How might the deplorable state of political savagery in US politics do the least national and global harm?
How might we cultivate our humanity to tame our inner political savage?
A global trend with a backsliding of democracies
We have passed a tipping point. The 2023 Democracy Report from the Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem Institute) at the University of Gothenburg reported that there are more closed autocracies than liberal democracies in the world. The level of democracy enjoyed by the average global citizen in 2022 is back to 1986 levels, with 72% of the world's population (5.7 billion people) living under authoritarian rule.
The democratic decline has been most dramatic in the Asia-Pacific region, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
US democracy has been downgraded twice
In 2017, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) demoted the US from a "full democracy" to a "flawed democracy". The main reason for this downgrade was further declines in public trust in political parties, elected representatives, and governmental institutions.
In 2021, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance added the US to its list of "backsliding democracies" for the first time. The presidency of Donald Trump was identified as a historic down-turning point. The "visible deterioration" in US civil liberties increased in 2019. Declines in the quality of freedom of association and assembly occurred during the 2020 summer of protests following the police killing of George Floyd.
Additional factors included the increasing tendency to contest credible elections, the flouting of anti-corruption safeguards, the undermining of institutions responsible for the checks and balances of power, and the decline in protecting the human rights of all Americans.
The 2024 US presidential election is not about who will do the greatest good for all. This racehorse is about who will do the least harm.
Which candidate carries the greatest security risk of imploding the US democracy into an autocratic, authoritarian state?
How might the least harmful loser win?
Resources
Brookings Institute
Freedom House
Reversing the Decline of Democracy in the United States
US Democracy has declined significantly in the past decade, reforms neededGuardian
US added to list of ‘backsliding’ democracies for first time
Carnegie Endowment of International Peace
Understanding and Responding to Global Democratic Backsliding
Learn more about the American Democracy Summit
2023 Partnership organizations
Learn more
How might we reverse the global decline in democracy?
This calls for restoring the lost art of civil discourse and generative dialogues: to begin with, and much more.
How might we go beyond the futilities of reductionist debates and revive the art of civil discourses to solve our complex web of self-inflicted wicked problems?
How might we understand the futility of debates? Reductionist debates, especially political ones, are the one-up-manship of zero-sum, win-lose games: “I'm right, you're wrong,” This reinforces dichotomous ways of fundamentalist thinking. Debates become tit-for-tat points and counterpoints that divide us and impair the prospects of reaching agreements.
Let's define Right Wing and Left Wing so that we can avoid confusion. The far- right is anarchy with the right being defined by less government and regulation with it as decentralized as possible. Left Wing is defined by more government and regulation and more centralization. With these definitions, The Democracy has shifted dramatically left, so that those of us who were Democrats are no longer comfortable with the outcome. There has been more centralization of power in the federal government and more collusion with international businesses. "Wokeness" is just a reconfiguration of the old philosophies that eventuated in communism, socialism, fascism. It denies the individual any agency or responsibility. It is all about boxes: boxes of identity, social status, race, and other groups. I categorically avoid "boxes." Human beings are of divine nature and as such exceed all mortal categories. To put people in boxes is to limit and enslave them. Democracy is the rule of the majority, and our Founding Fathers knew that, so they created a Republic with representative government and a separation of powers so that the gang rule of democracy would be contained.
It seems like a natural outcome of having "lesser of two evils" choices. We have one candidate who talks like a dictator and the other candidate who acts like a dictator while pointing fingers at the other. In realities they are both most likely criminals. What sort of machine has given us this outcome? There is another choice, but the machine doesn't like him because he will shine daylight on their shady operations. Why are we here? Maybe, because through ignorance or malice we each contribute to it. If each of us takes responsibilities for our choices instead of rationalizing our choices, maybe we can get out of it? Maybe!