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We see litters of articles and papers from liberal media that democracy is globally dying. While I don't believe this is happening right away, could most democracies become less so in the future?
The German YouTuber Kraut some time ago had suggested that the political turmoil in liberal democracies is largely a result of the collapse of the USSR and with it, the Cold War consensus of combatting communism which unified various different groups.
I don't think American liberals are particularly holding up democratic principles in their own domain either, with how they deplatform and censor their opponents. Essentially, they're really just consolidating their electoral power while trying to protect the thin sheen of freedom in America. This bias extends across the US establishment. If you look at the highest-earning zipcodes they've all flipped massively to the democrats over the past few decades. Same is true if you look at the Ivy League. Seen in this light, the FBI was merely following the trend when they raided Ryan Kelley's home and other such harassment campaigns will not face scrutiny because a large portion of the US elite agree with the FBI targeting their political opponents. This is why they refuse to let Jan 6 die, it was certainly a riot, but nowhere close to a coup. We know what a real coup looks like from the recent Sri Lankan crisis. In South Korea, gender wars and the excessive divide over feminism has effectively become a major electoral talking point, although President Yoon Suk-yeol is married to a career woman himself who doesn't wish to be addressed as First Lady and has 0 kids with him. The state of the Koreas, one being a depressing totalitarian state and the other being a depressing, hyper consumerist protectorate of the US almost feels like an ill fated destiny. Even in India, the progressive pressure has generated a lot of culture wars of its own, where the ruling BJP's base perceive liberals as being sympathetic to Pakistan while levelling every epithet against India which would also be relevant to their archrival, and have reacted strongly. Couple with that the malthusian growth rates and the neoliberal decay preceding their rise to electoral power from being just another one of many parties in the country. But Russia and China, the "authoritarian competitors to the free world", are both strong societies, I can't imagine something like 1CP being done away so quickly if it was instituted in the US. They don't have to deal with electoral politics and do not have to deal with culture wars. And with an ascendant China, its proximity to China might tempt India to remodify its political institutions to have a shot at uplifting its hundreds of millions from poverty.
Now I'm not saying culture wars will end democracies, but its probably a symptom of decadence in democratic societies combined with the rise of social media highlighting our differences with millions of our own countrymen. Maybe I'm young and only speaking from my own limited experience? Curious to know what others think.
Personally I think that they're just not using democracy in the same way that most people understand it. To the best of my knowledge, "Democracy" when used in these contexts essentially means rule by the global professional managerial class. If Donald Trump won 85% of the popular vote and was elected in a perfectly functioning democratic election, that would be a defeat for democracy - and at the same time, if the FBI intervened and announced that actually electing Trump would be illegal and Hillary Clinton was to be installed as president instead, that would be classified as a victory for democracy.
A mite uncharitable, I think.
“Democracy” is a confused and loaded term, but it’s not so completely diluted to include that outcome. I am confident that American liberals, even neoliberals in power, would be horrified should an 85% vote get ignored. The working definition is something more like “autocracy with accountability”: the government should do its usual Government Things, and if the people are sufficiently upset, they’ll vote some representatives out. 85% is an example of that, and 47% is not.
This is compatible with a pro-manager-class interest, if you want to use the Marxist lens. It’s also compatible with good old-fashioned rational self-interest. Going along with a supermajority is good for one’s career. Switching horses midstream, not so much. If Trump had a supermajority, we wouldn’t be having this debate, because bureaucrats would be implementing that agenda—look at the post-9/11 government. It’s the uncertainty that kills.
Oh, I think that democracy as a word is still useful and that people can still have meaningful discussions using it. But I'm certain that a lot of people and organisations/institutions use the definition that I've suggested.
I wouldn't expect any mainstream Americans to do so unironically.
The acceptable way to criticize democracy, here in the US, is to claim the Other Guys defected first. Don't listen to the racists; they've been trying to take away human rights. Keep the commies from getting any power, since they'll just use it to dismantle democracy. He deserved arrest, since he was obviously abusing the office to sell secrets. Lock her up; she can't get away with white-collar crime.
Actually believing that the PMCs should be ignoring the people is considered gauche, even for most of the alleged PMCs. Such sentiment will almost always be couched in an appeal to justice or rationalized as protecting Democracy.
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