A year after the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump-supporting insurrectionists, the nation’s democracy remains at risk, former President Jimmy Carter has written in a New York Times op-ed. Carter, who spent years of his post-presidential life promoting democracy in other countries, sounds a warning, writing, “I now fear that what we have fought so hard to achieve globally—the right to free, fair elections, unhindered by strongman politicians who seek nothing more than to grow their own power—has become dangerously fragile at home.”

Carter never mentions Donald Trump by name, and only directly names Republicans once, in a reference to polling data showing that “roughly 40 percent of Republicans believe that violent action against the government is sometimes justified.” But he is unsparing in describing what “unscrupulous politicians” and “promoters of the lie that the election was stolen” have done: A year ago they guided a violent mob that “stormed the Capitol and almost succeeded in preventing the democratic transfer of power,” and since then, they “have taken over one political party and stoked distrust in our electoral systems. These forces exert power and influence through relentless disinformation.”

Politicians in this largely unnamed party ”have leveraged the distrust they have created to enact laws that empower partisan legislatures to intervene in election processes. They seek to win by any means, and many Americans are being persuaded to think and act likewise, threatening to collapse the foundations of our security and democracy with breathtaking speed.”

Carter’s recommendations for fighting the dissolution of U.S. democracy are, unfortunately, not as forceful as his warning of the danger we face. They include “reforms that ensure the security and accessibility of our elections and ensure public confidence in the accuracy of results,” along with “act[ing] urgently to pass or strengthen laws to reverse the trends of character assassination, intimidation, and the presence of armed militias at events. We must protect our election officials—who are trusted friends and neighbors of many of us—from threats to their safety.” But as we know, Republicans are united against election reforms that have any possibility of making it easier for non-Republicans to vote, and many Republicans have come ardently to the defense of their supporters who have threatened or intimidated public servants, like school board members or election officials.

These recommendations are virtually impossible to carry out because of the problem they are intended to fix. 

Carter, a famously decent man, also calls for people to be more decent, writing, “while citizens can disagree on policies, people of all political stripes must agree on fundamental constitutional principles and norms of fairness, civility, and respect for the rule of law.” To fight polarization, he calls on us to “focus on a few core truths: that we are all human, we are all Americans, and we have common hopes for our communities and our country to thrive. We must find ways to re-engage across the divide, respectfully and constructively, by holding civil conversations with family, friends, and co-workers, and standing up collectively to the forces dividing us.”

Again, the problem is that the people who carried out a violent insurrection are not going to participate in this. And, as that poll finding that 40% of Republicans believe that violent action against the government is sometimes justified shows, the sentiment that led to the violent insurrection is taking over one of the major parties. Which Carter clearly knows, so the inadequacy of his solutions to his strong warning about the threat to the nation is another reminder of how hard it is to know what to do in the face of a major party increasingly turning against democracy itself.

”Our great nation now teeters on the brink of a widening abyss,” Carter concludes. “Without immediate action, we are at genuine risk of civil conflict and losing our precious democracy. Americans must set aside differences and work together before it is too late.”

The problem he cannot answer is that a substantial part of the country wants it to be too late—wants to drag us into the abyss.