Flawed Democracy

The Democracy Index produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit now rates the United States as a flawed rather than full democracy.

[T]he report caution[s] that our problems go back much further [than the last election]. The country has been "teetering on the brink" for years .... Faith in our public institutions - including Congress, newspapers and banks - has been in decline for decades. Just 19 percent of Americans trust the government most of the time. Three-quarters believe that most elected officials put their own interests ahead of the country.

Update (October 1):  Neal Gabler details seven failures of American democracy.

1. Rural votes are worth more than urban votes. 

2. White votes are worth more than minority votes. 

3. Rich and middle-class votes are worth more than poor votes. 

4. Old voters are worth more than young voters. 

5. Single-issue voters are worth more than more general interest voters. 

6. Republican primary voters are worth more than other voters. 

7. [A]n oligarch’s vote is worth that of tens of millions of ordinary voters.

Update (October 16):  Thom Hartmann quotes Jimmy Carter and says that the “complete subversion of our political system” started with Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell.

In 1976, in the Buckley case, Powell began the final destruction of American democracy by declaring that when rich people or corporations own politicians, all that money that got transferred to the politicians wasn’t bribery but, instead, was Constitutionally-protected First Amendment-defined “Free Speech.” The Court radically expanded that in 2010 with Citizens United.

As a result, there’s really very little democracy left in our democracy. Our votes are handled in secret by private, unaccountable for-profit corporations. Our laws are written, more often than not, by corporate lawyers/lobbyists or representatives of billionaire-level wealth. And our media is owned by the same class of investors/stockholders, so it’s a stretch to expect them to do much critical reporting on the situation.

Update (January 17, 2018):  A report from Freedom House rates the U.S. as "free" as opposed to "partly free" or "not free". But they note that setbacks in democratic government outnumber gains for the twelfth consecutive year.

The United States retreated from its traditional role as both a champion and an exemplar of democracy amid an accelerating decline in American political rights and civil liberties.

Update (January 31, 2018):  The U.S. remains a flawed democracy.

Update (February 5, 2019):  Freedom House warns that democratic liberties continue to decline.

[T]here remains little question that [Fuckface von Clownstick] exerts an influence on American politics that is straining our core values and testing the stability of our constitutional system. No president in living memory has shown less respect for its tenets, norms, and principles. [Orangeman] has assailed essential institutions and traditions including the separation of powers, a free press, an independent judiciary, the impartial delivery of justice, safeguards against corruption, and most disturbingly, the legitimacy of elections. Congress, a coequal branch of government, has too frequently failed to push back against these attacks with meaningful oversight and other defenses.