U.S. Democracy Teetering on the Brink, But Let’s Keep This in Perspective

This does sound scary until you realize that whatever happens here and now in the United States is just a blip on the screen of world history.  All would-be totalitarians ban the teaching of truth, but, even if they are successful in the short run, they never last.

Is it possible that the U.S. will go the way of Turkey and Hungary and become a democracy in name only?  Of course. And if that happens, it’s not likely that I’ll still be on this planet when it reverts to its former state.  Reversals like this take a while, but they almost always do happen, and the U.S. has a strong political tradition that will be very difficult to eradicate completely.

FreedomHouse.org, a group that monitors all aspects of freedom annually, ranks America #53 among the world’s 84 “free” countries, noting: The United States is a federal republic whose people benefit from a vibrant political system, a strong rule-of-law tradition, robust freedoms of expression and religious belief, and a wide array of other civil liberties. However, in recent years its democratic institutions have suffered erosion, as reflected in partisan pressure on the electoral process, bias and dysfunction in the criminal justice system, harmful policies on immigration and asylum seekers, and growing disparities in wealth, economic opportunity, and political influence.

It’s safe to say that the attempted coup is going to depress our ratings significantly further, but the fact that the coup was unsuccessful says something quite positive.

All this is horrifying, but again, nothing lasts forever.