That’s because he’s never actually participated in one
This piece by David Pepper is illuminating:
A few years ago, now-Speaker Mike Johnson said we do not live in a democracy.
"You know, we don't live in a democracy" but a "biblical" republic.
— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) October 26, 2023
That's what Mike Johnson said in a 2016 interview as he explained his views on the U.S. government.
That's what the new Republican House speaker, who tried to overturn the will of the voters in 2020, believes. pic.twitter.com/AEwQXwutplAs I wrote several months ago, it’s a common right-wing refrain.
Johnson turns out to offer the perfect example of how in today’s gerrymandered world, people can ride to the highest levels of power without facing a real election their entire careers.
Which means they can be complete extremists and never face accountability for it. It also means that not only do they not know democracy, they actually come to fear it. Not just because they have never experienced it, but because it poses the biggest risk to their grasp on power.
Let’s take a look at Johnson’s career to see how it works:
Before entering office, he spent his years fighting for right-wing causes as a lawyer—like fighting same-sex marriage and to keep in place laws criminalizing sodomy. That’s his right to do, of course, and I’m glad he was largely unsuccessful.
But then his political career began:
In early 2015, when the state representative where he lived in Louisiana ran for another office, Johnson ran for the vacancy.
Incredibly, even that first run for office was unopposed. There ended up not even being an election! So he initially assumed power without ever having faced the voters in a general election.
(No wonder he thinks we’re not a democracy!)
Once in office, he got to work advancing the goals he had fought for as a lawyer, but now as a legislator. One law he pushed within months was so extreme that major Louisiana companies lobbied against it, and even Republicans rejected it, tabling it 10-2 in committee.
What did the voters think about the fact that in only months, he had already proven to be too extreme for even his own party?
We don’t know, because when Johnson ran again that Fall for next 2-year term, he was again unopposed.
No primary.
No general.
How easy! He pays the filing fee, gathers some signatures, and gets to go right back to the legislature with no accountability to the people whatsoever.
(Again, no wonder he doesn’t think we’re a democracy!)
On the strength of his failed bill, and unopposed election victories—on that unmistakable mandate from a people who had no choice in the matter—Johnson decides it’s time to take his political juggernaut to Congress.
And then he encounters the marvels of lopsided districts. He wins in 2016, 2018 and 2020 with the winning margins we have come to expect in a gerrymandered world:
30% (2016)
30% (2018)
35% (2020)And then in 2022, even after being one of the most active participants in Trump’s January 6 coup attempt, he returns to his roots and runs unopposed again.
For the third time—no wonder he thinks we’re not a democracy!
Bottom line: the now-Speaker of the House is the perfect example of the modern extremist.
He’s spent his entire career in a world devoid of democracy—devoid of accountability:
-It’s how he entered—even his initial entree unopposed (that’s pretty rare, actually. Not even a primary).
-It’s how he rose.
-It’s his most recent race.
–It’s all he’s ever known!And it’s why all the unabashed and toxic extremism he’s espoused along the way has essentially gone unchecked the entire time.
Mike Johnson IS the current generation of GOP leaders and members. No accountability—ever! Which means all the incentives he’s faced encouraged him to keep being extreme.
Now imagine hundreds just like him. Of course they’re going to be extremists when they thrive in a world where they CAN be extremists, never facing any real opposition (often no opposition at all) despite taking positions that only a few years ago were soundly rejected by their own party.
You actually don’t have to imagine it—just look around. It’s so many states. And it’s the GOP chaos caucus in the House.
There is also the matter of ideological, partisan sorting among the electorate. People want to live alongside like minded people and as our politics have become polarized, they explicitly choose to do it more and more. (I also think a lot of people just adopt whatever the prevailing political view around them are because they really aren’t that interested in the first place.) The main point is that the manipulation of the House voting system has created these bastions of right wing extremism that now seem to be almost impermeable. With the influence of right wing propaganda on both the voters and the political officials, you end up with Mike Johnson.