Those in glass houses should not throw stones
How America can confront its hypocrisy and save democracy
By Adrianna LoBasso
Senior Writer
Sophomore Representative
2021 saw one of the largest increases in democratic backsliding in history, according to the Global State of Democracy Report.
This increase is incredibly dangerous, as the most backsliding is in countries with both the largest populations and largest economic systems. Countries like India and Brazil are categorized by the GSDR as full-scale democratic decline, while other countries like Hungary, Poland, and the U.S. are at risk.
These countries make up a quarter of the world’s total population and make up a massive proportion of the world’s economy. If these countries fall to authoritarian regimes, the rest of the world will suffer.
Backsliding in the U.S. has created a slippery slope that has led to other countries of the world descending as well.
Only 9% of the world’s population lives in a society with high-functioning democracy. This is a shockingly small percentage that is continuously shrinking.
If our beacons of civil liberty, economic prosperity, and political power fall, who will the rest of the world look to for hope? When it comes to the U.S., Trump has completely undermined our democratic process to a nearly irreparable point. By inciting the January 6th Insurrection and rejecting the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election, Donald Trump undermined our democratic process and rejected our democratic institutions.
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance stated that Trump’s rejection of the election outcomes was a “historic turning point” which had “spillover effects” into Brazil, Mexico, and into other countries. Some of these countries’ leaders have also been undermining their own processes by rejecting election outcomes and spreading misinformation without consequence.
The International IDEA explains that when one country throws democracy away for the sake of political power, it sends a message that ripples across the world, where states can rationally believe, “if the U.S. can get away with it, why can’t we?” If this point is reached, other countries will look to the U.S. as a model for monopolizing political power at the expense of democracy.
Historically, the U.S. has infringed upon others’ human rights while ignoring our own. Our country was founded on fighting colonist oppressors, but from that moment on, we became the colonizing oppressors, staging a genocide against North America’s native inhabitants. We stole Hawaii from natives and colonized Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines in the name of American exceptionalism. We became the very thing we fought so strongly against.
Internationally, when the U.S. criticized the Chinese government for their treatment of the Uyghur Muslims and other human rights violations like the treatment of Hong Kong Protestors, China produced political cartoons which depicted the U.S. policing China on human rights despite their own violations of human rights.
China Daily said: “the US’ flagrant violation of international human rights laws is evident in its organized, systemic and large-scale abuse of prisoners no matter whether they are Americans or foreigners.”
How can the U.S. pretend to be a beacon of democracy and equality when we engage in such horrific infringements on basic rights? We completely destabilized multiple countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan. We ignore the pleas of African Americans for police reform and greet them with tear gas and rubber bullets.
When one country falls, we all fall.
Some causes of democratic backsliding can include a lack of public support for democracy, economic and social inequalities, external influences, and personality politics. Another key factor is political polarization, which I blame completely on the personality politics that Trump pushed.
He has created his own MAGA faction of Republicans who are willing to go against their own morals and ethics to keep their leader in power. The attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband further underscores the intensity of polarization in the U.S. When extremists are willing to murder and cheat, democracy is unattainable.
As previously stated, the International IDEA has found a strong connection between Trump’s actions and democratic backslides in other countries. This confirms my theory that Trump is to blame for the recent backsliding in the U.S.
Some voters in 2016 and 2020 said they were choosing the “lesser of two evils.” Instead of picking the better of two evils, the U.S. needs to combat this rapidly-intensifying polarization and sectionalism.
The best way to combat intense polarization is to give voters more options, which would align more accurately with their respective views. Political scientist Lee Drutman, “finds that a new multi-party system is the only way out of our cycle of polarization and democratic decay.” Republicans and Democrats are more opposite than ever, while disappointing the vast majority of American voters.
This should be a clear sign that something is functionally wrong. The U.S. has 54 different political parties but yet only two get any attention and power. If the U.S. becomes a multi-party system, voters can choose parties which more accurately represent their views.
The U.S. must implement a multi-party system to combat democratic backsliding. Before it is too late for us all.
Adrianna LoBasso is a sophomore majoring in Political Science and minoring in History.
