Posted on Dec 1, 2021
Democracy is declining in the U.S. but it's not all bad news, a report finds
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https://www.npr.org/2021/12/01/ [login to see] /united-states-backsliding-democracy-donald-trump-january-6-capitol-attack
The United States has been labeled a "backsliding democracy" in a new report from the European think tank International IDEA.
"I think for many of those studying U.S. democracy, this should not come as a surprise," the report's lead author, Annika Silva-Leander, said.
International IDEA measured the global state of democracy in 2020 and 2021 using 28 "indicators" of democracy based on five "core pillars."
The core pillars were representative government, fundamental rights, checks on government, impartial administration and participatory engagement.
"What we see for the U.S. is a decline in effective parliament. And we saw that decline particularly up until the 2018 midterm elections," Silva-Leander said.
A historic turning point came when former President Donald Trump baselessly questioned the results of the 2020 elections, according to the report.
Silva-Leander said the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol "really raised the alarm bells in a more severe way than before."
The United States has been labeled a "backsliding democracy" in a new report from the European think tank International IDEA.
"I think for many of those studying U.S. democracy, this should not come as a surprise," the report's lead author, Annika Silva-Leander, said.
International IDEA measured the global state of democracy in 2020 and 2021 using 28 "indicators" of democracy based on five "core pillars."
The core pillars were representative government, fundamental rights, checks on government, impartial administration and participatory engagement.
"What we see for the U.S. is a decline in effective parliament. And we saw that decline particularly up until the 2018 midterm elections," Silva-Leander said.
A historic turning point came when former President Donald Trump baselessly questioned the results of the 2020 elections, according to the report.
Silva-Leander said the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol "really raised the alarm bells in a more severe way than before."
Democracy is declining in the U.S. but it's not all bad news, a report finds
Posted from npr.org
Democracy
Election 2020
Washington
Riots
Violence
Posted 3 y ago
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Our government has overstepped....and we the people are responsible for letting them do so.
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There will aways be those who attempt to change the system in their favor. It takes an alert voting population to prevent that.
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This is no surprise. After the prior election the former President went to great lengths to try and overturn the results. He pressured national and local officials to try and invalidate the results. January 6th was the last act in that drama where people he convinced tried to stop the certification of the results.
A large part of a functioning democracy is that the losing side step aside and allow the peaceful transition of power. That didn't happen and we still have a large segment of our population who still doesn't want to respect the results of the prior election.
The Democrats are not completely innocent here. When the former President won they tried to use legal means (electoral college) to stop him from taking power. That may have been legal but it opened the door just a crack so in the aftermath of the 2020 election Trump's supporters had something to hang their hat on an tell themselves that their actions were legitimate.
A large part of a functioning democracy is that the losing side step aside and allow the peaceful transition of power. That didn't happen and we still have a large segment of our population who still doesn't want to respect the results of the prior election.
The Democrats are not completely innocent here. When the former President won they tried to use legal means (electoral college) to stop him from taking power. That may have been legal but it opened the door just a crack so in the aftermath of the 2020 election Trump's supporters had something to hang their hat on an tell themselves that their actions were legitimate.
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SrA John Monette
Not just step aside. The losing side should also assist the incoming administration. Honorably and peacefully.
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SPC Kevin Ford
SrA John Monette - Exactly so. What I think many of us learned in the last administration is that there are few legal protections on a lot of what keeps our democracy strong and safe. A lot of it is held up by standards and norms of conduct. If someone in power does not respect those, they can do a lot of damage to our democracy.
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