Democracy FTW! Maybe not…

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.

–H L Mencken

Henry Louis Mencken, the American journalist and cultural critic, was a vociferous opponent of organized religion and representative democracy among other dislikes. As an advocate for scientific progress, and having a penchant for satire, he famously dubbed the 1925 Scopes Trial, which challenged the teaching of evolution in public schools, as the Monkey Trial.

John Adams, a Founding Father of America and its second president, similarly had a disdain for “unbridled” democracy. He is quoted as saying:

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide

If democracy was so reviled, why did it become the dominant form of government worldwide? And why is it now dying as is evident almost everywhere except in a handful of countries? Was democracy a convenient mechanism for political parties (and corrupt individuals) to scam their way into power by creating the illusion of freedom, fairness and the promise of representation?

Democracy is under the kosh and we seem to be completely helpless to do anything about it. At every new voting opportunity in practically every country, people seem to repeat the mistakes that a fresh election is supposed to eliminate.

The EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit), a global research group, recently released the 2024 Global Democracy Index, confirming a decline in democracy and growth of authoritarianism worldwide.

Here are some shocking findings in the report which rated countries in the index categories of (a) functioning of government, (b) electoral process and pluralism, (c) political culture, and (d) civil liberties:

• Only 25 fully functioning democracies could be found out of 167 countries surveyed.
• There are 46 flawed democracies.
• 36 hybrid regimes hold regular elections but are authoritarian in nature and are common in developing countries.
• There are 60 authoritarian regimes worldwide.
• 130 countries previously surveyed registered a decline in their score or no change.
• America, which hypocritically claims to be a bastion of democracy and governance in the world with its much vaunted constitution and amendment rights, remains a flawed democracy with an unchanged score.

At this point, it is necessary to name and applaud the Top 10 countries in the index with fully functioning democracies, that by and large, seem to have some form of social democracy in their political system:

1. Norway
2. New Zealand
3. Sweden
4. Iceland
5. Switzerland
6. Finland
7. Denmark
8. Ireland
9. Netherlands
10. Luxembourg

Some of the other countries that make up the 25 full democracies are Uruguay, Canada, United Kingdom (although they’re now failing under Starmer), Germany (also now starting to lean right), Austria, Italy (also now leaning right), Australia, Japan, Costa Rica and Taiwan

Since America claims exceptionalism in everything, they can be singled out for particular attention. America’s democracy has been declining for years and took a massive nosedive under the Biden Democrat government. However, they’ve gone over the cliff with Donald Trump in office for just one month.

Trump’s reckless dismantling of the government has even the MAGA faithful up in arms, with many expressing regret. At the rate he and his narcissistic sidekick, Elon Musk, are going at it with his DOGE demolishinists and a chainsaw, the country is headed for a significant economic and political disaster. It’s only a matter of time.

America under Trump (and Musk) has become the laughing stock of the world. The jokes abound and have got the creative juices of the US’s detractors flowing.

Trump did not materialize out of thin air. America’s citizens must accept responsibility for most of the country’s mess. For years they have been sidetracked by manufactured culture wars (created mainly by the very politicians who now dominate the discourse) instead of keeping their eyes on the class war being waged against them by an unscrupulous elite.

John Adams feared the formation of an oligarchy when he declared that there must be “A government of laws, and not of men.” Unfortunately, the US failed to pay heed to one of their celebrated founders. Consequently, years of celebrity worship enabled the election of shady celebrities to lead their government. Meanwhile, they’ve allowed money to dominate and taint their electoral system, and they even contribute through donations themselves.

Fixing America might go a long way to fixing the rest of the broken democratic world, such is the influence they yield. Maybe that’s part of the problem – the imperialist grip on the rest of the world is debilitating.