ARE DEMOCRACIES BECOMING ILLIBERAL?

Most of us grew up convinced that a democratic form of government is preferred over any other system out there, and many believe naively that all democracies are alike. We tend to equate democracy with freedom, and whenever we hear of anti-government demonstrations in other countries we instinctively assume that the demonstrators aspire to change their system of government to a democratic one - one just like ours.

The facts are that not all democracies are alike, that democratic traditions have evolved over time, and that even our founding fathers were very critical of democracy in its purest form. John Adam was quoted as saying that "remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders
itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." Benjamin Franklin thought that "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch." And Libertarian Ron Paul opined that: "The problem is that democracy is not freedom. Democracy is simply majoritarianism, which is inherently incompatible with freedom. Our founding fathers clearly understood this."

Our founders designed a republican form of government, incorporating public participation in selecting leaders with a system of checks and balances to control dominance by any one center of power. During the early years, in response to calls from several states for greater constitutional protection for individual liberties, James Madison produced the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, which listed specific prohibitions on governmental power. These rights, like freedom of speech, religion, belief, property ownership, assembly and dissent, roughly based on the Magna Carta, a charter agreed upon between King John and his barons in England in 1215, were institutionalized, and did not only protect us against the abuse of a tyrant, but also from democratic majorities. In most western countries that adopted some form of democratic government, the protection of basic liberties became intertwined with the electoral system and became what we now refer to as a "liberal democracy."

More than 60 percent of the world's countries are electoral democracies - regimes in which political parties compete and come to power in regularly scheduled elections. This is up from 40 percent in the late 1980s. However, not all of these democracies continue to provide equal protection under the law. While many started out by guaranteeing liberties to their citizens, in some cases even enshrining these protections in constitutions or basic laws, in an increasing number of countries individual freedoms are disappearing.

In some, like the old Soviet Union, a democratic system was proclaimed, even to the point of literally copying our Constitution. In reality its "democracy" only resembled the liberal variety and never lived up to its promise. In countries like Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Iraq and the Philippines a "democratic shell" remains, meaning that elections do take place, but the elected governments manage to change relevant laws eliminating many of the freedoms we have become accustomed to, ignoring constitutional limits on their power while concentrating most if not all political power in the executive, legitimized by claims of support by the majority party. These countries have in fact become "illiberal."

Richard Holbrooke, architect of the Dayton peace accords, on the eve of the September 1996 elections in Bosnia, lamented: "Suppose the election was declared free and fair and those elected are racists, fascists, separatists, who are publicly opposed to [peace and reintegration]. That's the dilemma." (Fareed Zakaria, "Doubts about Democracy," Newsweek, Dec. 28, 1997.}

Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria who as far back as 1997 articulated his concerns about the trend towards illiberal democracy in a growing number of countries is now projecting that we may be on track to experience something similar in our country. He believes that what sustains democracy is not simply legal safeguards and rules, but norms and practices. In other words democratic behavior, and he suggests that our culture of liberal democracy is waning. According to Zakaria our political parties have collapsed, and have become "mere vessels for whoever wins the primaries. Congress has caved, professional groups have become largely toothless, and the media has been rendered irrelevant." ("America's democracy has become illiberal," Washington Post, Dec. 29, 016).

From the President's assertion that the media only produces "fake news," to his senior advisor's proclamation that there is "no such thing as judicial supremacy," and that "what the judges did is take power away that belongs squarely in the hands of the President of the United States," when reacting to the 9th Circuit Court's decision to deny lifting a temporary restraining order on the administration's travel ban, we ought to stay alert and resist descending into the same abyss many other countries are falling into.