What do they want?

“They” in this title refers to leaders in a global movement amassing power for authoritarian governments antipathetic to democracy. Often rooted in religious nationalism - in the U.S., Christian nationalism - many govern according to dictates of a particular brand of the religion.

In today’s post, Heather Cox Richardson (How the South Won the Civil War) describes one ongoing battle in what adherents call “culture wars.” Florida governor Ron DeSantis continues to attack and undermine Disney in what Disney’s lawsuit calls “[a] targeted campaign of government retaliation—orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech— [and] now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights.” Why? Because they support LGBTQ rights.

Here is Richardson’s summary, as a historian, of what’s happening: “The fight between DeSantis and Disney illustrates the dramatic ideological change in the Republican Party in the last two years. No longer committed to keeping the government weak to stay out of the way of business development, the party is now committed to creating a strong government that enforces Christian nationalism.”

Another example of this ideological shift comes from a story about how librarians are threatened by new laws. Washington Post's Hannah Natanson “reports that ‘at least seven states’ in the U.S. have, in the ‘last two years,’ passed laws that ‘permit criminal prosecution of school and library personnel’ for ‘providing sexually explicit, obscene or 'harmful' books to children." And in 22 more states, GOP-led legislatures are considering similar laws. Nathanson reports that “school librarians in Indiana have ‘begun removing books that deal with LGBTQ issues, sex, race and violence’ in order to avoid legal problems.”

Richardson also gives us a more global context for how in the U.S. movement leaders have begun “to champion the system that Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán called ‘illiberal democracy’ or ‘Christian democracy’ in his own country. Orbán argued that the principle of equality in liberal democracy undermines countries by attacking the national culture. Instead, he called for an end to multiculturalism—including immigration—and any lifestyle that is not based on the ‘Christian family model.’ He seized control of universities to make them preach his values. Today’s Republican leaders openly admire Orbán and appear to see themselves as the vanguard of a ‘post-liberal order.’ They believe that the central tenets of democracy—free speech, religious liberty, academic freedom, equality before the law, and the ability of corporations to make decisions based on markets rather than religious values—have destroyed national virtue. Such a loss must be combated by a strong government that enforces religious values.”

TIME TO SPEAK UP - CHALLENGE THE MOVEMENT - PERSUADE PEOPLE OF THE DANGERS OF THIS MOVEMENT.

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What will you do?

Here we go!