Firing Line: Anne Applebaum & David Frum

David Frum, author, White House Speech Writer, and Anne Applebaum, author, Pulitzer Prize winner, spoke about the decline of democracy in America.

Applebaum spoke about how there is a deep issue that goes beyond polarization in America. A major problem is that the most of the Republican Party has turned against the institutions in America.

She gave the Capital Riots as an example.

“That wasn’t Republicans fighting Democrats, that was a group of people who were fighting the system,” she said.

Not only is it a problem in America, but democratic systems across the world are underdoing severe stress on its systems.

Frum brought up that 2010 was a big year that changed democracy. This year allowed for a big sweep in elections for the Republican Party. This revolves around Republicans using gerrymandering to their favor.

In the early 60s, the Courts policed Gerrymandering; however, they stopped policing them in 2010. The maps and the law favored Republicans, and there were no longer any deterrents that prevented the Republican Party from using gerrymandering.

“A state like Wisconsin – Republicans get 45% of the vote, and take 65% of the seats in the State Legislature,” he said.

Applebaum and Frum also spoke about the issue with the filibuster.

Applebaum said that the Filibuster was not written in the Constitution. Not only that, but when she would explain this to people of other democratic nations, they were confused by it.

One of the biggest issues is that the filibuster makes it almost impossible for bills to be passed in Congress.

Frum added to this by saying that the Filibuster is a fairly new rule that dates back to the 1970s. Through its ruling, it encourages political irresponsibility.

For example, Republicans have tried to remove Obamacare, but they have not provided a solution for it. The reason being is that they felt it was meaningless to draft a bill because they did not have 60 votes to pass it.