The State Of Our Democracy
We're Now a Flawed Democracy
The Economist Intelligence Agency downgraded our democracy from ‘full democracy’ to ‘flawed democracy’ in 2016, it should have been a national scandal, a moment of shame that galvanized us to action. Unfortunately, despite this warning sign, Republicans and Democrats did nothing to improve our democracy and have actively undermined it. We are now 28th in the world behind the likes of Costa Rica, Estonia, and Greece.
Our Government No Longer Functions
According to the Economist, we’re particularly bad at Functioning of Government, where we are tied with the likes of Botwana and Poland, and Political Culture where we are tied with Ghana and Albania. For reference, Hungary, with Victor Orban, has a BETTER political culture than we do. It’s hard not to pin those failures directly on the Republicans and Democrats. Just look at how often the government shuts down under their 'leadership.'
Our Government is Corrupt
That's not just hyperbole. There’s a Corruption Index from Transparency.org. We’re 28th there as well with a score of 65 out of 100, right next to Cabo Verde in Sub-Saharan Africa. As anyone who went to grade school knows, a 65 is a D-, barely passing. In particular, the unregulated gush of private money from billionaires has poisoned our elections since the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court in 2010. Again, who has been in power as this corruption exploded? Republicans and Democrats.
We're Number 28. Our Goal Should Be Number 1.
Our goal should be number one on both the Democracy and Corruption lists. We should be the best and least corrupt democracy in the world, back on our perch as an example for others. We should aspire, once again, to this quote from Ronald Reagan in his farewell address:
“I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still.”