Because “conservatism” is anathema to the majority of Americans, “conservatives” cannot get what they want. Of course, this is the fate of the minority under democratic government, which is based on the will of the majority.
But rather than admit the obvious fact that they are in the minority and therefore should not get their way, “conservatives” try to bully others into letting them have their way. They try to govern by blackmail.
Their tactics go beyond traditional legislative maneuvers, using threats of severe consequences to coerce compliance. In the process, they undermine the very foundations of democracy.
Here are some of the tactics—now standard practices for Republicans—that strike at the heart of democracy.
1. Budgetary Extortion: Threatening Government Shutdowns, Foreign Aid, and Milirary Readiness
Government Shutdown Threats
It’s happened so many times that everyone knows this one. “Conservatives” have weaponized the threat of a government shutdown, deliberately using it as a means of coercion. By exploiting the resulting chaos and public inconvenience, they seek to force compliance with their ideological demands, holding the functioning of the government hostage in the process. It always backfires on them, but they keep trying it because it appeals to their thuggish proclivities. Unfortunately, the public now thinks that this kind of bullying is normal in politics, although it never was before Newt Gingrich incorporated it into his crusade against decency in the 1990s.
Withholding Funding for Ukraine and Israel
Foreign aid, a tool meant for diplomacy and humanitarian efforts, is now a pawn in the game of governance by blackmail. Threatening to withhold critical financial support for nations like Ukraine and Israel, as the recently passed two-stage continuing resolution intimates, “conservatives” try to use this leverage to pressure legislators into alignment with their political agendas. The ramifications extend far beyond the halls of Congress, infecting global relationships and strategic alliances.
Refusal to Appoint Military Commanders
The appointment of military commanders, a critical function in ensuring the nation's defense, has become just another bully-boy truncheon in the hands of Tommy Tuberville, America’s stupidest Senator. By refusing to fill key military positions as extortion for his loony religious views about abortion, he undermines the efficiency and preparedness of the armed forces—an act that compromises national security severely. This is blackmail with the highest stakes. He is actively damaging the nation’s military readiness for the sake of a religious fetish that eighty to ninety percent of Americans do not want.
2. Legislative Hostage-Taking: Threatening Essential Legislation
Blocking Key Legislation for “Conservative” Gain
Essential legislation, crafted to address pressing issues and serve the public interest, is also an effective hostage for “conservatives” who govern by blackmail. They deliberately obstruct crucial bills, trying to force the rest of their fellow legislators to capitulate to their ideological obsessions. Holding legislation hostage for concessions, they demand their political agenda, putting their minority interests above the real needs of the American people.
Sabotaging Bipartisan Efforts
Legislation in democracy is the art of compromise. But “conservatives” prefer sabotage, using threats to derail cooperative efforts. The whole clown show surrounding the rise and fall of Keven McCarthy as Speaker of the House was about these threats. Because McCarthy actually made compromises, the fire-breathers in the House Republican caucus took him out. The new Speaker, Mike Johnson, will soon suffer the same fate because Republicans do not have the votes to demand their extreme and unpopular goals. All of this is destructive to democracy, but “conservatives” cannot help themselves because they prefer bullying and coercion to compromise.
Threatening Default on National Debt
The ultimatum of defaulting on the national debt is the gold-standard threat in “conservative” governance by blackmail. By endangering the nation's economic stability, they try force concessions and compliance. The consequences of such a threat extend beyond political maneuvering, impacting the financial well-being of every American. But, of course, Republicans don’t give a hoot for the well-being of the nation as long as they get what they want.
3. Nominations as Leverage: Coercing Ideological Compliance
Blocking Judicial Appointments
The power to confirm judges is another coercive tool in the “conservative” political toolbox. By blocking judicial appointments when they are out of power and rushing them through when they are in power, they have filled the judiciary with ideologues instead of jurists. There is no such thing as “conservative” jurisprudence. There is only justice and injustice. “Conservative” justices with are not justices at all. They put their ideological commitments above justice, trying to make the law say what they want it to say. This tactic not only distorts the legal landscape but also poses undermines the principle of an independent judiciary, since “conservative” justices owe more allegiance to the “conservative” Republican party than to justice itself.
Obstructing Executive Nominations
This strategy with judges is replicated with positions filled by the Executive. Republicans try to block liberal appointees whenever they are not in power and rush “conservative” appointees through when they are in power. When they can’t achieve that end, they use key appointments as bargaining chips for their political obsessions. By delaying or obstructing nominations, they corrupt policy decisions and legislative outcomes. This tactic compromises the effective functioning of government agencies and its ripple effects throughout America.
Undermining Agency Leadership
The appointment of agency heads is essential for the efficient operation of government. As such, these appointments are a prime target for “conservative” governance by blackmail. When “conservatives” are not in power, they try to block the appointment of liberal agency heads. If they cannot, they try to hold up such appointments until liberals are out of power. And when they are in power, they appoint agency heads who are inimical to the agencies they lead. The current head of the Post Office, Louis DeJoy, was appointed by Trump specifically to destroy agency and let it be plundered by private corporations. By threatening to disrupt the functioning of agencies through obstruction, “conservatives” hope to coerce compliance with their demands, or, at the very least, to destroy the public’s trust in those agencies in furtherance of the “conservative” fever dream—no government at all to stop them from exploiting the people.
Government by Blackmail and the Future of Democracy
“Conservative” government by blackmail, like “conservatism” itself, is an existential threat to democracy. Since Newt Gingrich loosed the dogs of political war in the 1990s, the deliberate use of threats and coercion has come to be seen as “normal” political behavior.
It is not. It is “conservative” political behavior. As I have shown in my book Conservative Estimate, “conservatives” are driven by fear to behaviors that are reprehensible—including their attempts to hide their bad character by pretending to be more moral than the rest of us, who are actually much more moral than they are.
Their deliberate use of threats and coercion to attain their political ends undermines the collaborative nature of legislative processes and destroys the healthy functioning of democratic governance.
There may have been a time when we decent Americans could have applied our political voices of disapproval in the normal way to chide Republicans at the ballot box so they would learn that their extremism would not attain their ends.
But that time has passed. It came to an end with the election of Barack Obama in 2008. The white supremacists who comprise the majority of the Republican party, aided by their demagogic billionaire backers in business and the media, became increasingly extreme despite the electoral process. They began to rig and steal elections, prevent their opponents from voting, and change the laws to support their attempts to stop the people from stopping them. Finally, the election of Trump unleashed the last vestiges of conscience and decency that Republicans pretended to value. Now they act precisely like the barbarians they are.
We have only one remaining action to save American democracy from these fearful, irrational, and deranged people. We must do more than chide them at the next election. We must eliminate them from the political equation, take all power from them, and rebuild America in the image of decency, rationality, and equality that the Framers hoped to establish among the nations of the earth.