Oct. 12, 2022 6:00 am
Never in my wildest dreams did I think America would be on the verge of changing from a democracy to authoritarian rule. But, overwhelming evidence abounds that voters and a political party are purposely changing their behavioral traits.
With three grandchildren -- ages 11, 8 and 4 -- I truly fear for their freedoms of speech, press and religion and rights of petition and assembly.
Freedom House is the oldest American organization that conducts research on democracy, political freedom and human rights. The not-for-profit organization’s fact-based Freedom in the World 2022 report assesses 210 countries’ degree of political freedoms and civil liberties. The first paragraph of the report is daunting: “Global freedom faces a dire threat . . . the enemies of liberal democracy . . . are accelerating their attacks.”
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The United States, Hungary, Nauru, Poland and India are identified as the top five countries in the world with the largest 10-year decline of democracy attributes.
The report notes “elections, even when critically flawed, have long given authoritarian leaders a veneer of legitimacy.” Examples include Russia’s 2021 parliamentary elections, Nicaragua’s 2021 presidential election and the U.S. 2020 presidential election with Republicans “stop the steal” fraudulent claim.
The report further states “Leaders who fear losing power in a democratic system have taken to sowing distrust in elections. The assault on the U.S. Capitol was the culmination of a months-long campaign by outgoing president Donald Trump to cast Joe Biden’s victory as illegitimate and fraudulent.”
Most authoritarians are narcissistic, demand complete control over their subordinates, fault is always due to someone else and they love to scare people with disinformation and misinformation. Does anyone come to mind?
Authoritarian leaders like to collaborate and praise one another. Donald Trump praised North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, China’s Xi Jinping, Philippine’s Rodrigo Duterte, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Authoritarian attributes also include invoking discrimination against racial and ethnic minority groups, anti-asylum, anti-immigration, anti-LGBTQ, voter suppression, book banning and private school preference. Sound familiar?
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Two other authoritarian-focused characteristics include candidates tying themselves to organizations engaged in illicit behavior and refusing to condemn political violence (“very fine people,” Charlottesville, VA, Aug. 15, 2017 and “Proud Boys: stand back and stand by,” Sept. 29, 2020; by Donald Trump) and lambasting the media and criticizing the government.
If the above noted examples don’t wake you up to America’s democracy being in jeopardy, then it’s safe to say this is the first time you’ve read about the democracy-authoritarian conundrum or you’ve been hoodwinked, deceived, duped and outwitted by autocrats. Your inductive or deductive reasoning skills to differentiate democracy norms from fascism and authoritarian rule needs fine tuning.
Steve Corbin is professor emeritus of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa.
www.thegazette.com
Never in my wildest dreams did I think America would be on the verge of changing from a democracy to authoritarian rule. But, overwhelming evidence abounds that voters and a political party are purposely changing their behavioral traits.
With three grandchildren -- ages 11, 8 and 4 -- I truly fear for their freedoms of speech, press and religion and rights of petition and assembly.
Freedom House is the oldest American organization that conducts research on democracy, political freedom and human rights. The not-for-profit organization’s fact-based Freedom in the World 2022 report assesses 210 countries’ degree of political freedoms and civil liberties. The first paragraph of the report is daunting: “Global freedom faces a dire threat . . . the enemies of liberal democracy . . . are accelerating their attacks.”
Advertisement
The United States, Hungary, Nauru, Poland and India are identified as the top five countries in the world with the largest 10-year decline of democracy attributes.
The report notes “elections, even when critically flawed, have long given authoritarian leaders a veneer of legitimacy.” Examples include Russia’s 2021 parliamentary elections, Nicaragua’s 2021 presidential election and the U.S. 2020 presidential election with Republicans “stop the steal” fraudulent claim.
The report further states “Leaders who fear losing power in a democratic system have taken to sowing distrust in elections. The assault on the U.S. Capitol was the culmination of a months-long campaign by outgoing president Donald Trump to cast Joe Biden’s victory as illegitimate and fraudulent.”
Most authoritarians are narcissistic, demand complete control over their subordinates, fault is always due to someone else and they love to scare people with disinformation and misinformation. Does anyone come to mind?
Authoritarian leaders like to collaborate and praise one another. Donald Trump praised North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, China’s Xi Jinping, Philippine’s Rodrigo Duterte, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Authoritarian attributes also include invoking discrimination against racial and ethnic minority groups, anti-asylum, anti-immigration, anti-LGBTQ, voter suppression, book banning and private school preference. Sound familiar?
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Two other authoritarian-focused characteristics include candidates tying themselves to organizations engaged in illicit behavior and refusing to condemn political violence (“very fine people,” Charlottesville, VA, Aug. 15, 2017 and “Proud Boys: stand back and stand by,” Sept. 29, 2020; by Donald Trump) and lambasting the media and criticizing the government.
If the above noted examples don’t wake you up to America’s democracy being in jeopardy, then it’s safe to say this is the first time you’ve read about the democracy-authoritarian conundrum or you’ve been hoodwinked, deceived, duped and outwitted by autocrats. Your inductive or deductive reasoning skills to differentiate democracy norms from fascism and authoritarian rule needs fine tuning.
Steve Corbin is professor emeritus of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa.
Authoritarian rule threatens America
Never in my wildest dreams did I think America would be on the verge of changing from a democracy to …
www.thegazette.com
