Only Virtuous Rulers and Systems Can Prevent Democratic Backsliding Among Nations Like the US

Countries like Canada have started to notice the democratic backsliding of the United States. Canada has become so concerned with America’s demise that the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) reported on how national security advisers and directors at the Center for Strategic and International Studies warned the US could become a “source of threat and instability” in the coming years and that the “threats are quite serious at the moment.”

Freedom house, an international group that promotes global democracy, noted further that: “Its (America’s) democratic institutions have suffered erosion, as reflected in partisan pressure on the electoral process, bias and dysfunction in the criminal justice system, harmful policies on immigration and asylum seekers, and growing disparities in wealth, economic opportunity, and political influence.”

Along with the trucker convoy, where a small group of angry truckers furious over the Canadian vaccine mandate resulted in a stand-off on the streets of Ottawa, Donald Trump’s attempt to overthrow the government, the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol, Fox News Tucker Carlson’s “White Replacement Theory” and call to arms, and transnational ties between right-wing extremists in the US and the world have caused grave concern among many in Canadians.

Experts have always debated the ideal state. Most agree the model state consists of virtuous rulers that ensure its people live virtuously, having or showing high moral standards such as fairness, compassion, equality, and toleration. If the rulers and people do not understand a free and secure state comes from living a virtuous life, preferring instead power and wealth, and live in ignorance and perverted or mistaken groups, that state is destined to collapse.

These insights matter enormously for understanding whether power and wealth make people worse. If the system is to blame, then the social environment needs targeted and reformed. If individuals (rulers) who make bad choices are to blame, putting better people in charge should be the aim. But what happens to a state when both the system and individuals are to blame? Most agree the imperfect state is either on the verge of collapse or deadly transformation.

America’s current democratic backsliding is due to capitalism and extreme individualism. Reproduced by its materialistic, imperial, and grandiose culture, individuals and institutions pursue the upper limits of narcissistic self-exploration. Similarly, theirs is an absence of shamefulness for transgression against existing mores and norms so they might expand what is possible for themselves or their group. In short, it is fascism.

Moreover, it is not unreasonable to say that America and American Exceptionalism are themselves a culture of sociopathic individualism, in some cases psychopathic. From political and corporate leaders to the Supreme Court and justice system, self-serving and unfulfilling individuals and institutions are commonplace. Consequences are rarely, if ever, rarely applied. Resolutions are often achieved through violence, whether by individuals or institutions.

Is there hope for countries like the US? First, the degree of hostility to anything outside of the narrowly defined opinions must be challenged. Second, people that understand the demise should continue to navigate ideologically paralyzed institutions, encouraging others to do the same. The cancer of miseducation and misinformation will have to be addressed, unteaching those who embrace unfounded conspiracies or far-right Republican extremism.

The indoctrination of American Exceptionalism by extremist political parties and corporate-Internet exploitation by elitists must be addressed and exposed. France’s Le Monde newspaper did just this when it commented on the Uvalde School shooting that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers. “America is killing itself and the Republican Party is looking the other way,” wrote Le Monde.

The paper then turned the idea of American Exceptionalism-the notion that there is something special and unique about the US-upside down. “If there is any American exceptionalism, it is to tolerate the fact that schools in the United States are regularly transformed into bloody shooting ranges.” The same strategy should be applied to other misconceptions like capitalism, militarism, corporate imperialism, and American republicanism which is really a plutocracy.

Finally, corrupt rulers and systems get caught more because they are scrutinized more. Corruptible people are drawn to power and wealth. They are often better at getting it-especially in the US where the system enables them and then keeps them in power. This is the reason some are drawn to following the wrong leaders and systems, making everything worse and irrational.

Lord Acton was right: Power corrupts. And only virtuous rulers and systems can prevent democratic backsliding among nations such as the US.

Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)