Daniel Little: How democracies die

Daniel Little discusses How democracies die.

Little reviews Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point (2023). Little concludes:

To be a loyal democrat, Ziblatt and Levitsky argue that political figures must honor four principles:

• expel antidemocratic extremists from their own ranks
• sever all ties — public and private — with allied groups that engage in antidemocratic behavior
• unambiguously condemn political violence and other antidemocratic behavior
• join forces with rival pro-democratic parties to isolate and defeat antidemocratic extremists (41-43)

By these standards, there are very few “loyal democrats” among the elected Republican members of Congress today. John McCain would fall in this category; so would Liz Cheney. Mitch McConnell does not, and, judging from the photo above, neither does Josh Hawley. There are a few others who have shown this kind of principle and courage; but it is not the majority. And this is a great risk to the continuing vitality of our democracy.

Like all apologists for Capitalism, Little mistakes representative democarcy for true democracy. It is true that we get a vote to choose which candidate to represent us in a democratic forum, such as a parliament. But the decisions of that body are constrained by treaties, constitutions, precendents, legal rulings, and "The Economy" (both domestic and international).

It is particularly the Economy that harbours authoritarian and anti-democratic elements. The nature of a firm under Capitalism cannot be otherwise as the owners must protect their investments. A firm does harbour some democratic elements such as boards of directors and shareholder meetings. Yet, the latter is biased towards largest capital holdings.

Little should not be surprised by so-called 'democratic' parties being fine with anti-democratic elements. These parties protect the interests of Capitalists by any means necessary. Usually, these parties spin a story that satisfy the Capitalists while distracting the rest of the population. If the latter become too 'rowdy', then these parties unmask themselves as anti-deomocratic to suppress any such tendencies.