"They [anocracies] typically are democracies in decay that are beginning to take on autocratic features, as happened during the presidency of Donald Trump," they explain. "During Trump's administration, the democratic score for the United States dropped precipitously. If Donald Trump is re-elected in 2024, there is a distinct possibility the score will drop again and, this time, continue to drop."
Well, we all know what happened this month.
Director Center for Systemic Peace and the Polity Project, Dr. Monty G. Marshall, stated in May:
Democracy is not an abstract notion; it is a management technique that provides educated humans the ability to manage complexity... Democracy is not a voting system, although voting has become prominent as a decision-making method. All forms of governance employ voting procedures to some extent. Democracy happens naturally in well-developed systems when most citizens accept a vow of non-violence and recognize the legitimacy of enforcement through judicial law.
He darkly concludes:
Unfortunately, the Republican Party has abdicated its responsibilities and succumbed to a hostile takeover; it can no longer be considered a party to democracy. The Trumpist Party has become, rather, a Cult of Personality determined to further polarize and cannibalize the system and its future for the benefit of a small cadre of system pirates... Our responsibility as citizens demands that we stop for a moment and think rationally about what we're doing, and where we are headed. We have no right to punish our children in this cruel way. We have given them life and owe them a secure and hopeful future in which they, other nations, and further generations, can live peaceably and prosper responsibly.
Anne Applebaum, senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University's SNF Agora Institute and the School of Advanced International Studies, and staff writer for The Atlantic, wrote in 2021 in a piece titled "The Bad Guys Are Winning":
If the 20th century was the story of slow, uneven progress toward the victory of liberal democracy over other ideologies-- "communism, fascism, virulent nationalism-- " the 21st century is, so far, a story of the reverse.
Some might ask, "Well, so what if we're an anocracy? What's so bad about it as long as we still get to vote? We could use a little dictatorship around here."
Anocracies produce high human rights violation rates, unstable political environments, and political repression; and they are ten times more susceptible to internal conflict.
With these conditions in place, anocracies are more prone to civil wars, particularly within their first few years of chucking democracy, as Patrick M. Regan and Sam R. Bell report in their research "Changing Lanes or Stuck in the Middle: Why Are Anocracies More Prone to Civil Wars?"
While it's convenient to pin it all on the election-- "and reelection-- " of the twice-impeached convicted felon, this downward spiral has been happening for decades. The adjudicated rapist is just the hood ornament.
On January 21, 2010, the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) handed down its ruling on the controversial Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission (FEC) decision equating political spending with free speech covered under the Constitution's first amendment. Under this ruling, the federal government is prohibited from interfering with corporations, nonprofit organizations, and unions from spending unlimited sums to support or oppose individual political candidates.
As long as they are not presenting funds to campaigns directly, corporations are free to pump as much as they want into political advertising and "super PACs" (political action committees) not required to disclose their donors' identities.
It's what former Massachusetts governor and 2012 republican presidential nominee, Utah Senator Mitt Romney, referred to in 2011 when he proclaimed "Corporations are people!"
But Citizens United was not the first high court decision to hand democracy to corporations. That distinction lies with the 1886 Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company.
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