Last updated on October 16, 2020
Even at 36 people stricken with COVID so far from contact at the White House, all kinds of people are missing, perhaps quarantined, with a few hospitalized. Perhaps there will be improved contact tracing, despite the attempts to conceal their base incompetence and slavish loyalty to Trump.
Is the White House Covering Up the Fact that Donald Trump Is Patient Zero of the COVID-19 Outbreak?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 9, 2020
Does make one wonder about the drugs used to treat COVID and their personality changes.
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) October 8, 2020
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), who was democratically elected into office in 2011, tweeted Thursday that “democracy isn’t the objective” of the United States. In a flailing attempt to debate the finer points of difference between a constitutional republic and a direct democracy, Lee wrote, “Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prospefity [sic] are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.”
In an earlier tweet, he wrote, “The word ‘democracy’ appears nowhere in the Constitution, perhaps because our form of government is not a democracy. It’s a constitutional republic. To me it matters.” A spokeswoman for his office pointed The Salt Lake Tribune to one of the Federalist Papers as backup for Lee’s thinking.
One tweet that especially created a firestorm on social media was: “Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prosperity are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.”
So, “rank democracy” can thwart liberty, peace and prosperity?
When Lee’s spokesperson, Conn Carroll, was asked if Lee could explain his thinking, Carroll simply pointed to a quote from James Madison in Federalist Papers No. 10, one in a collection of essays written to promote ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
During the debate Wednesday, Lee tweeted often about comments he didn’t like. But several focused on democracy.
“We’re not a democracy,” he tweeted in one.
In another, he said, “The word ‘democracy’ appears nowhere in the Constitution, perhaps because our form of government is not a democracy. It’s a constitutional republic. To me it matters. It should matter to anyone who worries about the excessive accumulation of power in the hands of the few.”
Among them was Steve Schmidt, a Republican political strategist public who worked with President George W. Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain.
He tweeted, “The attainment of liberty, peace and prosperity can only be achieved through democracy. This isn’t an abstract, academic argument that @SenMikeLee is making. It is the authoritarian argument in a nutshell. Astonishing statement from a United States Senator. It would be fun to run against this guy. Someone should think about it.”
— Trinity (@TrinityResists) October 8, 2020
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) October 8, 2020
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 19, 2020
— Duty To Warn 🔉 (@duty2warn) October 9, 2020
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) October 8, 2020
— Democratic Coalition (@TheDemCoalition) October 9, 2020
<
p class=”is-empty-p”>
The Politicus is a collaborative political community that facilitates content creation directly on the site. Our goal is to make the political conversation accessible to everyone.
Any donations we receive will go into writer outreach. That could be advertising on Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit or person-to-person outreach on College campuses. Please help if you can:
