A recent “Economist” magazine article, “How Democracy Dies,” discussed “How To Undermine A Democracy” in the context of newer world democracies. It posited four stages of a democracy being dismantled: “First comes a genuine popular grievance with the status quo…Second, would -be strongmen identify enemies for angry voters to blame…Third, having won power by exploiting fear or discontent, strongmen chisel away at a free press, an impartial justice system and other institutions that form the ‘liberal’ part of liberal democracy – all in the name of thwarting enemies of the people…Eventually, in stage four, the erosion of liberal institutions leads to the death of democracy in all but name.” The main lesson the “Economist” stressed was that “institutions matter.” Other analysts have said that the basic process of government itself is extremely important.
President Grover Cleveland, 1894: “the Ship of Democracy, which has weathered all storms, may sink through the mutiny of those on board..”
What would prompt this mutiny? Once rebels take over the Ship of Democracy, what are they going to do with it? What was their plan? Once they’ve made the captain walk the plank, how do they propose to run the Ship? Suppose the new leader turns out to be worse than the old captain? What are the new rules? Were they merely “cleaning house?” Does the new strongman make up the rules on the fly? Do the mutinous crew very quickly find themselves in “stage four?” Whose head rolls now?
Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt are also concerned with what they have observed in recent years. Their book, “How Democracies Die” is an examination of that. They apply lessons learned studying European and Latin American democracies collapses.
“Over the past two years, we have watched politicians say and do things that are unprecedented in the United States..that we recognize as having been precursors of democratic crisis in other places….American politicians now treat their rivals as enemies, intimidate the free press, and threaten to reject the results of elections.”
Democracies work best..where constitutions are reinforced by unwritten democratic norms.” Two big norms: mutual toleration and restraint. “.. the guardrails of American democracy are weakening. The erosion of our democratic norms began in the 1980s and 1990s and accelerated in the 2000s.. if one thing is clear from studying breakdowns throughout history, it’s that extreme polarization can kill democracies.”
Levitsky and Ziblatt offer four key indicators of authoritarian behavior:
1] Rejection of {or weak commitment to} democratic rules of the game.
2] Denial of the legitimacy of political opponents.
3] Toleration or encouragement of violence.
4] Readiness to curtail civili liberties of opponents, including media.
Readers can judge for themselves whether any of these four indicators have been broken recently [2018}. In their experience, Levitsky and Ziblatt found that the undermining of democracy “often begins with words.” Critics are attacked in harsh and provocative terms [so – on various media, have you observed this?…in the public sphere, has this happened?] Journalists are attacked as “grave political enemy” of the people [heard any recent claims that “the fake news” people have been accused of bad things?]. “The capture of the referees is done quietly by firing civil servants and other nonpartisan officials and replacing them with loyalists [ any chance you might have heard about this recently?].” The courts are stacked by any means necessary [you haven’t been made aware of any highly unusual power plays to – say stack the U.S. Supreme Court, have you?]
Why do Levitsky and Ziblatt say “the guardrails of American democracy are weakening?” What did they observe in the 1980-2018 period that frightened then? Was the “mutiny” already becoming visible? why are they and other analysts talking about “authoritarian behavior, ” not elsewhere, but in America? What did the “Economist” magazine see?
Who would benefit if a “government of the people, by the people, for the people” did perish from the earth in America? Who benefits from the current polarization? Why didn’t we have this level of polarization and extremism before 1980? We did have various craziness, but it was confined to the fringes and considered to be fringe, not mainstream, ideas. The Russian attacks on American elections weren’t the first attacks on our system – the first came from within. Who did that, and why?
STOP! What’s missing here? It’s YOU. What have you done? What are you going to do?
Democracy is NOT a spectator sport.
The Constitution’s Preamble says: “We the People….” People have died – at Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Meuse-Argonne, Guadalcanal and Normandy, the “Frozen Chosin,’ in the Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan. They’re still dying. Others have died on America’s streets – fighting for economic justice and civil liberties. The man who said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” died in Memphis, murdered, fighting for the rights of sanitation workers.
If we define American democracy by “government of the people, by the people, for the people”… FOR THE PEOPLE… then it is clear that since 1980, and steadily escalating backwards – America is ceasing to be a democracy. By many accounts and measurements – most notably rapidly worsening income inequality [and everything that comes with that] – America could now be called a plutocracy [“a class or group ruling or exercising power by virtue of its wealth”]. For confirmation, see billionaire Warren Buffett’s “class warfare” quote.
Robert M. Hutchins, 1954: “The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.” Slowly the heat in the frog’s boiling water is turned up. Slowly “the guardrails of democracy” are violated and removed. Slowly people accept wild accusations about “the Other,” about opposing politicians, about “the fake news” media, accept “alternative facts,” accept the claims that government is the problem [forgetting why “We the People” sacrificed and died for it]. The last 40 years is proving the if one tells “The Big Lie” often enough, some people begin to believe it.
by most numerical calculations, America as a middle class democracy peaked between 1947 and 1973. America was the envy of the world – because ordinary people owned homes, cars, color TV sets, kitchen appliances. One didn’t need a college education to accomplish all this – and usually, only one adult per home worked. Before you vote in November 20l8 [2020], your task as a citizen is to establish why this is true. Very importantly, to discover what government policies and citizen expectations did this. Then, crucially, to discover how government policies changed to erode this world-class middle class achievement. The downward change since 1980 is not an accident.
When families making between $100,000 and $150,000 are struggling, we need answers. I recently talked with a small business owner. She said that half her money was going to buy health insurance, with a $6,000 deductible – and no dental insurance. This is why America is #37 in health care. Why do we put up with this? Why do we have so many “suicides of despair?”
We can, and should be better than this. We deserve better than this. We HAVE been better than this. You’ve been lied to for 40 years. Time to change this. Insanity is voting for the same group that changed the envy of the world middle class democracy into just another country. YOU can be a part of making American democracy real again – for all of us. Please, do your homework – get past the propaganda, the hateful bluster, the outright lies – vote for an optimistic future America, not a fearful one that denies its own heritage, history, and heroes.
With Justice For All 