The world is about a month away from the start of the 2021 Olympics. The games were postponed for a year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, but are now set to begin in Tokyo on July 23. The Tokyo Games will span 17 days and have 339 events across 33 sports.
While the Olympics can be traced back to 776 B.C. in ancient Greece, the first modern games were held in 1896. Like the original Olympics, the 1896 games were held in Greece. The games featured 13 countries competing in nine sports, including cycling, fencing, gymnastics, lawn tennis, shooting, swimming, track and field, weight lifting, and wrestling.
Following the success of the revived Olympics, games have been held almost every four years in a different location. Since 1896, the Olympics have only been cancelled three times - in 1916, 1940 and 1944 - due to the two World Wars.
The modern Olympics were conceived around the notion that sports have the power to bring people together in the spirit of friendship and respect. This principle was codified in the Olympic Charter which specifies that, “The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.” At the Olympics, everyone is supposed to be treated equally, irrespective of their gender, race, social status or beliefs.
Perhaps contrary to the goals of the Olympic Charter, the games have helped promote nationalism around the globe. Infamously, Nazi Germany used the 1936 games in Berlin to propagandize their cause. The Nazis promoted the image of a strong, unified Germany, while hiding their attacks on the Jews and Roma (Gypsies). 49 nations, including the United States, participated in the games and helped legitimize Hitler in Germany and around the world. German spectators engaged in Nazi salutes and chanted "Sieg Heil" in the arenas.
When the games concluded, the fears that many had about Adolf Hitler's rise to power were quelled. Germany won the most medals, despite excluding Jews from their team, and spectators praised German hospitality and the organization of the games. The New York Times reported that the games put Germany "back in the fold of nations," and made them "more human again."
Within just three years of the 1936 Olympic Games concluding in Berlin, the Nazis invaded Poland and unleashed World War II. The Nazi regime would go on to kill around 18 million people, including 6 million Jews in the Holocaust and 7 million Soviet civilians.
Despite the 1936 Olympics likely contributing to Nazi nationalism and the atrocities of the Holocaust, the patriotism generated by the Olympics is not always bad. Every two years, for around 3 weeks, Americans seemingly forget about their differences and come together, from coast to coast, to cheer on Team USA.
In 2002, the Salt Lake City Olympics averaged a total of 31.9 million viewers in the U.S. and in 2010, the Vancouver Olympics averaged 24.4 million viewers. Most recently, even in an era of declining TV ratings, some 19.8 million Americans watched the primetime coverage of the 2018 Olympics in South Korea. For perspective, essentially only the Super Bowl and NFC Championship had higher viewership than the Olympics in the 2018 television season. Past being prologue, in March of this year, 61% of U.S. adults said they expect to watch “a lot” or “some”of the Tokyo Games.
The Olympics, it might seem, unites Americans like nothing else. Day in and day out, Americans are bombarded with headlines decrying how polarized our country has become. Our public schools are resegregating and a rising number of Americans don’t have friends in the opposing political party. However, contrary to prevailing media narratives, Americans largely agree on what our national priorities should be.
When asked to rank their top 15 priorities for the future of America, both Biden and Trump voters agreed on nine priorities, including: access to high quality health care; safe communities and neighborhoods; criminal justice reform; help for the middle class; and revitalizing infrastructure.
The biggest disagreement between Biden and Trump voters came with regard to immigration reform. Trump voters ranked severely restricting immigration as their third most important issue out of 55 choices; whereas Biden voters ranked this issue 46th. In addition, Trump voters said, having secure national borders was their second most important issue; compared to Biden voters saying it was their 31st most important issue.
The rather shocking agreement on long-term national priorities amongst Biden and Trump voters, begs the question as to why virtually no legislation addressing these priorities gets passed in Washington. And while it is true that holding the same or similar priorities does not mean that you agree on how to address these issues, the Republican Party in Washington has simply given up on legislating. The Republican Party is a post policy party.
The most recent example of Republican opposition to widely popular legislation can be seen in their opposition to a new voting rights bill. A majority of Americans have repeatedly said that they want it to be easier to vote early and want photo identification to be required to cast a ballot.
71% of Americans say early voting should be made easier, while 16% say it should be harder. Broken down by ideology, 89% of Democrats, 68% of independents, and 56% of Republicans want early voting to be easier.
With regard to voting by mail, 50% of Americans say it should be easier and just 39% say it should be made harder. In addition, 80% of Americans support requiring photo identification to vote, including 62% of Democrats, 87% of independents, and 91% of Republicans.
With Americans widely supporting reforms to make voting easier and more secure, Democrats in Washington have prioritized passing new voting rights legislation. Due to the threat of a filibuster, and the 50-50 slip of the Senate between Democrats and Republicans, 60 votes are required to pass any new voting bill. To overcome this obstacle, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) formed a bipartisan group with the goal of writing legislation that could win the support of all Senate Democrats and at least 10 Senate Republicans.
On June 16, Senator Manchin outlined his compromise voting legislation that he hoped could pass the Senate in a bipartisan manner. Senator Manchin’s legislation called for mandating two weeks of early voting; banning partisan gerrymandering; requiring voter identification with new alternatives, such as a utility bill; and making Election Day a Federal holiday. Notably, Manchin’s inclusion of voter identification was seen as a major concession to Republicans who have long insisted on the measure.
To the surprise of many political observers, almost immediately following Senator Manchin outlining his compromise bill, Stacey Abrams said she could "absolutely" support the measure. Abrams is a rising star in the Democratic Party and a leading voice on voting rights. Her endorsement of Manchin’s bill was crucial because in order for it to pass, it needs not only the support of 10 Republicans, but also every Senate Democrat, including the progressives.
For a brief moment, it appeared that a deal was in sight. However, within hours of Abrams endorsing Manchin’s bill, Senate Minority Leader McConnel (R-KY) announced that he would oppose the compromise legislation. Senator McConnel said, "Senate Democrats seem to have reached a so-called 'compromise' election takeover among themselves. In reality, the plan endorsed by Stacey Abrams is no compromise."
Furthering the point that Abrams' endorsement was toxic to Machin’s compromise bill, Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) said “every one of us works for opportunities to work with Senator Manchin.” But, he added that when, “Stacey Abrams immediately endorsed Senator Manchin’s proposal, it became the Stacey Abram’s substitute, not the Joe Manchin substitute.”
The swift and united Republican opposition to Senator Machin’s bill should not have come as a surprise to even the most hopeful and optimistic liberals. Since the 2020 presidential election, there has been a concerted effort in Republican-led states to restrict access to the vote. Between January and May of this year, at least 14 states have enacted 22 new restrictive voting laws.
Republican politicians have apparently decided that they are against voting because they lost the most recent presidential election. Instead of fighting for votes by convincing their constituents that GOP ideas and policy proposals will bring about a more safe and prosperous America; the Republican Party has decided to restrict voting. Republican legislators have made clear that they are not on the side of democracy and they are not on the side of the American people.
Americans overwhelmingly want voting to be secure and easy to assess for all, irrespective of color and social status. Yet, Republicans legislators repeatedly say no. Even if you disagree with Democrats on how to address the challenges of the moment, the Democrats want you to be able to vote. The Democrats are fighting to ensure that America remains a representative democracy, where the people decide who governs them.
The Democrats are on Team USA. They are fighting to address the priorities that Americans of all political stripes care about. Democrats are working to increase access to high quality health care by creating a federally administered public health-care option. Democrats are fighting to keep America’s cities and communities safe by increasing funding to state and local governments so they can hire new police officers, pay overtime for community policing and effectively respond to the rise in gun violence.
In addition, Democrats have prioritized helping middle and lower income Americans who are the backbone of our country. In March, President Biden signed into law the Democrat passed American Rescue Plan. The act has provided over 90 million payments to American families, including $1,400 for individuals earning up to $75,000. In addition, as part of the American Rescue Plan, starting in mid-July, millions of middle and low income families will start receiving a fully refundable monthly child tax credit payment worth $3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for children 6 and up.
As Americans gather around the TV to watch the Tokyo games and cheer on Team USA, it is worth reflecting on whether our elected leaders are fighting for the American people. Sadly, it is now abundantly clear that the Republican Party has radicalized against democracy and is solely focused on maintaining whatever power that they have. Democrats, on the other hand, are fighting for Team USA, but have hampered their success because they have refused to abolish the filibuster. We can only hope that this relic of the Jim Crow era will eventually be abolished so that Democrats can fully answer the call of the American people and make government work again. The American people are united. It is far past time Washington reflect that.
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