“Democracy no longer ends with a bang—in a revolution or military coup—but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one.”
January 10, 2018
Word: How democracies die
Political Wire - Out next week: How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.
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2 comments:
The average republic is third world always at the edge of revolution.
The ballance of political economy for the western republics during the cold war era was a lucky fluke of history.
Cell phones and internet has partially replaced the positive political force of the threat of communism on the western republics.
As it stands now the outcome is uncertain but very likely a dark age will form in the coming years.
Elites have lost control of the control type, information control. Outcome uncertain.
Mencken used the word moron in describing a likely common man president. But democracy has been attempted only briefly as with Lincoln, FDR and JFK. The evidence as to FDR suggests there were 4 assassination attempts and the final one succeeded. Trump, to his credit, having long participated in spy culture and from Permindex's Cohn, understands that spies run the world. Because US spies do not share with Russian spies, the two countries must be brought to mutual assured destruction. Trump would be impeached for leaking secrets to Russians but he has already lived the future that detente suggests as a Russophile. Lincoln, FDR and JFK were allies with Russia. Opponents of democracy typically seek to prevent detente because this would be the end of the grand game and of US global manifest destiny. With Lincoln and JFK democracy ended with a bang, with FDR it was by poisoning. Trump probably doesn't count statistically as a president and is merely holding the office until the spies figure out what to do with the US. It could be added that Washington's death by illness was shocking in how great the loss was even in his retirement as the symbol of republican leadership. The Washington cult and its legacy in JQA and Lincoln is entirely lost today when Presidents Day applies vaguely to Nixon or the Bushes as much as to the cult birthday of Washington.
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