Daniel Darling: Yes, Tennessee is a democracy

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, August 1st. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHR, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. WORLD Opinions writer and proud Tennessean Dan Darling took exception to a magazine writer who questioned whether his state is even a democracy. After all, it’s a virtual one-party state!

REICHARD: Like California. And New York. And Illinois.

I think I could go on.

Which is Darling’s point, and he’s volunteered to stick up for the Volunteer State.

DAN DARLING, COMMENTATOR: “Is Tennessee a Democracy?” That’s the headline of a recent article in The Atlantic by Anne Applebaum. Applebaum’s sometimes thoughtful work has chronicled the horrors of Russian gulags and Stalin’s starving of Ukraine. Here, though, she brings her focus on democracy, not to the many failed states worldwide, but surprisingly, to the Volunteer State—Tennessee.

From Applebaum’s analysis, one could think that Tennessee is joining the ranks of tyrannical regimes. She is exercised by the messy conflicts in county board races, the conservative state legislature, and state government in general. She is particularly outraged by the governor of the state signing legislation restricting abortion and so-called gender transition care for minors. Now Progressive-majority states, such as Illinois or California, passing progressive legislation doesn’t seem to signal those blue bastions are sliding into authoritarianism. But the land of mountains, music, and medical innovation suddenly seems third world to Appelbaum and The Atlantic.

As someone who lived in Nashville for nearly a decade, I found The Atlantic’s description of a dystopia to be laughingly at odds with my family’s experience. Every community has flaws, but we found Tennessee well-managed and enjoyable.

The most significant sign that democracy has eroded in Tennessee, according to Applebaum, is its one-party rule. It has a Republican governor and legislature. Republican appointees run the state supreme court. The state’s nine-member U.S. House delegation contains eight Republicans; unlike in other states, the attorney general and secretary of state in Tennessee are appointed, and they are both Republicans too.

Tennessee, once ruled by moderate Democrats, now boasts unified Republican control of state government. But this is far from the only state in the union to experience one-party rule. California, which used to send Republican presidents to Washington, and Illinois, once a bipartisan capital of corruption, are both now solid blue in nearly every statewide office.

This sorting reflects years of Americans moving according to political preferences. Tennessee has been the beneficiary of blue-state refugees escaping draconian COVID restrictions, increasingly left-wing public school propaganda, and high costs of living in progressive states. Tennessee is among the states with the highest population gains.

This trend may or may not be healthy as America further polarizes. It’s understandable to lament the lack of bipartisan give-and-take in states like California or Tennessee. But in one-party states often there are subgroups within majorities that make the politics as fractious and messy as the swing states. The idea that the Volunteer State’s increasingly conservative makeup is somehow a malicious assault on democracy is preposterous. What is happening in Tennessee is the essence of democracy, as people vote to elect leaders that reflect their values. It’s not that Applebaum is witnessing the end of democracy. It’s that she’s witnessing an outcome of democracy that she doesn’t like.

Her perspective reflects a certain bias, where progressive one-party rule seems normal. But in our system of government, living with policies we often dislike is a feature, not a bug. The solution is to make the case, persuade your fellow citizens, and vote to change the outcome.

Preserving democracy is an important goal, but hyperbole and misrepresentation will not get us there.

I’m Daniel Darling.

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