14th ammendment which would not have been possible in Antebellum America or after the former rebels were returned to Congress.
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