Come hear David Pepper on saving our democracy.

by Diane Proctor

On Wednesday, September 14^th, from 5:00-6:30 pm, The League of Women Voters of Concord-Carlisle is hosting a conversation with David Pepper in the Goodwin Room of Concord’s Main Public Library. Pepper, joining via Zoom, will discuss his remarkable book, Laboratories of Autocracy, A Wakeup Call from Behind the Lines. With colloquial wit and an intimate accounting of political events, Pepper reveals that, while we were sleeping, conservative organizations conjured gerrymander extremes and SCOTUS eviscerated the Voting Rights Act and handed down the Citizen’s United decision — thereby systemically threatening our democracy. 

President Biden echoed Pepper’s concerns during his recent speech in Philadelphia, when he stated that, “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

“Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. But there is no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to this country. MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election. And they’re working right now, as I speak, in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself. MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards — backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country.”

Pepper anticipates this speech in his work and provides responses we can and must undertake.

MAGA Republicans are building toward a future where they can engineer election outcomes. An arch-conservative Supreme Court appears likely to thwart a constitutional challenge to this power grab, taking up a case that would provide state legislatures with complete control over election administration. 

Just as Pepper’s book offers ways to fight against autocracy, President Biden stated that, “while the threat to American democracy is real, I want to say as clearly as we can: We are not powerless in the face of these threats. We are not bystanders in this ongoing attack on democracy.”

Please watch this interview with Adam Kinzinger about how you can help, then come to hear David Pepper’s take on fighting against the forces that wish to sabotage free elections.