Former Ohio Democratic Party Chairman and author of the book “Saving Democracy” David Pepper told about 70 people that the battle to save democracy starts where they are — “on the local level” — and that running for all elected offices is important.
Pepper spoke on April 23 at the Athena Cinema. The Athens County Democratic Party sponsored the event, which also included speeches by Ohio Supreme Court Justices Melody Stewart and Micheal Donnelly, who are running for re-election, and a meet-and-greet session with Democratic Party board members and elected officials.
Political Battleground
The Republicans and Democrats are fighting different battles he noted.
Democrats have overconfidence that America’s democracy is here to stay.
“We have been taking democracy for granted,” Pepper said. “... The second assumption we have brought to our battle has been an assumption, a correct one, that almost every part of the agenda that we advocate for in politics is actually popular — it’s mainstream. And that’s actually true. The other side wants it to seem like we’re some kind of extreme leftists and all that. You take almost every issue that we advocate for, and you look at the polling, it turns out we are with the American people on almost every single issue.”
The Democrats’ political battle is to win elections at the federal level.
“Because we’re smart, we quickly figured out, well you only need to win six or seven states to win the federal majorities,” Pepper said. “You only to win the five or six or seven to win the Senate. Certain swing states win the presidency. Certain swing states, certain house districts fight that battle every two years and especially every fourth year.”
Every two years, the Democratic Party starts over, focusing on the next round of swing states. Then they celebrate.
“Those celebrations were wonderful, until you realize what I described is not the other side’s battle,” Pepper said. “We were celebrating prematurely.”
Pepper said Republicans have the exact two opposite assumptions than Democrats.
“First, they know full well that this sort of naive view we’ve had of democracy is not true. They know that that’s not our history. How do you think we got Jim Crow after Reconstruction? That’s not world history. ... They know that certain institutions can undermine democracy. It happens all the time.”
The second assumption Republicans have is that they know their views are generally very unpopular, “toxic in many cases.”
“Watch them after Dobbs. Lindsey Graham (US Senator, R-South Carolina) wanted a national abortion ban in the Senate where it went absolutely nowhere. Mitch McConnell (US Senator/Majority Leader, R-Kentucky) didn’t want to touch it because he knew that’d be a loser,” Pepper said. “When Rick Scott (US Senator, R-South Carolina) brought a Social Security-cutting plan to Mitch McConnell, what did McConnell say? Don’t you dare bring that up. Let’s put that in the drawer. … If elections turn into a referendum on their views, the smart ones — at least the Koch brothers and Mitch McConnell — they know that they are guaranteed to lose, if their views are essentially voted on in a fair election.”
While some people may change their views to appeal to the masses, Republicans don’t want to do that.
“Their battle plan is about democracy itself. But it’s more subtle than just attacking democracy. ... It’s, ‘How do you subvert democracy enough to lock in a minority worldview?’ … That’s their battle,” Pepper said.
Power of State House
The best way to push their agenda nationally is through the state houses throughout the United States. Pepper noted that they even have groups that form legislation and bring it from one state to the next in hopes of having it passed.
“Why state houses? ... Every single issue that we care about happens in a state house,” Pepper said. “It more directly impacts our lives than almost anything that comes through Congress.”
Accountability
When candidates run unopposed, they are allowed to be extreme and are able to rise to power unchecked, Pepper said.
He gave the example of current US House speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana. In Louisiana, 82% of the races in which 22 Republicans were recently elected were uncontested.
He noted in Johnson’s first race, for a state house seat, his primary election was uncontested as was his general election. His re-election was uncontested.
“Then he runs for Congress three times. Each (election) was like a 35% or 40% blowout. His next congressional race was uncontested,” Pepper said. “And then he speaker of the house. Taylor (Sappington), me and you, we’ve been in more democracy than the speaker of the house. That’s America right now, when they’ve rigged these laboratories of autocracy, it’s not a democracy in these states.”
When there is no accountability, there is no incentive to do good public service. Elected officials also don’t have to make decisions that reflect the views of their constituency.
“You can do bad things again and again and doesn’t matter because you don’t even face an election,” Pepper said. “... Fifteen years ago, at the end of Ted Strickland’s term (as governor), we were the fifth highest state in the nation in the quality of our public schools. We’re now in the mid-20s because of all the crazy giveaways and experiments and scams. And they keep doing all the things that (made Ohio education go) from 5 to 26 because they can’t be held accountable. … When there’s no accountability, you guarantee extremism.”
Fighting Extremism
To combat extremism, people must fight a long battle, not just every few years.
“Democrats for too long have basically decided as a group, well if you can’t get us a US Senate seat, we’re just not gonna show up,” Pepper said. “Look at the result. ... (In) multiple dozens of states, millions of people are living in a non-democracy. ... Until very recently Democrats would say, ‘Well that’s okay because we’re not gonna get a federal seat out of your state. That’s horrible. It’s also self-defeating because if you are not in the argument in that state, the only people left are extremists run against each other.”
Democrats must run in all 50 states.
“Once we see that we’re battling for democracy, we don’t want your opponents to ever again be an uncontested race,” Pepper said. “And the harder the district, the more courage and the more patriotism you are showing by running. We have to spread that value or people aren’t going to run. So in every way possible, we have to start showing that we value people running in rural Ohio, in rural America and in tough districts.”
Pepper noted that voter suppression and gerrymandering didn’t start with Donald Trump. He said that if you look at the battle for democracy correctly, you’ll see elected officials who do more damage to democracy than Trump all around the country. Pepper noted the best example of a person like this is current Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
“He didn’t act like it, but lately he’s been more Trumpy,” he said. “That guy has done far more damage to Ohio’s democracy than Donald Trump has. But when we make it only about Trump ... we almost signal to voters: Well if you’re not that much like Trump, you’re probably okay. We have to make it about democracy itself. Are you on the right team or aren’t you? That’s what we have to do.”
Pepper suggested people try to build multi-party coalitions to create victories. “It’s not just Trump versus Biden, it’s literally democracy or not.”
Pepper noted that helping democracy isn’t just about running for office. He said that people need to get more people registered to vote. He also suggested that political parties rely less on people to register voters, but rather find a way to make it part of the business, organization and institution.
“Every university in college in this state should not be relying only on students to do the work,” he said. “The institution itself should say, ‘Oh, you’re registered to the classes here, but you also could register to vote.’ ‘You get your student ID here. Well, here’s how you get an ID to vote.’ We need to bring into all the things we do, that have some scale of interaction, the pro-democracy effort.”
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