The Case for Taking Trump Off the Ballot
Call it the ‘Democratic Self-Defense Exception’—Blocking Candidates Who Undermine the Constitution Is Our Responsibility
I was in favor of keeping Donald Trump’s name on the presidential ballot in California.
Until I went to Berlin this fall.
At a Saturday conference on German election law—if you haven’t noticed, your columnist is a democracy nerd—I met an entrepreneur named Gregor Hackmack. He’s so committed to democracy and participation that he launched a non-partisan online platform last year to enable dialogue between everyday people and elected representatives.
But now he’s organizing a petition to ban Germany’s second most popular political party—the far-right AfD, or Alternative for Democracy—from participating in elections.
Hackmack …
