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Abstract
A majority of Americans agree that our democracy is at risk, but they disagree about the location of these threats. This article examines how debates about who constitutes the “we the people” seeded a politics of resentment that raised the saliency of the many antidemocratic tendencies and institutional features of the American political system. As the American electorate becomes more diverse, questions about whose voices, histories and votes should count have become increasingly fraught, and Donald Trump’s presidency exacerbated these tensions. The growing political divide and the public’s increased awareness of and attention to the anti-democratic features of our political system are pushing us closer to a political precipice as a minority of Americans seek to maximize their power at the expense of an increasingly frustrated majority. This is problematic in a democracy where confidence in the system requires individuals to believe that their participation matters and counts.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Domenico Montanaro, “Eight Out of Ten Americans Believe the US Faces a Threat to Democracy,” NPR, December 15, 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/12/15/1143191937/eight-out-of-10-americans-believe-the-u-s-faces-a-threat-to-democracy.
2 The American Presidency Project, “Presidential Election Margin of Victory,” https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/presidential-election-mandates.
3 Federalist 10.
4 Nicholas Jones, Rachel Marks, Roberto Ramirez, and Merarys Rios-Vargas, “2020 Census Illuminates Racial and Ethnic Composition of the Country,” United State Census Bureau, August 12, 2021, https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/improved-race-ethnicity-measures-reveal-united-states-population-much-more-multiracial.html.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 William H. Frey, “The Nation is Diversifying Even Faster Than Predicted, According to New Census Data,” The Brooking Institute, July 1, 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/research/new-census-data-shows-the-nation-is-diversifying-even-faster-than-predicted/.
10 Pew Research Center, “How US Religious Composition has Changed in Recent Decades,” September 13, 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/09/13/how-u-s-religious-composition-has-changed-in-recent-decades/.
11 Ibid.
12 Pew Research Center, “Modeling the Future of Religion in America,” September 13, 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/09/13/modeling-the-future-of-religion-in-america/.
13 Pew Research Center, “The Generation Gap in American Politics,” March 1, 2018, https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/03/01/the-generation-gap-in-american-politics/.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Pew Research Center, “The Partisan Divide on Political Values Grows Even Wider: Homosexuality, Religion and Gender,” October 5, 2017, https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2017/10/05/5-homosexuality-gender-and-religion/.
19 Pew Research Center, “Public Opinion on Abortion,” May 17, 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/fact-sheet/public-opinion-on-abortion/.
20 Charles W. Mills, The Racial Contract (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997), 30.
21 Courtenay W. Daum, “White Complicity,” New Political Science 42, no. 3 (2020): 443–449.
22 Kim Eckart, “New Nationwide Survey Shows MAGA Supporters’ Beliefs About the Pandemic, the Election, and the Insurrection,” UW News (February 5, 2021), https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/02/05/new-nationwide-survey-shows-maga-supporters-beliefs-about-the-pandemic-the-election-and-the-insurrection/.
23 Ibid.
24 See, e.g., Sweatt v. Painter (339 U.S. 629), Brown v. Board of Education (347 US 483), Reed v. Reed (404 US 71), Frontiero v. Richardson (411 U.S. 677), Roe v. Wade (410 US 113), Romer v. Evans (517 US 620), Obergefell v. Hodges (576 US 644).
25 Jeffrey Dudas, “In the Name of Equal Rights: ‘Special’ Rights and the Politics of Resentment in the Post-Civil Rights America,” Law and Society Review 29, no. 4 (2005): 723–757; Jeffrey Dudas, The Cultivation of Resentment: Treaty Rights and the New Right (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008).
26 Katie Rogers, “The Painful Roots of Trump’s ‘Go Back’ Comment,” The New York Times, July 16, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/politics/aoc-trump-tlaib-omar-pressley.html.
27 Justice Gorsuch was confirmed to fill the seat that Senate Republicans left vacant because they refused to confirm President Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland. Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation was nearly derailed by allegations that he sexually assaulted a peer in high school as well as other suggestions of sexual improprieties. Justice Barrett was confirmed in an expedited manner in order to guarantee that President Trump’s nominee would be locked in prior to the 2020 presidential election.
28 Susan B. Glasser, “Here are Twenty Other Awful, Disturbing Things that Trump has Said This Month, and It’s Not Over Yet,” The New Yorker, September 24, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/here-are-twenty-other-disturbing-awful-things-that-trump-has-said-this-month-and-its-not-over-yet
29 Ed Kilgore, “Trump’s Long Campaign to Steal the Presidency: A Timeline,” The Intelligencer, July 14, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-campaign-steal-presidency-timeline.html.
30 Ibid.
31 Eckart, “New Nationwide Survey.”
32 Alison Durkee, “Republicans Increasingly Realize That There’s No Evidence of Election Fraud—But Most Still Think 2020 Election Was Stolen Anyway, Poll Finds,” Forbes, March 14, 2023, https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/03/14/republicans-increasingly-realize-theres-no-evidence-of-election-fraud-but-most-still-think-2020-election-was-stolen-anyway-poll-finds/?sh=21738ffb28ec.
33 Ibid.
34 Kelly Garrity, “Republicans Slam DeSantis for Calling War in Ukraine a ‘Territorial Dispute,’” Politico, March 19, 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/19/desantis-republicans-ukraine-sununu-00087762.
35 Chris Cillizza, “Why 2024 is Going to be *Way* Worse than 2020,” CNN.com, November 2, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/02/politics/2024-election-election-fraud-trump/index.html.
36 Jonathan Swan and Catie Edmonson, “How Kevin McCarthy Forged an Ironclad Bond with Marjorie Taylor Greene,” The New York Times, January 24, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/23/us/politics/kevin-mccarthy-marjorie-taylor-greene.html.
37 Sarah Mervosh, “Florida Re-edits a new subject: Social Studies,” The New York Times, March 17, 2023, A11.
38 Erica Pauda, “Llano County to Discuss Future of Public Library in Special Meeting,” KXAN.com, April 10, 2023, https://www.kxan.com/llano-county/llano-county-to-discuss-future-of-public-library-in-special-meeting/.
39 Office of Governor Ron DeSantis, “Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Legislation to Protect Floridians from Discrimination and Woke Indoctrination,” Press Release, April 22, 2022, https://www.flgov.com/2022/04/22/governor-ron-desantis-signs-legislation-to-protect-floridians-from-discrimination-and-woke-indoctrination/
40 Pew Research Center, “The Partisan Divide on Political Values Grows Even Wider: Race, Immigration and Discrimination,” October 5, 2017, https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2017/10/05/4-race-immigration-and-discrimination/#shifting-racial-attitudes
41 Ibid.
42 Greg Allen, “Florida Bill Bans Businesses and Schools from Making Anyone Feel Guilty about Race,” NPR.org, February 8, 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/02/08/1079112803/fla-bill-bans-businesses-and-schools-from-making-anyone-feel-guilt-about-race.
43 The Learning Network, “What’s Going on in this Graph? Senate Representation by State,” The New York Times, October 27, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/27/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-graph-nov-9-2022.html.
44 Ibid.
45 Ibid.
46 Ibid.
47 Pew Research Center, “Public Opinion on Abortion,” May 17, 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/fact-sheet/public-opinion-on-abortion/.
48 The New York Times, “Tracking the States Where Abortion is Now Banned,” April 10, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/us/abortion-laws-roe-v-wade.html.
49 Pam Belluck, “Two Federal Judges Issued Opposing Rulings on Abortion Pills. Here’s What’s Going On.” The New York Times, April 8, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/08/health/mifepristone-abortion-pills-ruling-judges.html.
50 Jeffrey M. Jones, “Supreme Court Trust, Job Approval at Historic Lows,” Gallup, September 29, 2022, https://news.gallup.com/poll/402044/supreme-court-trust-job-approval-historical-lows.aspx.
51 Ibid.
52 Shawn Johnson, “For the First Time in 15 Years, Liberals Win Control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court,” NPR.org, April 4, 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/04/04/1167815077/wisconsin-supreme-court-election-results-abortion-voting-protasiewicz-kelly.
53 Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, “Half of Youth Voted in 2020, An 11 Point Increaes from 2016,” April 29, 2021, https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/half-youth-voted-2020-11-point-increase-2016.
54 Ashley Lopez, “Turnout Among Young Voters Was the Second Highest for a Midterm in the Past Thirty Years,” NPR.org, November 10, 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/11/10/1135810302/turnout-among-young-voters-was-the-second-highest-for-a-midterm-in-past-30-years.