Category: democracy

Australia Advised to Offer More Democracy Support in Region: Report

An international watchdog has advised Australia to support the growth and sustainability of democratic policies in the Asia-Pacific region as the state of the world’s democracies continue to “backslide,” a report has found. In its annual report, the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) said democratic institutions, including longstanding democracies, were being…


Why the Mainstream Media Is Now the Biggest Threat to Democracy

Commentary What is the biggest threat to democracy? Is it technology? No, it’s not. How about the lack of youth in politics or even gender imbalances? No, and no. Maybe the climate crisis? Again, no. Okay, so it has to be voting machines, right? Wrong again. According to a recent poll commissioned by The New…


Oil on the Ballot, Not Democracy

Commentary President Joe Biden claimed that democracy was on the ballot while speaking at Union Station in Washington on Nov. 2. “In a typical year, we are not often faced with the question of whether the vote we cast will preserve democracy or put it at risk. But we are this year.” The implication from…


Tuesday Takeaways

Commentary What, if anything, did the midterms tell us about the country—other than underwhelming Republicans could still take the House and Senate? During the COVID-19 lockdowns, American elections radically changed to mail-in and early voting. They did so in a wild variety of state-by-state ways. Add ranked voting and a required majority margin to the…


Elon Musk Is Right. Divided Government Is Best

Commentary There are no saviors or miracles in democracy, only a grueling, soul-sucking, forever war of attrition. That is the enduring lesson of the 2022 midterms, as it is every election. And, though the results will be overinterpreted by pundits, and partisans will have all their priors confirmed, in the end, it is simply proof…


Democracy Is Dying. Is It Time for a National Divorce?

Commentary Democracy is like a newborn child. It requires constant attention and care. It must be nurtured and monitored closely. Commenting on democracy, Ilka Chase, an American novelist and actress, called it “a living, changing organism, continuously shifting, and attempting to strike a balance between individual freedom and general order.” Sadly, around the world, this…


The Deep State Is What Disables Democracy

Commentary The idea of democracy as it emerged gradually out of the Enlightenment, and drawing on ancient forms in Greece and Rome, is that the people govern themselves. People serve as the main determinants of the rules, laws, and legislation under which they live. They even set the rules concerning what people are allowed to…


Eerie Similarities Between Democratic Party and Chinese Communist Party Lingo

Commentary The brilliant former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was once quoted as saying, “Words have meaning. And their meaning doesn’t change.” That is absolutely true, but the meanings of commonly understood words are frequently corrupted, represented, or obfuscated by nefarious people. Both the Chinese Communist Party and the U.S. Democratic Party are masters…


Biden Takes Heat From Both Sides Over Speech Criticizing ‘Extreme MAGA Republicans’

While President Joe Biden undoubtedly expected to receive backlash from Republicans following his Nov. 2 speech warning that “democracy is under threat” from supporters of former President Donald Trump, it is unlikely that he expected to take heat from his own party as well. Nonetheless, Biden’s Wednesday remarks at Union Station in Washington, are drawing…


The Specter of Democratism

Commentary “If fascism ever comes to America, it will come in the name of liberalism,” Ronald Reagan prophesied. More precisely, it’s coming in the name of democracy. That revered word that justifies every political action and policy, “democracy” is now a Trojan horse for its opposite. The Washington Post recently published an article titled, incredibly,…