In the long run, my own gut reaction is that \u201cdemocracy\u201d will survive. In the short-term, I think the answer is much more ambiguous. To be clear, in the context of the U.S. I refer to democracy as \u201cdemocracy,\u201d because full democracy (rule by the majority) has never been implemented in the U.S. until (tentatively) now. If this were the case, the U.S. would have suffered much the same fate as almost every other presidential democracy in the world. As the Fareed Zakaria and Tocqueville suggest, societal institutions and different checks and balances between the government and the people have moderated democracy. While this has prevented \u201ctyranny be the majority\u201d in the past, the rise of populism and partisanship are threatening to overthrow this ideal in the present and the future. Both sides of the political spectrum have contributed to this (Trump for often representing only his constituents in his policies, and the left for attempting to block most of Trump\/ Republicans’ proposals, including those similar to previous Republican presidents’). Under the idealized view of the U.S., political parties do not vote along party lines, as their constituents may have wanted, but instead turn to the middle and focus on the long run good of the nation. However, as the stakes of elections have increased (if we don\u2019t win the world is going to end!!!), and the public has become more polarized (as the 6 charts article by Vox showed) the system of moderated democracy in the U.S. is being pushed to its limits. \u201cDemocracy\u201d in the U.S. was never meant to and cannot appease two equally vocal, polarized, and fairly large segments of the population. Therefore, if democracy\u2014defined as rule by the majority within moderation\u2014is to survive in the U.S., a shift to the middle must occur, by both politicians and the public. In the long run, I have faith that a moderate, strong leader will be elected to restore the status quo in the U.S., but how long we must wait, I do not know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the long run, my own gut reaction is that \u201cdemocracy\u201d will survive. In the short-term, I think the answer is much more ambiguous. To be clear, in the context of the U.S. I refer to democracy as \u201cdemocracy,\u201d because … Continue reading