Up to us: Book details fragile state of democracy

By Rich Gotshall

From the perspective of 200-plus years, it is easy to think that American democracy is solid, successful and immutable.

But in their new book, “How Democracies Die,” two respected scholars argue that democracies in general and ours in particular are surprisingly fragile and that continued success is far from guaranteed.

Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt start by giving readers an easy-to-follow but thorough look at democratic breakdowns in societies around the world, such as in Nazi Germany and more recently in Turkey, Venezuela and Chile.

But even in America, democracy as we try to practice it today has not been consistently successful. Even the Founding Fathers could not agree on the best course forward. The Federalist and Republican parties so believed in the correctness of their positions that they wished to annihilate the opposition. During the Civil War, the spirit of democracy broke down completely and resulted in massive bloodshed.

In the 20th century, populist demagogues such as Henry Ford, Huey Long and Charles Coughlin showed that large numbers of Americans were willing to tolerate open challenges to democracy. President Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack the Supreme Court, demonstrating that assaults can come from the right or the left.

A spirit of political cooperation reasserted itself in the postwar period. The authors write: “The process of racial inclusion that began after World War II and culminated in the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act would, at long last, fully democratize the United States. But it would also polarize it, posing the greatest challenge to established forms of mutual toleration and forbearance since Reconstruction.”

This breakdown in the spirit of cooperation has been exacerbated in recent decades by changes in society and technology. The national political parties are no long the “big tents” that included — even embraced — a wide range of people and political views. Today the parties are largely ideologically homogenous blocs that are far less inclined to seek compromise with each other.

The authors write that today’s parties “represent not just different policy approaches but different communities, cultures and values.” They say the problems are amplified by gerrymandering, polarizing political cable channels, social media and the growing tendency of Americans to “self-sort” into communities of like-minded people.

In a recent interview, the authors said: “In the book, we identify what we call an authoritarian litmus test, which is drawn from comparative politics research. It’s a set of indicators for a candidate, and if someone violates these norms, then it’s a warning sign that they may have authoritarian inclinations. The indicators are if a candidate, before he enters office, attacks the media, questions the legitimacy of elections, accuses a rival of being treasonous or criminal, or encourages or tolerates violence by his supporters. These are bad signs.

“In American political history, we’ve happily never had a major party candidate do any of those things. Nixon was clearly critical of the media, but never so overt. What made Donald Trump’s candidacy so unusual is that he violated all four of those hallmarks of authoritarian rhetoric.”

Levitsky and Ziblatt offer warning signs that point toward a potential risk to democracy:

  • Violation of accepted norms of political behavior and contempt for democratic rules of the game.
  • Attacks on the legitimacy of political opponents.
  • Tacitly encouraging violence.
  • A readiness to curtail civil liberties, including freedom of the press.

The watchdog group Freedom House added its own warning bell in a recently released report on the decline of global freedom. A summary says in part: “Democracy is under assault and in retreat around the globe, a crisis that has intensified as America’s democratic standards erode at an accelerating pace.”

But Levitsky and Ziblatt write about ways the nation can ensure democracy is preserved. The key is engaged vigilance on the part of the public. The threats neither start nor stop with President Trump. He is a symptom of a much broader malaise that all of us must deal with.

Democracy means government of the people. So it is up to us, the people, to preserve it.

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: How Democracies Die

Authors: Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt

Pages: 312

Publisher: Crown

Price: $26

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Rich Gotshall is a retired journalist and Franklin resident. Send comments to [email protected].