Democracy Is Not What Is Use to Be

The United States is not a democracy. That might sound like an outrageous claim, but it’s true. The U.S., which has long been reluctant to embrace the full principles of American democracy, especially when it comes to respecting the rights of women and people of color, has fallen from 18th place in 2017 to 21st place on The Economist’s global democracy index — which is based on five categories of electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, government functionality, political participation, and political culture. America is a long way from being a mature democracy — much less one that can lead by example or provide effective guidance for other nations trying to establish democratic institutions or strengthen those they already have.”

In May 2018, the United States dropped from 18th to 21st in The Economist’s global democracy index — which is based on five categories of electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, government functionality, political participation, and political culture. The U.S. score dropped in all categories except civil liberties. It is still higher than in other countries like Russia and Hungary.

This drop was not unexpected by many observers given that all democratic institutions have been under attack in the Trump era. But if you are a pessimist about democracy now, it might be worth keeping in mind that things were worse back then: In 2012 when Barack Obama was elected president for his second term with 51% of the vote against Mitt Romney (48%), Republican voter suppression efforts helped him win by less than 1% point nationally — but he also won every single state except North Carolina and Florida where votes were counted again after court challenges found evidence of discrimination against Black voters there too.

America is a long way from being the mature democracy our founding fathers had in mind. The Constitution is not a full democracy because it doesn’t protect the rights of women, people of color, and indigenous communities. For example:

• The Senate was founded to protect states’ rights over individual rights.
• Women couldn’t vote until 1920.
• Native Americans were forced onto reservations to make way for white settlers.

So, in the United States and thinking about democracy. Well, stop thinking about it. In fact, stop thinking altogether: democracy is not what it once was.

The United States is not a full democracy (like France or Germany). It’s not even really a flawed republic anymore — it’s a flawed constitutional republic with representative government and liberal institutions that are designed to protect Americans from tyranny but also sometimes fail to do so because they can be gamed by powerful interests who have enough money and influence to rig the system against themselves into giving them more power than they have already.

People may not have thought about it, but there is a global competition for democracy. It’s called the “democracy index” and its goal is to rank countries based on how democratic they are. The United States used to be ranked number one, but now it has dropped down to 22nd place in the world. This comes just one year after China was removed from an annual list of the worst human rights abusers due to their democratizing efforts.

How does this affect people’s lives? Well, it means that we aren’t leading by example anymore; instead, America is following behind other countries when it comes to creating a government that respects its people’s rights and freedoms. One must see democracy isn’t something that can just evolve naturally over time; democracy must be actively worked on every single day or else it will disappear altogether.
The national government has long been reluctant to embrace the full principles of American democracy — especially when it comes to respecting the rights of women, people of color, or indigenous communities.

People must not ignore this history. The United States was founded on white supremacy and patriarchy, and these practices continue to shape its politics today.

It’s easy to get caught up in the daily drama of American politics, but it’s important to step back and recognize that the nation’s democracy is in real danger. The best way for Americans to support their government — and the rest of the world — is through civic engagement, especially voting.

Written by Sheena Robertson

The New Yorker: American Democracy Was Never Designed to Be Democratic
NPR: Is America a democracy or a republic? Yes, it is
The U.S. Department of State: The Summit for Democracy

Top and Featured Image of Kent Lins‘ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Geoff Livingston’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License