The peculiar paradox of American democracy

The current moment also represents the best chance America has had for years to catalyse a proper turning point and build back better

The unprecedented scenes from the storming of the Capitol Hill on January 6 have confirmed two things about the United States of America.

First, the veneer of democratic propriety that had somehow endured the last four years of a tumultuous presidency is now gone, ripped apart to expose the dangers of a deeply divided America for the world to see.

Second, Donald Trump’s adeptness at championing a coup is about as much as his adeptness at championing a nation, which is to say, not very much. Having managed his tenure in the world’s most powerful office in the manner of scripting a soap opera, Trump incited a crazed cast comprising QAnon conspiracists, neo-Nazis and disgruntled working class whites to “stop the steal” of the election by the Democrats. Unlike in a dystopian Netflix chartbuster, this revolution did not work out. After all, even the most viscerally resentful slogans have their limits in the absence of a genuine insurrectionist strategy and calibrated mobilisation.

Having said that, the events of January 6 are bound to have lasting ramifications on American democracy, and even though the US Congress has confirmed the election of Joe Biden as president-elect, and Trump has, belatedly, but decisively, agreed to a peaceful transition of power, the storming of the Capitol Hill is not merely about symbolism, and deserves more thought than Trump or his supporters paid in engineering it.

America destroying America

There is little doubt that by marching into Capitol Hill with the purported aim of hounding vice president Mike Pence and compelling him to commit treason by declaring Trump as the winner of the 2020 elections, the invading crowds desanctified the myth of American exceptionalism. Not even the fiercest American patriot can now hector the so-called lesser democracies on what constitutes democratic dignity. After January 6, America has well and truly lost its cachet as the touchstone of modern democratic aspirations.

But something more significant has also taken place. Something that should worry Americans far more than simply setting a bad precedent for the rest of the world. This something concerns how easily a group of people with no expertise could enter and begin to ransack the most hallowed institution in the American republic; how the Capitol police allowed the Trumpists to have a smooth run for the most part; and how a sitting president’s disinformation campaign could be allowed to run scot-free for so long that it served to undermine faith in the most primary democratic feature – the legitimacy of elections.

For all the criticism of Trump, there has long been an unerring conviction among most of the Western commentariat that the 45th president is merely an aberration, a glitch in the otherwise stellar story of American greatness. This has led to an overemphasis on Trump’s personal shortcomings and a diversion of attention from the decaying of American institutions – be it the increasingly conservative nature of the Supreme Court, the obstructionism of the Senate, or the questionable conduct of law enforcement agencies.

But the events of January 6 have established that Trump is not the cause, but the most spectacular symptom, of America’s chronic illness. An illness that has been ignored for so long that it can be easy to believe it has been immunised against. This is the illness of blind faith in the power of institutions, in the mistaken belief that, ultimately, no matter the instincts of individuals, institutions can salvage America from any and every crisis.

This is the same blind faith that has let conscientious Americans retain the illusion that Donald Trump, for all his eccentricities, cannot but be checked and balanced or that an interventionist America looking to create fledgling democracies out of broken societies under the self-righteous George W Bush or the charismatic Barack Obama, cannot get away with impunity in front of global institutions.

In reality, however, all this that cannot have happened, has happened, as institutions have played second fiddle to individuals. American institutions, like those elsewhere, are only as strong as the integrity (or lack thereof) of the individuals commanding them.

Starting over

From a distance, it is obvious to identify the present situation of America as its nadir, at least ever since it took on the role of an international hegemon post-1945. But such is the peculiar paradox underpinning American democracy that the current moment in time also represents the best chance America has had for years to catalyse a proper turning point, to really start over and build back better.

With the Democrats regaining control of the Senate, the party that stands for the majority of Americans is now in charge of the big three – the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate – for the first time since the first half of the Obama years. This means that the Biden-Harris administration will have more room to carry out their proposed reforms – domestically as well as internationally – than many had initially anticipated, having rightly feared a filibustering Senate as the nullifier to potential game-changing legislations by the Democrats.

Whether or not the Democrats can generate a turnaround depends on the extent to which Biden can provide a bipartisan appeal, not just among the American public but also within his own party, with special reference to those on the Democratic far-left like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Not in living memory has America seen the kind of international embarrassment that the Capitol Hill putsch has generated. Predictably enough, nations across the planet have had their share of schadenfreude at American misery, with a number of questionable democracies, including Iran and Venezuela, issuing statements that would once have emanated from the Oval Office. The arc of history has bent towards comeuppance, not to mention, a barrage of memes and potent irony.

But if America is to turn the page, it cannot afford to get bogged down in soothing its ego. Under Biden, America must hunker down and fix its rapid polarisation and crumbling democracy. A good place to start doing so is to admit the truth, that American democracy is no longer “special”, or “great”, or “exceptional”.

Yes, the United States is still richer and militarily stronger than any other democracy on the planet; but purely as a democracy, it is now no less imperfect than the many others that have been subjected to its gravitas for generations.

(Priyam Marik is a freelance journalist writing on politics, culture and sport)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.