America- A Disappearing Democracy?
- Emma Walkley
- Apr 15, 2021
- 7 min read
The United States has long enjoyed its status as the world’s strongest political-economic superpower and awarded itself the title defender of global democracy. Many Americans see their country as the world’s moral arbiter, the standard by which all other nations should judge the health of their democracy. This superiority complex derives from the notion that U.S. citizens enjoy the most undefiled, virtuous democratic experience that the world has to offer; free and fair elections, universal rights, equal representation, and countless disparate indicators of a thriving democracy. The U.S. obsesses over maintaining this image, leaving Europeans to question if America can call itself a democracy at all. The more sufficiently democratic institutions and global superpowers of the world have held skepticism over this American facade for quite some time. Increasingly more so since the string of arguably autocratic happenings of 2020, regarding the presidential election and insurrection of the capital. Some political scientists have gone as far as to describe America as an oligarchy as opposed to a democracy, being infiltrated at every level by elite theory.
This article will explore what it means to be a truly democratic country, America’s democratic deficit, and how we as young people can campaign to resolve the ills that plague America’s democratic institutions.
What Constitutes a Democracy?
In short, the term ‘democracy’ refers to a system of government by the whole population or all eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. What does it mean to be a democratic country? In a democratic country, all eligible citizens have the right to participate, either directly or indirectly, in making the decisions that affect them. While democratic governments can vary, they are uniformly characterized by four key elements, according to political scientist Larry Diamond: a political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections; the active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life; protection of the human rights of all citizens; and the rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens. On account of elections being at the very heart of democracy, the default principle is the concept of majority rule. Thus, one of the most prevalent tensions running through democratic societies is the balance struck between the will of the majority and minority rights – often referred to as the tyranny of the majority.
America’s Democratic Deficit
A democratic deficit occurs when ostensibly democratic organizations or institutions fall short of fulfilling the principles of democracy in their practices or operation, where representative and linked parliamentary integrity becomes widely discussed and debated. While this term is often used as a contemporary political analysis of political order in the European Union, it is apropos to political order in the United States. Some analysts would point to the unseemly and often corrupting role played by money in the electoral process. Others might note the continuing concerns simply about the reliability of counting the votes that are cast in elections. For example, the 2020 presidential election faced outright rejection of voting credibility by half of the political spectrum. Other analysts have focused on the degree to which the partisan gerrymandering of legislative districts in effect allows representatives to choose their voters rather than the other way around. Many argue that fixing these problems would not resolve the root causes of America’s democratic deficit as it lies as the function of the constitution itself. The United States constitution does not contain such sensible provisions as those of the state of New York’s constitution. The New York constitution is not unique among American state constitutions in offering what one writer has described as a “mandatory referendum” that “enforces the people’s right to reform their government.”
Notably, since 2018, American elections have begun to look disturbingly like those in countries of a categorically substandard democracy. In Georgia, the secretary of state Republican Brian Kemp, and governor candidate, charged with administering their elections, has sought to disenfranchise tens of thousands of mostly African American voters. Kris Kobach, the Kansas Republican candidate for governor, gained notoriety when Donald Trump appointed him to lead a commission on voter fraud, a rarely occurring problem in the United States. Kobach has spent much of his career advocating for restrictions on voting rights that would, in effect, make voting more difficult for non-white citizens. In several other states, such as Iowa, Missouri and North Carolina, Republicans have enacted legislation in the last two years to make it more difficult for people to cast their ballots. In addition to the two parties taking different positions on voting rights, Republican-controlled state governments in Oklahoma and Louisiana have passed laws that either increase the penalties for protesting or otherwise curtail activities protected by First Amendment rights to assembly and speech. Several other states have similar legislation pending. These legislations began with Republican President Trump in power, who has proposed limiting the right to protest, frequently describing the media as "enemies of the people."
At every stage of the voting process, Americans face hurdles determined by where they live. Election law is set by partisan state lawmakers and administered, in most places, by secretaries of state, who are partisan officials. Thus, it is not shocking that the U.S. trails behind other democracies in voter turnout. In 2016, only 55% of eligible citizens voted. Record turnout in the 2020 election was all the more impressive given the barriers to voting. “We have seen this cycle an effort by the Republican party to make it harder, wherever possible, to vote – especially for black and minority populations,” Ian Bassin, executive director of Protect Democracy, said, adding: “I don’t know of another advanced democracy in the world where one of the two major political parties has invested in voter suppression as a core strategy.” Among the tactics used were inaccurate purges of citizens from voter rolls, Trump’s active undermining of the US Postal Service, and robocalls in areas with large black populations such as Flint, Michigan. One of the most egregious examples of voter suppression was in Florida. In 2018, Floridians extended the franchise to those with felony convictions, welcoming 1.4 million people back into democratic participation. Florida’s Republicans immediately set about undermining electorate will, putting in place a bureaucratic maze that former felons had to negotiate before they could vote. It was so convoluted that almost 900,000 people were still disenfranchised on election day – totalling about one in every six Black Floridians of voting age.
Many states practice gerrymandering – the drawing of electoral district lines to favour one party by essentially packing voters from another party into as few districts as possible, thus leaving that party with fewer seats post-election. In June of 2019, the Supreme Court decided not to offer a ruling in a 5-4 majority decision on partisan gerrymandering, effectively not finding partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional. In retaliation, Elena Kagan and the court’s liberal justices accused the court’s majority of shirking its duty, stating that “the partisan gerrymanders in these cases deprived citizens of the most fundamental of their constitutional rights: the rights to participate equally in the political process, to join with others to advance political beliefs, and to choose their political representatives.”
Unevidenced claims of fraudulent voting in the 2020 election and the insurrection that followed are a direct consequence of this dangerous attempt to undermine democracy. There still remains no evidence of fraud, refuting Trump’s claim. Not only have the claims eroded democracy in its current form, but also threatened the integrity of future elections. Research has shown that falsehoods tend to linger in our minds, eventually distorting our memories and influencing our opinions. “We often remember the content of information while forgetting the source or who said it,” said Lisa Fazio, assistant professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University, who has studied the effects of misinformation. “Over time, we might remember the allegations of voter fraud but forget that they came from an unreliable source.” Misinformation has been used on many occasions throughout history to destabilize political systems, cause chaos, and turn people against one another. In recent years, it has been used to foster uncertainty about whether former President Barack Obama was born in the United States – (he was). Further, the effects of misinformation can be deadly in the case of a public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization has used the term "infodemic" to describe the intersection of misinformation and the pandemic. Falsehoods, such as those suggesting that masks aren't effective against the virus, are potentially fatal for people who believe them. Elizabeth Loftus, a researcher on the “misinformation effect”, agreed that the former President Trump’s false claims about the validity of the 2020 election are likely to have a deleterious effect on Americans’ trust in the electoral process in the long run. Elaborating that “Planting false information and getting people to believe or misremember can affect their later thoughts or their later behaviour – and that kind of thing is likely to happen here.”
Edited By: Chantel Lovell
How To Help
The kind of change that the United States needs will come only if the public mobilises itself behind the cause of nursing the American democracy back to health.
Participate in the democratic process – become an activist, sign petitions, hold your representative to account on important issues mentioned above, join a political party, vote. The more people that participate in a democracy, the healthier it is. The higher the vote turnout, the more effective the government.
Highlight the issues talked about above, research further into them and educate yourself as a young person about the faults to democracy in your country and work to correct them. This can be done in an ample number of ways – grassroots movements, talk about it, join an organisation you believe in. Have those difficult conversations with family and friends.
Amplify the voices of those around you on voter suppression of minorities, etc.
Sources and further research
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