Working Toward a New Democracy

Our democracy is on the brink with the recent, reckless actions of Donald Trump threatening the rule of law. Arguably, we slipped into what some political scientists might call competitive authoritarianism quite awhile ago. The current ruling party doesn’t even recognize the basic legitimacy of the opposition party to contest elections and win seats accordingly. That’s why we get things like rampant voter suppression, civil rights violations, and moves in some states to strip away the powers of newly elected Democratic governors rather than to allow them to govern.

But I’ve taught comparative politics in the past and learned a lot from some really great teachers of my own and here’s some perspective. We’ve been here before, and so have a lot of other countries. We don’t have a long, unbroken commitment to democratic government that is only just now faltering under strain for the first time. We have struggled with democracy in fits and starts from the very beginning, with failures and new beginnings — and so does most every country giving it a go at democracy.

In France they have labeled all their different attempts at democracy as numbered sequences of constitutional republics. For example, France is now in its Fifth Republic, or its fifth try at Constitutional democracy.

But is American democracy really that different?

We don’t number our different tries (and failures) at democracy but we could. Someone in the field of American Political Development might characterize things differently, but I’ve heard of breaking up and periodizing American attempts at democracy roughly as follows:

First, the US started with the Articles of Confederation. That would have been attempt #1. That didn’t work, so we got the US Constitution after that. That’s attempt #2. Then we had a civil war. That required a new social compact after the war with reconciliation and reconstruction. That’s #3. Then the changes in we had during the New Deal era were so significant in reshaping democracy and state-society relations we might call that #4.

And the civil rights movement era was so significant and far-reaching in its changes we might call that republic #5. Some political scientists go as far to say that we didn’t even really meaningfully become democratic in the first place until that era, in the sense that we finally had full franchise for all adult men and women and civil rights protections. It’s also when we started seeing these democratic principles also start to shape other social institutions such as workplaces, houses of worship, and families.

We’re currently living in a long, drawn-out backlash toward these changes, accelerated with the election of Donald Trump. That has relatedly led to democratic backsliding as well, with the delegitimation of the opposition on the side of civil rights and erosion of freedom of the press, independent judiciary, voter suppression, etc.

But democracy is not just a set of procedures or institutions. It’s also a “peace pact,” where we have to learn to live together despite the fact that we might have radically different values or interests. We might have incommensurable ultimate ends, but somehow we have to get along.

And democracy is also a project or work in progress whereby our conversation evolves over time as we need to deepen how we understand our democracy and what we owe to one another as citizens.

We’re in a kind of do-or-die moment right now. We’ll either get past this moment, really listen to Black voices and those of all oppressed groups, and try to build a better republic. Perhaps our #6 if Biden gets elected. That would have little to do with Biden the person and much more to do with the moment we’re in and the social forces behind it.

But it could also be a moment when authoritarian impulses deepen, or Trump engages in more, militaristic behavior toward American citizens, or where the military attempts an undemocratic coup in a misguided attempt to save republic #5 from president #45. And, heaven forbid, if things go wrong, we could get ourselves in a set of fully consolidated authoritarian institutions that would make our current moment seem like a democratic paradise.

Let’s not let that happen.

Democracy is not just about elections. Or even just about institutions. Or just about the Constitution.

It’s also about that peace pact among the patchwork of beautiful groups that make up America.

And when politicians call for us to have a “more perfect union”, that’s ultimately what they are talking about.

How can this democracy be made more fair and equal for all of us?

And I can tell you one thing. This is not just a question for politicians or people in government.

It’s also a question for how we can rework this social contract and make it fair in all our institutions from government to business to education to religion to home life.

That’s the true spirit and project to which we are all called.

Don’t wait for election day. Start practicing democracy today wherever you are.

And let the conversations that are happening today in the public sphere about racism and civil rights be a guide.