American Democracy is not in Decline, it's Dead

One of the reasons the insurrectionist assault at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021 is so infamous is that it marked an attack on one of the hallmarks of a democracy: the peaceful transition of elected power from one government to another.

Political scientists and others around the world took careful note, but because Trump was ‘gone’ (sigh) and the Biden administration assumed power, however horrific the implications of January 6th were as a sign of the fragility of American democracy, few at the time seriously suggested the United States was literally no longer a democracy.

There can no longer be such caution. We need to get beyond our own disbelief at how quickly the Trump regime has dismantled the vestiges of a liberal democratic order and implemented an authoritarian regime. We need to recognize reality for what it is. It is no longer appropriate to speak of the United States as a democracy under assault from within, or in decline.

The United States is no longer a democracy.

Beyond free and fair elections and peaceful transitions of power, there are other fundamental tenets of democracy that no longer exist in America. We have witnessed unbridled executive power and the rule of law brought to its knees.

Yes, there is a vast array of litigation and numerous court rulings, all frantically plugging holes in the dam. But the Trump regime has so attacked the courts and dismissed the legitimacy of their authority that Chief Justice John Roberts - one of the people responsible for this mess, after his Court decided to abandon the rule of law by declaring presidents to be above it - issued a statement against impeaching judges for making lawful decisions. Meanwhile, the Trump regime ignores the law, the constitution, relevant precedents, and yes, court rulings entirely. The Trump regime is also openly blackmailing major law firms and bringing them to heel.

The United States is now, in a very real sense, ruled by a lawless regime. This is not to say judicial rulings against Trump’s regime won’t continue, or even that the regime won’t suffer future losses at the Supreme Court (a Court, by the way, so dominated by partisans and right-wing ideologues, including at least two who are nakedly corrupt, that anyone clinging to hope it will be a savior here is truly deluded). Trump knows there is nothing that will ultimately hold it accountable. By the Supreme Court’s own ruling, the President could order judges assassinated and not be held legally accountable.

Meanwhile in Congress, too many Democrats have rolled over entirely. Yes, that famed system of ‘checks and balances’ is also dead. The American constitutional framers would be appalled to see the ways Congress has been captured by the MAGA cult, the antithesis of what Congress was supposed to be, it is now beholden to the personality cult of a party leader, the very thing it was meant to check against. It is now little more than a rubber stamp.

Another aspect of American mythology - a land of freedom and rights - also lies in ashes. Along with the mass incarcerations and deportations of non-citizens (a literal election promise, by the way - let’s not ignore that this is what American voters chose), the United States is no longer a safe country to even visit. Authorized, lawful visitors are being unlawfully detained merely on the basis of having criticized Trump. Can there be any more clear sign that the dictatorship is in full swing?

The media? Half the media is cheering Trump on. FOX News is casually talking about the death penalty for people vandalizing Teslas. The other half still don’t seem aware that they are covering a monster, treating every lunacy coming out of the White House as if it’s ordinary politics, or framing stories as if journalistic objectivity requires presenting ‘two sides’, even if one side comprises nothing but baseless lies.

The rule of law. Dead. The system of checks and balances. Dead. Human rights. Gone. Naked corruption. In full swing. This is not a democracy in decline. It is, simply, not a democracy.

This is not to deny that people are still fighting, or to suggest they should give up. The rump of Democrats, like AOC, still giving people hope. The litigants and judges pushing for the rule of law. My claim is not that everyone has given up, or that they should (indeed, things can still get much worse). Nor is my claim that the United States can’t transition back to a democracy. But that is now a generational fight, not a four-year one. It’s far easier to tear things down than to build them.

The most terrifying aspect of all this is that too many people, including leaders in Canada and in other democracies, do not seem to have fully internalized this fact. As I’ve written, Doug Ford is still mindlessly talking about us getting closer to the US. That is not an option. We must adopt a war-like effort to shifting away from America, on all fronts, militarily, diplomatically, economically, and towards closer relations with democratic allies. Canada is in the most precarious position because our geography seemingly entrenches us in a deep relationship with America along all of these dimensions. There are signs the work has started, but we desperately need an all-hands-on-deck attitude. And we need to renounce Canadian politicians like Danielle Smith who would rather attack Canada than defend it.

That gargantuan effort, of existential importance, begins by recognizing the basic fact: American democracy is dead. Let’s start acting like it.