Classified As A “Flawed Democracy,” The U.S. Could Learn A Lot From Uruguay

If things can’t get any precipitously worse for the United States, now comes news that it didn’t even make the top 20 on the Global Democracy Index. In fact, the new 2018 index, which measures such democratic standards like civil liberties, employment and longevity, classified the U.S. as a “flawed democracy.”(1) The sobering report that looks at how democracies fare around the world meanwhile ranked Uruguay as number 15, ten places ahead of the U.S. and the highest in the Western Hemisphere other than Canada. Given that a true democracy teaches people how to think by asking certain kinds of questions, it might be time to wonder what makes Uruguay more free than the U.S.

Tale Of Two Democracies - Full And Flawed
Despite a strong political shift to the far-right, Uruguay remains one of the most friendly countries towards democracy in the West. This includes protecting civil liberties and individual rights and maintaining progressive social programs. Uruguay, to be sure, spends much more than the U.S. per capita on education, knowing that the real safeguard to democracy is making intelligent and wise choices. It encourages toleration by ensuring that all voices of differing persuasions be equally heard. Thanks to a public healthcare system and regulation, Uruguay also has one of the best systems in the world. This ensures longevity and the full participation in the life of Uruguay’s democracy.

This is in stark contrast to the U.S. Standards for civil and individual rights have not only gotten worse but so too have the rise in hate crimes and a corporate-driven media that censors dissent. A failing safety net and diminishing social programs have pushed many into economic ruin-or worse, the streets. As millions more suffer the stress of college debt or rising healthcare costs and medicines, the gutting of the Affordable Care Act has led to more uninsured Americans. Actually, 12.2 percent more. It’s an increase of 3.2 million Americans. Since democracy naturally depends on the health and longevity of an individual, it’s clear that not everyone gets to participate in America’s flawed democracy.

Economic Freedom Versus Disaster Capitalism
Another thing that Uruguay gets right is its low unemployment rate and high standard of living-one that’s evenly distributed. This, despite the country’s small GDP-$50 billion. What makes Uruguay’s democracy successful is that there’s no extreme poverty or extreme wealth. Given that democracy and freedom must be something more than what the very wealthy can buy, Uruguay also has very little corruption. What’s more, Uruguay was the only nation in the West that didn’t suffer under the weight of the 2008 Global Economic Recession. In other words, democracy is not just the freedom to speak but the freedom to live self-actualized lives through a living wage and affordable housing.

In 2008, the U.S. witnessed shrinking wages. Four million homes were foreclosed on and 2.5 million businesses were shuttered. This kind of disaster capitalism not only destroyed the livelihoods of millions of American, many whom never recovered, but it shrunk the middle class. Accordingly, the richest one percent now own as much as the bottom 90 percent. With rising corruption from on high, some warn of more homelessness, more Flint, Michigans, more racial and social unrest, more extreme populist movements, and more demagogues Donald Trump. In the meantime, more dangerous than a uninformed electorate living in a flawed democracy is one that displaces their anger onto each other.

Human Rights Invents Uruguay
Uruguay, however, has the largest middle class in the West. Minorities and immigrants are also accepted. The government has approved several regulations regarding quotas for women, minority races, and disabled people in both public and private companies. Recent arrivals of immigrants from Venezuela, Cuba, and the Middle East have been welcomed warmly. These are other reasons it ranks far ahead of the U.S. on the democracy scale. This includes safety and security and a much lower crime rate. Having been one of the first countries to grant suffrage rights for women and same-sex marriages, Uruguayans know that Uruguay didn’t invent human rights but human rights invented Uruguay.

And though the U.S. belittles Uruguay for its social programs, calling it “The Switzerland of the West,” it can by far afford them. With only 25,000 armed soldiers, it spends less than $500 million each year on its military. Compare this to the U.S. which boasts of 4 million soldiers and a trillion dollar price tag. Or neighboring Brazil, that has 2 million military personnel and a $32 billion price tag. Knowing that the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced military power always exists and persists, Uruguay hasn’t fought a conflict since 1965-58 years. Uruguay also has the most UN peacekeepers per capita, helping to spread democracy and peace instead of tyranny and war.

Already A Hybrid Democracy?
Some warn that the U.S. may have slipped down into a lower classification called a hybrid democracy. Known as illiberal democracy or empty democracies, it’s a governing system in which citizens are cut off from knowledge about the activities of those who exercise real power because of a lack of civil liberties and transparency. Elections take place but things never really change. Those in power ignore the constitution-including its framework of liberties that’s supposed to exist for everyone. This might explain why many Americans are justifiably frightened by what is happening to their country. Or why freedom seems to be just an illusion.

It might also explain the weakening of democratic norms and rules and the extreme polarization that‘s sweeping across the county. Given that these are the things that can kill democracies, and have killed democracies, the U.S. could learn a lot from Uruguay’s full democracy.

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.

(1) www.abc.net.au. “Chart of the Day: Europe Dominates Top of Democracy Index, Korea Lags in Last,” by Ian Burrows. January 10, 2018.