Common Dreams | March on Harrisburg: What Democracy Is All About Common Dreams Determined to pressure politicians to support three pieces of pro-democracy legislation, scores of activists set off from Philadelphia on Saturday on a 100-mile trek to the Pennsylvania state capitol. Called March on Harrisburg, this action grew out of ... |
Go here to see the original:
March on Harrisburg: What Democracy Is All About - Common Dreams
There should be little doubt that the extraordinary days that followed his original testimony -- most notably, almost exactly 24 hours later, President Donald Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey -- began in some measure because of his understated but highly damning testimony.
Now, as he voluntarily makes the media circuit since the firing, Clapper sees the consequences of Trump's actions as so threatening to our democracy that he is not likely to recede soon.
Let's go back to last week; yes, it was only last week. All eyes were on former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates as she testified about what she told the White House regarding former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his potentially compromising ties to foreign governments.
His testimony threw a wrench into a narrative that the White House had long used. According to that narrative, while serving as director of the national intelligence, Clapper said there was no proof of collusion between the White House and Russia. But Clapper admitted last Monday that he was unaware of the ongoing FBI investigation, so he wouldn't have been in a position to know if there had been any evidence of collusion. In other words, the White House could no longer use him as a validator.
He shouldn't have focused on Clapper. Because, of course, that tweet amounted to a lie. Clapper had said something much more nuanced. Clearly, there was something about Clapper's testimony that spooked the White House, and something that required the President to reclaim Clapper as a defender.
I suspect there are very few things that would have brought Clapper back to the media, including a sit down with Jake Tapper on "State of the Union," but the President telling tales about him may be one of them.
And he is again, as he did as a long-serving intelligence operative, defending America. He is on the news circuit, speaking of his concern about how the institutions of our governance are being undermined and assaulted. There is a stress on our checks and balances that has seen no equivalent in our democracy, he warned. America is under threat "externally and internally," Clapper noted. "Internally from the President?" Tapper asked. "Exactly," Clapper replied.
It is that assault on our norms, processes and constitutional order that make the week we just had so historic. How extraordinary? Clapper began that week testifying the enemy was Russia. He ended it, unwittingly it seemed, by telling us that the enemy was also within.
See the original post here:
James Clapper: Defending democracy from Trump - CNN
Forbes | China Will Suppress Terrorism, Diversity, And Democracy In Pakistan: Leaked Document Forbes The document poses diversity and multi-party democracy as problems, which raises questions about the extent to which the international community should allow autocratic China's use of $1 trillion in upcoming investment to push its diplomatic and ... |
Continued here:
China Will Suppress Terrorism, Diversity, And Democracy In Pakistan: Leaked Document - Forbes
Brian Klaas, Opinion contributor 3:16 a.m. ET May 15, 2017
Protest in Lynchburg, Va., on May 13, 2017.(Photo: Lathan Goumas, News & Daily Advance, via AP)
In 2014, Turkeys authoritarian president fired four prosecutors who were leading an investigation into an alleged corruption scandal involving the president himself. The interference was blatant. The intent was clear. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wanted the corruption scandal to disappear. It was technically within his authority, but there was widespread outcry that the rule of law was under attack. In response, Erdogan claimedhe was the victim of a widespread conspiracy by his political rivals. Then, he threatened his opponents.
And he got away with it.
It's hard not to see parallels with PresidentTrumps decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey. In ousting the man leadingthe FBI investigation into Trump team ties and possiblecollusion with Russia,Trump behaved like a strongman. The only open question is whether the democratic institutions of the United States will fight back in a way they were unable to in Turkey.
There is reason to be hopeful. American democracy has robust institutions and the framers designed resilient checks and balances. The Constitution provides an ingenious model that has survived every threat for 230 years. Any would-be despot or demagogue faces long odds against it.
Yet Trumpis deeply damaging American democracy as he tests its limits. That damage will last well beyond his time in office and will be extremely difficult to repair. As with sand castles, its far easier to destroy democracy than to build it. Trumps abuses of power and his administrations assault on the truth are the latest waves of attack.
Trump cheerleads for the torturers: Brian Klaas
Trump lying about Comey firing isn't new
If lying were an Olympic sport, the White House would have won gold, silver and bronze this week. They tried to convince the American people that Trump acted for noble reasons, unrelated to the Russia investigation. Vice President Pence, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and of course the Usain Bolt of Alternative Facts herself, Kellyanne Conway, all deceived the American people. They aimed to show that there was no conflict of interest, no authoritarian effort to undermine an active and ongoing investigation into the Trump team.
They failed, because it was a lie. And the person who unmasked the lie was none other than Trump. In saying he was thinking about "this Russia thing"when he removed Comey, Trump fired the smoking gun while we all watched on national television. It was like the lawyer giving his closing arguments only to have the defendant stand up and say Actually, I did it. And when youre a star, they let you do it.
A day later, Trump took to Twitter for an early morning meltdown.Two authoritarian outbursts stood out.
First, Trump floated the idea of no longer holding press briefings. That would be a tremendous attack on the principle of open and transparent government that is at the heart of democracy. Consent of the governed is impossible if the White House wont tell them what they are doing. That has already happened with the obscuring of White House visitor logs, but the end of press briefings would be catastrophically opaque.Second, Trump openly threatened the FBI director he had just fired. This amounts to witness intimidation, as Comey is likely to be called on to testify during the ongoing investigations.
POLICING THE USA:Alook atrace, justice, media
Trump fired Comey like it's a gangster movie
We must accept a deeply shocking and unfortunate truth: the president of the United States is a man who not onlyadmiresdespots, but mimics them. He aspires to their strength.He loathesconstraints placed upon him by democratic institutions like the press (enemy of the people); Congress (obstructionists!); and the courts (so-called" judgesthat he blamed for any future terror attack). Those constraints deter his worst authoritarian impulses. Thats why they are under constant attack from Trumps White House.
In the past, democracies used to die with a bang a coup dtat, a waror a revolution. Now, more democracies are dying slow deaths. In places like Hungary or the Philippines, they wither, as a power-hungry president gets away with one authoritarian abuse after another. Opposition gets bullied into submission. The goalposts of what is deemed acceptable within the democracy shift. Previously unthinkable transgressions become routine (sound familiar?). And over time, democracy hollows out to just a shell of its former self as it did in Erdogans Turkey.
The response to Comeys firing is a crucial moment for American democracy. If Trump gets away with it free from serious consequences, as Erdogan did, then it will encourage further authoritarian abuses. Just as worrisome, it will also chill future opposition to Trump, as he successfully sends the message that anyone who challenges him will be fired. Rule of law will weaken. The beacon of American democracy will dim even further.
That is, unless citizens stand up for democracy, stand against authoritarian abuses of power, and insist that their elected officials do the same.
Brian Klaas is a fellow in comparative politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science and author ofThe Despot's Accomplice: How the West is Aiding and Abetting the Decline of Democracy. Follow him on Twitter@brianklaas.
You can readdiverse opinions from ourBoard of Contributorsand other writers ontheOpinion front page,on Twitter@USATOpinionand in our dailyOpinion newsletter.To submit a letter, comment or column, check oursubmission guidelines.
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2rgm5fJ
See the rest here:
Can American democracy survive Donald Trump? - USA TODAY
Editors note: This commentary is by Laura Mistretta, a member of Rights & Democracy. She is an active leader on its Jobs, Justice and Climate campaign, which promotes energy democracy. She lives in Burlington.
However, the time has arrived for us to bring more Vermonters to the table we need to come up with solutions that meet our renewable energy goals, the needs of our communities and our planet. We must work to truly empower citizens to make decisions about energy sources and how the benefits are distributed. This isnt a call to allow towns veto power over specific projects, this is a call to fundamentally change our energy system and forge ahead with an approach that breaks us out of our polarized camps that focus solely on siting or technology when it comes to any project or policy.
So, how can we do this?
Currently, Rights & Democracy is launching a campaign calling for a new energy system, one that will disrupt the status quo of how we produce, own and use energy by putting the power in the hands of the people. We believe its time for Vermont to move towards energy democracy an open, democratic approach to determining our future, and creating sustainable, livable communities that empower people to have a stake in their energy.
So, what is energy democracy? What does it look like? What are its goals? Put simply: Its an energy system that is low carbon and local as well as ecological and equitable and abides by some straightforward principles:
Allow for diverse voices to make key decisions for Vermonts renewable energy future, not just utilities, lobbyists, and regulator.
Improve access not only to renewable power, but also to the ability to own it, with a goal of 75 percent of energy used in the state being owned locally and/or by communities or cooperatives No renewable energy source should be off the table for a community to evaluate Lower the financial barriers to participating in renewable energy investments and ownership so that all Vermonters regardless of income or property ownership status has a stake in the transition Keep the benefits of renewable energy generation local, including renewable energy credits Guarantee that no family has to spend more than 5 percent of their income paying for energy.
We must work to truly empower citizens to make decisions about energy sources and how the benefits are distributed.
Based on my experience I feel that not only is it possible for Vermont to adopt these principles, it may very well be necessary. In 2015, I was working as an organizer for the Energy Independent Vermont campaign to put a price on carbon pollution. I spent my days meeting with activists from the Northeast Kingdom to Windham County to discuss our transition away from fossil fuels and towards energy independence.
In face-to-face conversations with these folks, I quickly learned that although most Vermonters support transitioning away from fossil fuels, there is a large spectrum of opinions on how we get there. And these opinions when fanned, are dividing communities, pitting neighbor against neighbor, and at time, slowing down or halting renewable energy projects.
More than that, during the 2016 campaign, disagreements over how our transition to renewable energy is happening led some longtime environmental activists and progressives to support Republican Gov. Phil Scott. This may come as a shock since Scott is clearly no champion for environmental, economic or social justice issues and could seriously undermine years of momentum to transition to a clean future in Vermont.
Instead, we have seen organizations and activists who should be united under the common goal effectively turn on each other when there are much larger and systemic issues of climate change to be working on.
I know beyond a doubt that we need to take bold action to ditch fossil fuels and generate our power from clean, renewable and sustainable sources, and we need to act in unity to ensure those benefits are felt by all Vermonters.
Vermont deserves energy policies that put the future of Vermonts power in the hands of the people, not politicians and corporations, whose interests arent rooted in freeing our communities from the grip of out-of-state, multinational power companies.
Its time to bring the power to the people, and keep it there.
View original post here:
Laura Mistretta: Energy democracy for Vermont - vtdigger.org