How you’ll know when the U.S. isn’t a democracy anymore

[bigheadfred]

Here's the funny thing about democracy: Sometimes, you don't know what you've got til it's gone.

John Carey, a Dartmouth professor of government, would know. He has spent his career studying the erosion of democracy in Latin American countries such as Venezuela and Argentina. And time and again, he has seen the same thing. “It’s only in retrospect that you can point to the bright line,” a moment when a country’s democratic institutions stopped working, he told me. At the time, he said, there’s rarely consensus. Instead, Carey said, “there's usually a debate about whether this is an advance or a setback.”

One example: In Latin America in the 1990s, democratically elected leaders often tried to seize power by trashing constitutional mandates against reelection. It’s a classic first move by heads of state interested in overstaying their welcome, perhaps indefinitely. In fact, those term limits were put in place because a century earlier, a rash of would-be authoritarians used presidential extensions to hang on to power well after their populations had turned against them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/02/25/how-youll-know-when-the-u-s-isnt-a-democracy-anymore/?utm_term=.64fe00b52456

[Victoria33]

From the article:

"It’s the same with other things, too. Would-be autocrats frame efforts to rein in the judiciary or purge judges who disagree as a way of being more responsive to the people. Or, they’ll say that certain judges are protecting the economic interests of the elite, and they need to go. In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defended his decision to jail thousands of his critics, along with journalists, professors and political rivals, by arguing that those arrested were fomenting discontent and stirring up coups."

We have that now from Trump, the same words about judges and news media, except for the actual jailing.
Also, during the campaign, Trump said he wanted new laws so he could sue media that didn't treat him "fairly".  He wants to stop all criticism.

[bigheadfred]

From the article:

"It’s the same with other things, too. Would-be autocrats frame efforts to rein in the judiciary or purge judges who disagree as a way of being more responsive to the people. Or, they’ll say that certain judges are protecting the economic interests of the elite, and they need to go. In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defended his decision to jail thousands of his critics, along with journalists, professors and political rivals, by arguing that those arrested were fomenting discontent and stirring up coups."

We have that now from Trump, the same words about judges and news media, except for the actual jailing.
Also, during the campaign, Trump said he wanted new laws so he could sue media that didn't treat him "fairly".  He wants to stop all criticism.

I said a while back I can see censorship rearing its ugly head. I don't know if that is a cry in the wildernesss, but I think we are well on the way.

[Fishrrman]

"How you’ll know when the U.S. isn’t a democracy anymore..."

The United States hasn't been "a democracy" since the Constitution was ratified.

It's a -republic-.

Isn't it...?

[EasyAce]

"How you’ll know when the U.S. isn’t a democracy anymore..."

The United States hasn't been "a democracy" since the Constitution was ratified.

It's a -republic-.

Wasn't it...?

Fixed?