The successful recall of Shasta County Supervisor Leonard Moty by a coalition of militia members, and far-right extremists last week should not be dismissed as a peculiar rural curiosity.

Nor should we sleep on the news about Jeffrey Erik Perrine. He is a Proud Boys member, white supremacist — and former Republican Central Committee member from Sacramento — who filed papers to run for the state Assembly right here in the state capital of California.

These examples of extremism, and others, are proof that the political radicalism behind the Jan. 6 insurrection is not simply the province of marginalized red-state fanatics. The fanatics are here in Sacramento and California, and they’re entering public office.

We are well past the time of ascribing what we are witnessing as unrelated coincidence. We are already waist-deep in a battle between democracy and authoritarianism.

The devolution of traditional conservative values of small government, free markets, and competing ideas within the Republican Party has given way to the unquestioned fealty of a dangerous leader, former President Donald Trump.

These dangerous ideas are no longer a small sliver of the Republican Party. They are the dominant characteristics of an organization that seeks to impose its social views through various legal and illegal channels, from elections and recall to intimidation via physical threat and online harassment, sophisticated misinformation campaigns, and, as we all have come to witness, insurrection.

Last week at the gathering of the Republican National Committee, a resolution was overwhelmingly passed censuring two of the most conservative members of Congress for being active members of a bipartisan congressional commission investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. The RNC also labeled the desecration of the U.S. Capitol, and the real physical threats experienced by lawmakers on that day, as “legitimate political discourse.”

In effect, the RNC was condoning violence as a political weapon that sought to invalidate the 2020 presidential election.

Meanwhile, we recently learned that Chad Bianco, the current Riverside County Sheriff, was once a dues-paying member of the right-wing extremist group “Oath Keepers.” In 2020, it was revealed Tony Krvaric, former Chairman of the San Diego Republican Party, once appeared in videos with imagery of Adolf Hitler and swastika emblems.

In each of these instances, the California Republican Party, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and GOP legislative leaders have remained silent. They resemble an orchestrated pattern of destructiveness designed to undermine confidence in elections, government officials and social order.

Eroding the foundation of our democratic system — elections — is central to the rising extremism we are witnessing. A November 2021 survey by Bright Line Watch showed that only 27% of Republicans believe that Joe Biden was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election.

The survey also found that the misinformation about our elections systems promulgated by Trump and Republican leaders leave Republican voters less confident their votes will be counted in 2022. This is by design, intended to build distrust to a boiling point that ultimately undermines the entire election system.

While it is not, nor should it be, illegal to express politically radical — even extremist — ideas, we can and must prepare for the violence that is likely to come from it.

The state Legislature must act to add public employees and local government officials to existing categories protecting law enforcement officers from having their personal information — including home addresses — made public.

They must adopt severe penalties for those that verbally threaten violence, abuse, or intimidate elected officials and government employees. Any violation of the law related to intimidation, abuse, harassment or violence directed at public officials must be severe enough to deter other extremists from copying the behavior.

There is a growing social movement that has no interest in being good-faith partners in governance. Elections alone will not protect democratic norms when some in the public have no interest in preserving them. The Legislature must act to protect democratic institutions beyond access to the voting booth.