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mahnmutTwo government professors ask, is American democracy dying?
Four Indicators or Authoritarian behavior:
1) Rejecting or weakly committing to democratic rule
2) Denying the legitimacy of political opponents
3) Tolerating or encouraging violence
4) Demonstrating readiness to curtail civil liberties of opponents, including the news media
Unfortunately, Trump even before his inauguration, tested positive on all four measures on our litmus test for autocrats... With the exception of Richard Nixon, no major party presidential candidate met even one of those 4 criteria over the last century. So, if you are worried about our democracy dying, you have reason to be.
The problem that exists, even with Trump having lost the election and Biden stepping up, is that a lot of damage has already been done to US democracy. About half of the population now supports authoritarian behavior that endorses white supremacy and that is not going to change as it is now more ingrained in the nation than ever before. A split among the population is now clearly established that will not be repaired as deep hate and increased polarization now exists between the Republicans and the Democrats that is not likely to be mended until one or the other is gone (see the Hatfield and McCoy feud).
( Democracy without guardrails )
Four Indicators or Authoritarian behavior:
1) Rejecting or weakly committing to democratic rule
2) Denying the legitimacy of political opponents
3) Tolerating or encouraging violence
4) Demonstrating readiness to curtail civil liberties of opponents, including the news media
Unfortunately, Trump even before his inauguration, tested positive on all four measures on our litmus test for autocrats... With the exception of Richard Nixon, no major party presidential candidate met even one of those 4 criteria over the last century. So, if you are worried about our democracy dying, you have reason to be.
The problem that exists, even with Trump having lost the election and Biden stepping up, is that a lot of damage has already been done to US democracy. About half of the population now supports authoritarian behavior that endorses white supremacy and that is not going to change as it is now more ingrained in the nation than ever before. A split among the population is now clearly established that will not be repaired as deep hate and increased polarization now exists between the Republicans and the Democrats that is not likely to be mended until one or the other is gone (see the Hatfield and McCoy feud).
( Democracy without guardrails )
