We are witnessing the slow (and sometimes not so slow) disintegration of American democracy. Indeed, there is an erosion of democracy all around the world.
First some background. The United States is a constitutional federal republic, in which the President (the head of state and head of government), Congress, and Judiciary share powers reserved to the national government, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments. There are two chambers of Congress - the Senate and the House of Representatives. Since the civil war, there have been only two parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party (referred to as the GOP - Grand Old Party). The Democratic Party has a philosophy of modern liberalism blending notions of civil liberty and social equality with support for a mixed economy (a blend of a market economy and a planned economy). The Republican Party's 21st-century ideology is American conservatism, which incorporates both social conservatism (focus on traditional values and beliefs) and fiscal conservatism (fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, and limited government). The GOP supports lower taxes, free-market capitalism, restrictions on immigration, increased military spending, gun rights, restrictions on abortion, deregulation, and restrictions on labor unions. This system is unique among democracies of the world. For this system to work, the President and the two parties must negotiate and compromise to reach a consensus. This process worked quite well for at least 225 years since Independence on 4 July 1776. This process has totally broken down. Today, there are no meaningful negotiations and no meaningful compromises. It is "us" against "them" and what's good for the public is entirely lost. To compound these issues, the Judiciary has become politicized. The role of the Supreme Court is not to make law but to interpret laws relative to the constitution. Some justices interpret the law applying literal wording of the constitution and some apply some degree of intent. But as we have seen recently, these interpretations can be conjured according to political ideologies. Recent rulings limit the Federal government's ability to make laws and this is aligned with Republican ideology of limited government. Today, the majority of the Supreme Court judiciary unabashedly support the Republican Party. This gives individual States incredible power, and as we have seen, they can pass very restrictive abortion laws (when a significant majority of the American public supports some level of legal abortion), and alarmingly, they can pass voter suppression laws to suit their purposes. So how did we get to where we are today? For the past 20 years or so, public confidence in government has dropped significantly from about 60% in 2001 to a low of 17% in 2019. Since then, it has recovered a bit to the low 20's%. Still historically low confidence in government. And why is that? One contributing factor is an appallingly poor understanding by the public of how government works. But even more significant is the public's visceral feeling that something is wrong. It is this feeling that Trump tapped into so successfully. The more radical elements on the right and the left and many others are correct. Something is wrong. "Big money" now controls politics in the USA. This is especially true since 2014 when the Supreme Court ruled that corporate funding of independent election ads could not be limited under the First Amendment. Big money now controls much of what happens and what does not happen in US politics. This is described in startling detail in Jane Mayer's book, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. The other key factor impacting public distrust of big government (big anything for that matter) is the rise of the Internet and social media. Compounding this issue was governments' and big business's inability or unwillingness to limit or control the spread of untruths and hate. Freedom of speech laws, especially in the USA and to some degree in many other countries did not anticipate the Internet. Now a small number of more radical players can disproportionately influence the public. The Senate consists of 100 members, two from each state. The US continues to become less rural as people migrate to large urban centres. The 10 least populated states are largely rural states and rural states historically vote Republican. There is no guarantee that all these states will vote for all Republican Senators but the majority do. A clear advantage the Republicans want to protect at all costs. These 10 states account for 2.5 % of the US population but still get 20 senators or 20% of all senators. Whereas the 10 most populated states account for 50% of the population and they too get 20 Senators. U.S. Senate representation is deeply undemocratic — and cannot be changed without a fundamental change in the constitution requiring 2/3 majority vote, which will never happen in today's environment. For more info on how undemocratic the US Senate is, check the following articles.: https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2021/02/u-s-senate-representation-is-deeply-undemocratic-and-cannot-be-changed/ and https://www.vox.com/2020/11/6/21550979/senate-malapportionment-20-million-democrats-republicans-supreme-courtwww.vox.com/2020/11/6/21550979/senate-malapportionment-20-million-democrats-republicans-supreme-court The Republican House of Representatives benefit from Gerrymandering In representative democracies, Gerrymandering refers to political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent of creating undue advantage for a party, group, or socio-economic class within the constituency. In 2019, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Courts cannot stop partisan gerrymandering. Another blow to democracy. Yet another key factor that has arisen in the USA and around the world is the distrust of science. Once again, there is an appalling lack of understand about how science works. The rise of anti-vaxxers is the most dramatic example of that today. People are dying and governments are racking up billions in debt to no small degree because of this distrust in science. And the USA always seems to be the epicentre of this distrust. In Jan 2022, the US Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration’s mandate, which compelled companies with more than 100 employees to require their workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or tested regularly. The anti-vaxxers interpreted that as vindication of their anti-vax position. The politicized court is not helping democracy. Finally, technology is changing the world at an exponential rate. And people are frightened. The European Union, Australia, and others, even China, are trying to rein in Big Tech. However, the USA with its very capitalist and "survival of the fittest" mindset, not so much. This is adding to the "distrust" malaise in the USA. Today, there are concerning tends all of which threaten democracy:
The USA has always been the most individualistic society in the world - me comes before we. Don't get me wrong. Historically the USA has been the most generous nation on earth. Interestingly, recent historical works are showing that that generosity was not always altruistic. Political and capitalist gain often drove it. The capitalist system is by far the greatest engine for ingenuity and growth the world has known. And no country has pushed capitalism more than the USA. But capitalism is inherently "extractive and predatory" and while Americans love the idea of the American Dream that anyone can become fabulously successful and wealthy, they are starting to realize the "extractive and predatory" nature of capitalism. For example, the majority of Americans want government to do more about climate change - the result, in part, of poorly regulated capitalism. Even here however, the divide is evident. Twice as many Democrats support climate change action vs Republicans. The disfunction of government and the right-wing bias of the courts is hampering the kind of action that is required. Counter to intuition, the fear and stress of climate disasters is further deteriorating democracy. The US has been the economic and military leader in the world for a long time. The growth of China, India, and someday maybe even Africa threatens that leadership. Ironically, the US has educated many of the engineers and scientists that are now leading these other countries who will eventually surpass the US. The US has not come to grips with that reality. And that fear will push the US to become even more authoritarian and less democratic. Steve Bannon and many like him want to "Deconstruct the Administrative State" in order to build a new state with less regulation and more emphasis on unrestricted capitalism. There are many forces pushing the US to become less democratic. Currently, many predict that the Democrats will lose both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the upcoming mid-term elections in Nov. What amazes me is that few seem to realize that the "house of democracy is on fire". Either that, or they just don't know what to do about it.
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