The Day Fascism Came to Tennessee — And Why the GOP Won’t Stop There

The GOP’s Now Openly Authoritarian — And It’s Doubling Down on Destroying Democracy From Within

Image Credit: Seth Herald

By now, you can’t fail to have heard what happened in Tennessee. The story goes like this. There was a massacre at a school, in which kids were shot and killed. Democratic members of the House of Representatives protested for gun control — after hearing Republicans, for example, shrugging, and literally saying things like “we’re not going to solve the problem.” And in response? The Republicans, who control the House…expelled two of them. Expelled them.

A firestorm erupted, and rightly so. Hear the words of Justin Jones himself, one of the expelled members. “This is a historic day for Tennessee, but it marks a very dark day for Tennessee because it will signal to the nation that there is no democracy in this state,” Jones said during the debate before he was expelled. “It will signal to the nation that if it can happen here in Tennessee, it’s coming to your state next. And that is why the nation is watching us, what we do here.”

He’s exactly right. And on top of all this lay the ugly tinge of bigotry and hate. The two members expelled were young black men. Tennessee’s famously the birthplace of the KKK. The one member who wasn’t expelled was a white lady. Jones — in words that echo through history — compared this to a lynching. Not of him and Justin Pearson — but of democracy.

What does all this mean? How bad is it? It’s very, very bad.

Let me put for you formally what just happened here. The GOP is now beginning to use a new tactic — one that’s classically fascist. A putsch. What’s a putsch? It’s when you…purge your opponents. Just dispense of them. Because that is how little you value democracy. Opposition isn’t something to be heard, bargained with, negotiated with — it’s there to be annihilated. This is what the Tennessee GOP did.

If that sounds harsh, let me put it in context for you. What was the issue — putatively, anyways — at hand here? Gun control. 70% of Americans, higher by some counts, support gun control. Americans are sick of their kids dying at school. Being traumatized by “active shooter drills.” Very, very few think arming teachers or absurdities like bulletproof backpacks are solutions. The GOP, as we all know, is firmly in the pocket of gun nuts and the NRA. And so it’s not willing to even consider this issue in any democratic way. Hence — protest guns after a massacre — and you get putsched. That is the stark reality of what happened here.

But it’s only really the beginning of that stark reality. What just happened, in a technical sense? Well, about 150,000 people in Tennessee now find themselves without…democratic representation. In a very real way, democracy has ceased to function. If I can take away your representatives, what have I really taken away from you? The Mother of Rights, which is self-governance, self-determination, access to and control over the rule of law. If I can take away your representation — just like that — then the rights born of the Mother of Rights, basic freedoms like expression, movement, association, privacy — they can hardly be attained, protected, defended, guaranteed. In a very real, democracy ceased to function in Tennessee.

That is a major, major deal. For many years now, since the dawn of the Trump era, really, America’s been downgraded to a “flawed democracy” by political scientists. That means, basically, that one side has been relentlessly attacking it. But Tennessee begins to show us where all this ends. Democracy isn’t just flawed — it’s over.

Now, Tennessee isn’t totally, irreversibly there yet. The expelled members will be reinstated by various means. But that is almost besides the point, because, well, think about what Justin Jones said above. What he warned of. The GOP has now learned about a new tactic — or at least is willing to use a very old one. The putsch. They’re going to employ this tactic in state after state. And what happens when they do?

Let me put that in context. This is a coup by any other name. It might seem like that’s an overstatement to some, but it’s not. In the classic sense of political science, it’s a grim fact. If a party can simply…remove…its opponents…then in what sense is democracy left to function? If that party is led by demagogues to begin with…in what sense does democracy work? The textbook line into authoritarianism is crossed here.

That line is the beginning of a very, very slippery slope. One of history’s slipperiest. What is removing your opponents usually followed by? Sham trials. Political persecutions. Kangaroo courts. Political sentences. Then the circle expands outwards, from your formal political opponents, to all kinds of opponents. Critics, like intellectuals and journalists. Artists, novelists, writers, musicians. And it ends with everyday people not being able to voice dissent, at basic levels — forget exercising the right to peaceful protest, just saying the wrong thing when there’s a Gestapo around can land you in a world of trouble.

This slippery slope isn’t the road to fascism. It is fascism. If you doubt me, let’s do a little more context. Idaho just passed the first “interstate restrictions” on women’s healthcare. What does that mean, in practice? Border checks? If you try to enter and leave this state with a woman in the car, are they going to search your communications, devices, try to guess your intent? And who’s “they,” anyways? Losses of rights like that necessitate the creation of shadow institutions, which have to police people for not exercising the rights they’ve now lost, and punish them when they try to. And to connect the dots, meanwhile, authoritarians in bodies which were once democratic are taking those rights away.

Make no mistake — that’s what happened here. The Tennessee Three, and Jones and Pearson in particular, were denied the the most basic right of all: expression. Of course we can all speak our minds. If we’re members of democratically elected bodies, yes, we can protest. Sure, we can even stop those bodies and demand their attention, when there are terrible tragedies like massacres happening. In fact, that’s our duty. When a massacre happens — a democratic body shouldn’t pretend like it’s business as usual. Because of course all those dead people don’t have rights anymore, do they?