preview

Polarization Populism And Erosion Of Democracy

Decent Essays

Polarization, populism, and erosion of democracy are all occurring. It Is important then to look at the relationship between these three things, and their potential to cause further issues. As I hope I made clear in my discussion of polarization there is a real threat to democracy that exists when people are not able to be held accountable. Polarization on its own caused the issues of gerrymandering and voter id laws that were discussed above, but more important than that is the relationship between polarization within government and populism. According to Liebermann “hyperpolarization magnifies tendencies for the partisan capture of institutions that are supposed to exercise checks and balances, but may instead be translated into unaccountable …show more content…

This grafting of autocratic behavior onto one of the two major parties potentially undermines democratic norms in ways that neither populism nor polarization could do on their own” (Lieberman, 8). American democracy was not meant to thrive on a polarized system, George Washington warned about a two-party system, and Ginsburg and Huq also point out that the emergence of this system had “reshaped incentives” of politicians (Huq and Ginsburg 2017, 12). Polarization also allows a populist to take root, and act without fear of repercussions. The fact that, as Kuhn puts it, “… much of the white working class decided that Mr. Trump could be a jerk. Absent any other champion, they supported the jerk they thought was more on their side — that is, on the issues that most concerned them.” (Kuhn, 2) goes to show that polarization can promote populist leaders, and keep the masses from voting against them, as resistance means the other side would win. This same mentality described above has kept conservative minded individuals from speaking up when Trump attacks the media or federal judges, and it will likely even keep conservative minded individuals from speaking up when Trump does something concrete like expand libel laws to silence journalists. This same process could potentially play out on the …show more content…

As shown above Trump’s decision are approved of by most Republicans giving them little reason to protest. Articles like those by Chartwell Patrick Hughes only serve to alienate Trump voters, and makes the issue partisan by calling out “modern conservatives” saying, “...we should reflect on who modern conservatives really are.” (Hughes). The entire article uses an Us vs. you structure which alienates people who voted for Trump shaming them for doing it, while claiming to understand why they did it. The article is written condescendingly, and is a prime example of the type of resistance against democratic erosion that only serves to entrench people into their respective sides. No one changes their mind while being lectured or threatened. If resistance to erosion continues to deepen partisanship, rather than breach it, then the possibility of democratic erosion will only increase, and the current safeguards that are working will be further

Get Access