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Following the infamous events that unfolded at the US capital, the autocratic rulers of the world may be tempted to use the chaos as an opportunity to castigate democracy. It is easy to see them asking their subdued populations and the people of the world: is this the democracy you want? The response must be an unequivocal and emphatic ‘Yes’. Insofar as the power of ‘we the people’ is concerned, democracy will forever remain the best imperfect form of government and no political aberration in the form of Trumpism must not be allowed to challenge this.
DEMOCRACY IS MESSY BUT NECESSARY
Even though sometimes we rightly condemn America’s sordid history, domestic shortcomings and vicious foreign policy, we will not allow dictators to seek refuge under anti-Americanism due to flashes of disruptions in US society to advance the cause of deplorable ideologies such as totalitarianism, fascism, autocracy and all the isms available that seek to justify the rule of men and not laws. Democracy is messy, it is disruptive. By its very nature, it courts revolution to overthrow systems that oppress the people and breach the social contract. Once contradictions in the average democratic society reach their apogee, there will be the manifestation of robust challenges to the system. However, it is not to be exploited for purposes of refusing to peacefully transfer power or the advancement of racist ideologies and certainly not to fulfill the manic whims and fancies of a selfish man. It is messy but necessary.
THE GLORY OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
After you have paid attention to the madness at the capitol and after you have dealt with your revulsion, take a look at what happened after. In this, you will see the glory of American democracy. Even before the storming of the citadel of the American government, judges appointed by the President rejected judicial attempts to reverse the will of the people. After the insurrection, independent law enforcement agencies began full investigations and charges being instituted, corporations withdrew financial donations, Congress began impeachment proceedings against a sitting President and several members of the President’s party supported this constitutional mechanism and the heads of the various military branches sent a letter to all under their command reminding them that their allegiance is to the Constitution. The American admirable democratic ethos emerged in the confusion.
This is the glory of what the founding fathers created centuries ago and it is the reason why America will continue to remain a shining example. This is the democracy that global progressives want in their societies and continue to revere.
Is this the democracy you want? Yes, it is. Give us free speech. Give us a society of laws and not of strongmen. Give us democracy, with its periodic lawful disorder and not complete repressive order in a state ruled by the diktats and fiats of strongmen. Give us the democracy with disruptions and not the diabolical smooth flow of Hobbes’ Leviathan.
There is nothing wrong with democracy that cannot be fixed by democracy.
