The Wisconsin power grab is precisely the sort of anti-democratic move that their book describes. If it continues, Levitsky told me, “in the best case, it can leave us with a highly dysfunctional political system. And in less than the best case, democracies break down.”

Given the seriousness of the situation in Wisconsin, you might think that more people might be speaking out — other Republicans, corporate leaders and so on. But so far, many have been silent. It shows a disappointing lack of courage.

My column today focuses on Walgreens. The company likes to portray itself as the friendly neighborhood drugstore that cares about the communities it serves. But Walgreens is a corporate supporter of the Wisconsin Republicans behind the power grab, and the company has refused to break with them.

Related. If the larger issue of corporate relationships with politicians interests you, I recommend Popular Information, the relatively new subscription newsletter from Judd Legum. He’s done great reporting in this area recently.

And here’s more from Levitsky and Ziblatt, on how states are becoming hotbeds of anti-democratic power-grabs (pointed out on Twitter yesterday by my colleague Paul Krugman):

“American states, which were once praised by the great jurist Louis Brandeis as ‘laboratories of democracy,’ are in danger of becoming laboratories of authoritarianism as those in power rewrite electoral rules, redraw constituencies, and even rescind voting rights to ensure that they do not lose.”