Is it too late to end America’s ‘democratic recession’?

In 2024, elections will be held in 64 countries plus the European Union, affecting 49 percent of the people in the world. Voters in the United States, the United Kingdom and South Korea will choose a leader. In many other countries, including Russia, North Korea and Venezuela, the outcome is, of course, not in doubt. And in others, including Bangladesh, Pakistan and perhaps India, the elections will not be free and fair.

Driven by economic inequality, mass immigration and demographic changes, and radio, TV, internet and social media echo chambers that have hypercharged conspiracy theories and partisan polarization, undemocratic values are gaining ground throughout the world. More often than not, anti-democrats have begun with attacks on democracy from within, implementing restrictions on eligibility to run for office or vote; gerrymandering election districts; controlling who adjudicates political disputes; and undermining or outlawing an independent press. They have then created one-party states that can no longer be effectively challenged by their citizens.

According to a study by Freedom House, global freedom declined for the 17th straight year in 2023. And the United States is on the fastest downward trajectory, with our country’s democratic attributes now on par with those of Romania and Croatia. A survey by experts in comparative politics concluded that the current Republican Party is more like the dominant populist/authoritarian parties in Viktor Orban’s Hungary and Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey than the mainstream conservative parties in Canada and Germany. Of 26 countries experiencing pernicious polarization akin to that in the U.S., moreover, all but three subsequently became authoritarian.

These days, over 70 percent of Democratic and Republican voters believe the opposing party poses “a serious threat to the United States and its people.” 10 percent of Americans — millions of people — believe that “force is justified” to restore Donald Trump to the presidency. Over 20 percent of Republican state legislators have joined far-right social media groups. In 2022, one out of every six election officials in the U.S. received threats. Politically motivated acts of domestic terrorism have skyrocketed.

Filipino journalist and Nobel Laureate Maria Resa recently predicted that by the end of 2024,  “we will know whether democracy lives or dies.”

Or it is already too late to end America’s “democratic recession”?

Fundamental reforms of American political policies and institutions would, of course, help a lot. The right to vote should be protected by the federal government. Election Day should be a national holiday. The Electoral College should be abolished and presidents elected by popular vote. To end gerrymandering and reduce the number of safe seats in state legislatures and the House of Representatives, nonpartisan commissions should be empowered to draw election district maps after every federal census. Open primaries and ranked-choice voting in general elections should produce a substantial increase in politically moderate candidates and officeholders. Abolishing the filibuster should improve the productivity of the Senate. Supreme Court justices should have  fixed terms of, say, 15 years.

These reforms, alas, have no chance of being enacted in 2024 — or, for that matter, in the foreseeable future.

Doing nothing, however, should not be an option. The stakes are too high. So here are a few immediately actionable “think globally, act locally” recommendations:

• Volunteer for and provide financial support to reputable get-out-the-vote organizations.
• Support or help establish pro-democracy local media news outlets dedicated to combatting misinformation and disinformation. 
• Join or establish nonpartisan local organizations with pro-democracy identities, using ideas and elbow grease in the style of Habitat for Humanity.
• Set up monthly “things we can agree on” pro-democracy lunches or reading groups with neighbors, coworkers, club members and fellow worshippers.
• Spend an hour a week learning about proposals to protect and promote democracy. Get news from an least one media outlet whose editorial positions differ from yours, and uses reasonable content mediation strategies.
• Attend school board and local government meetings.
• Contact your representatives at all levels of government and request in-person meetings to advocate for specific pro-democracy policy initiatives.
• Vote in every election for which you are eligible.

If you struggle, as I have, to identify ways in which one person can make a difference in the community, let alone the nation, internalize philosopher Antonio Gramsci’s tenet of “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.” As an additional spur to action, remind yourself, as Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Denmark and Secretary General of NATO put it, that “people rarely take to the streets demanding more autocracy.”

Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Emeritus Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.