“Democracy never lasts long. Over time, it wastes, exhausts, and kills itself. There has never been a democracy that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that a democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less greedy than an aristocracy or a monarchy.” – John Adams.
The recent decision of the US Supreme Court regarding the prohibition of abortion is reminiscent of the prophetic words of John Adams. The United States has long wasted and exhausted its democracy, and now it is on the verge of suicide, writes for The Hill one of the leaders of the Democratic Party in the Senate Tom Daschle.
Among the problems that, in Daschle's opinion, brought significant damage to the image of democracy in the United States – racial conflicts, distortion for citizens of the real state of affairs of the Americans in Vietnam, the Watergate scandal and the attempts of the president Nixon to hide it, too long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to the Democrat, the decline of democracy has accelerated in the United States over the past two decades due to a combination of the following factors:
- With one exception in 2004, Democrats have won every presidential election this century, but Republicans have held the White House for 12 of the last 22 years.
- Gerrymandering in virtually every state has reduced the number of competitive seats in Congress to about 35, or 10 percent of the total membership. As a result, primaries have become far more important than general elections, giving the bases of both parties perhaps more power than they have ever had in history. This led to a sharp increase in partisanship in the tightly divided state legislatures and in Congress. Compromise, the oxygen of democracy, is now increasingly seen as capitulation.
- Congress is now so dysfunctional that virtually none of today's major issues, from climate change to immigration to trade to technology, have been addressed. Even Congress's most basic responsibility for funding the government has been relegated to emergency measures and patchwork expansions.
- Much of what has happened in politics and government over the past two decades can be explained by transformative changes in technology. Cable news has literally become entertainment. Ideologically motivated cable news channels have further exacerbated the growing and pervasive political polarization that has infected the entire country.
- Disinformation on social media has become one of the greatest threats to democracy in American history. Today, the truth is only an option. With the aggressive use of algorithms on every social media platform, lies are spreading faster than wildfire. This clearly contributed to the strengthening of tribal politics, corrupted civil discourse, and significantly reduced the prospects of elected leaders reaching a principled compromise.
- Lack of cyber security has also become a threat to democracy both in the United States and elsewhere in the world. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea continue to use technology, the internet and social media in ever more sophisticated ways to threaten the integrity and functional capacity of this democratic nation.
- Donald Trump's “Big Lie” about the results of the 2020 election has had a devastating effect on the American people's views on elections and democracy. More than 40% of Americans do not believe that Joe Biden honestly won the last election.
- Trump's desecration of the office of the president with his constant violation of both laws and norms accelerated the country's descent into the abyss of democratic suicide. The surprising submissiveness of the vast majority of Republican officials, despite Trump's behavior, has been both disappointing and dangerous.
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“If you add all this to racial problems, income inequality, inflation and of the COVID-19 pandemic, America's democracy is nearing an abyss, and the current trend is troubling. Despite the fact that American democracy has lasted longer than any other, if there is no real awareness that we are now experiencing what John Adams predicted two centuries ago, the American people will witness the suicide of their democracy within our lifetime,” concludes Democrat Daschle .
