Are we witnessing the death of American democracy?

Harvard professors of government Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have done decades of research into how democracy has failed in various countries ranging from Weimar Germany to modern Venezuela. Their 2018 book, “How Democracies Die,” lays out the steps by which such collapses happen:

1. Rejection of (or weak commitment to) democratic rules of the game.

2. Denial of the legitimacy of political opponents.

3. Toleration or encouragement of violence

4. Readiness to curtail civil liberties of opponents, including media.

This erosion of democratic guardrails can occur in such a subtle manner that many citizens fail to take it seriously. This is what happened when Germany, one of the world’s most advanced democracies, fell under the spell of a charlatan who promised, in effect, to “make Germany great again.” By Tom Huckin. Full Text -> The SaltLakeTribune

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