Death of Democracy

 

Death of Democracy by Benjamin Carter Hett (2018) 280 pp

The subtitle tells the story -- Hitler's rise to power and the downfall of the Weimar Republic. Experiments in democracy seem rational, if not easy, until things get tough. One of the most egregious examples is Hitler’s rise to dictatorship in Germany. Professor Hett details the circumstances that bred German resentment of the Weimar Republic and enabled the rise of the Nazis. Hyperinflation, massive unemployment, famine and epidemics are all elements that can crush republics. Hett walks us methodically toward the precipice; deliberate dishonesty, public irrationality: anti-intellectualism, scapegoating, conspiracies, distrust, and greed. The Nazis called this confluence Gleichschaltung, or coordination. All the switches are flipped to the same circuit. Aside from the unspeakable horror of totalitarian regimes, the slow walk towards the acceptance of evil is the most disturbing.

Tyranny of the Minority

Tyranny of the Minority by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, © 2023, 368 pgs. 

On February 6, 1934, far-right leaning groups stormed the French National Assembly building. The tension in France had been building since the end of World War I, but with the Great Depression, political instability and general unrest, a dam finally broke. Fascist groups organized and stormed the facility, throwing rocks, setting buses on fire, breaking windows, firing guns, slashing the legs of police horses, crying "Hang the deputies!" Some were killed and hundreds were injured. 

Though France was able to beat back the rioters, there was an investigation that wasn't taken seriously by all of parliament. "Mainstream conservatives' sympathy for the anti-democratic extremists was a major factor in the attack." They downplayed and justified the rioters. As a result, French democracy was hobbled and their democracy would be dead within a few years. Sound familiar? 

In their previous book, How Democracies Die, Levitsky and Ziblatt, two Harvard professors of government, highlight how democracies backslide and how elected leaders subvert the constitution to enable more power for their party. Here, the authors take a different spin on tyranny, focusing on "counter-majoritarian" mechanisms and institutions that thwart progressive, majority-backed legislation and work to undermine democracy itself from within. 

Lots of illuminating information to be had here. The electoral college was originally conceived to undermine poorer classes of people deciding who would run the country--America is the only country that continues to use this system--every other major democratic country has removed it. Know who the most democratic country is? Not us by a long shot. America is very much like a ship; you can't turn it on a dime. It takes decades and generations and social movements to make the kinds of change a majority of us all agree on. But counter-majority institutions and the people elected who promote them threaten to derail our democracy into something we can't even imagine. There's kind of an eerie sense of history repeating itself in this book, but highly recommended for understanding where we are now and where we might end up by next year. 

Hiding in plain sight

Hiding in plain sight: the invention of Donald Trump and the erosion of America / Sarah Kendzior, 273 pgs.

After reading this book, you may find yourself pondering...is democracy even a thing anymore? Crazy times is all you can really think as you marvel at how things have come to this.  The country isn't easy to live in anymore but there aren't any obvious other choices either.  What will it take to get the average person interested in the decline? It isn't that they aren't interested, there are limits to what any individual can do.  Kendzior spends a lot of time talking about these issues and warning people yet is still met with surprise when events she foretold come to pass. Not exactly uplifting but should be required reading.