Democracy is on the ballot

American voters must vote in the 2022 midterms against the political extremism of today’s Republican Party.

A poster is seen urging people to vote, Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, in Philadelphia. (Photo/ Irv Randolph)

American voters who oppose the division and demagoguery of former President Donald Trump should vote in the Nov. 8 midterm election against his loyalists who are running in races for congress, governor and in state legislatures across the country.

Trump-endorsed candidates who are aligned with his MAGA extremist policies are running in races throughout the United States.

A vote for these Trump loyalists will empower those who seek to exploit rising crime and inflation to gain political power. 

Voters should not be fooled. 

Inflation and rising crime are serious issues that need to be addressed but Trump loyalists who are running for congress, governor and state legislatures have no real plans to deal with these issues. 

Republicans oppose making police more accountable when they use excessive force and support laws that make voting more difficult, prohibit access to abortion and some key leaders have publicly threatened to cut social spending including Social Security and Medicare.

Voters must reject candidates who still deny that Trump was defeated by Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Some of these Republican candidates even played an active role in the violent attempt by Trump and his allies to undermine American democracy on Jan. 6, 2021.

American voters should choose criminal justice reform and public safety, voting rights protection, a woman’s right to choose access to an abortion and the expansion of affordable and accessible healthcare. 

In September, President Joe Biden warned during a primetime address at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, that "equality and democracy are under assault" in the U.S. as he sounded an alarm about Trump, and "MAGA Republican" adherents, accurately labeling them an extremist threat to the nation and its future.

Biden was right to reframe midterm elections as part of a battle for the nation's soul — "the work of my presidency," 

He added: "Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic," Biden declared. 

"MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards," Biden is saying, according to prepared remarks released by the White House. "Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love."

"For a long time, we've reassured ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed. But it is not," Biden says. "We have to defend it. Protect it. Stand up for it. Each and every one of us."

The Democrats are far from perfect. They need to move to the sensible center on reducing crime and improving border security. They need a better plan to reduce inflation. 

But today’s Republican Party is far worse. 

The Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the reaction to that violent attack was a turning point. It showed that with few exceptions leaders in the Republican Party have embraced or tolerated violence to overturn an election.  

Voters are not simply choosing a governor, senator or state legislator in Tuesday’s election.  Democracy is on the ballot. 

Irv Randolph is the managing editor of the Philadelphia Tribune, the nation’s oldest continuously published African American newspaper in the nation and co-founder of The Randolph Report, a newsletter on politics, culture and career and professional news relevant to Black Americans.