Fresno State lecturer: American democracy faces threats from within the U.S. itself

That our cherished democracy is on trial is not debatable; indeed, both sides of the political equation agree on that. The controversy is over whether it is the Democrats or the Republicans who have put our nation at such peril.

Our Revolution of 1776 was, more than anything else, a revolt of the middle classes against an aristocracy imported from England. By today’s standards the result wasn’t much of a democracy, given the fact that under the laws of various states, a property qualification was attached to the voting franchise until the presidency of Andrew Jackson, our seventh president. The franchise was not extended to African Americans until after the Civil War, nor to women until 1920.

Voting rights are just one example of the extent to which, Darwin-like, our civilization has evolved over time into a democracy far superior to its conception.

Unlike the French Revolution of 1789, and the Russian Revolution of 1917, whose democratic government lasted less than a year, our democracy has persisted for 240 years. There are at least three problems, however, which have led us to the present crisis.

First, the reality of our booming population, now around 330 million people. The larger the state, the more difficult it is to preserve democracy. Large populations are more easily ruled than small ones, partly because their inertia is greater, but mainly because it is more difficult for them to unite in their grievances. The result is too often a government of a united minority against a divided majority.

For a comparison, consider the absence of turmoil in those serene, small democracies which thrive in Scandinavia, such as Sweden and Denmark. The more medium-sized countries, France, England and Germany certainly have their problems, but I don’t recall the British House of Commons, the German Bundestag or the French Parliament being stormed lately by terrorists determined to overthrow an election at the behest of the head of state.

A second cause of risk is the prevalence of ignorance among the populace. The theory of democracy that presumes man to be a rational animal doesn’t always hold true. Man is often an emotional animal that can be deceived to his heart’s content. While Lincoln’s comment “you can’t fool all the people all the time” has a ring of truth about it, it’s been proven more than once in our nation that you can fool enough of them to rule a large country.

Voltaire preferred monarchy to democracy, asserting that in a monarchy you had to educate only one man, whereas in a democracy, you must educate millions. While he had a point, I prefer Churchill’s contention that “Democracy is the worst form of government ever devised except all those other forms which have been tried from time to time.” Only through eternal vigilance can we keep our freedoms secure and vibrant.

Finally, democracy is a luxury which can be maintained only in a moderately secure and peaceful environment. Following Germany’s defeat in the First World War in 1918, the nation struggled with its first attempt at democracy, the Weimar Republic. Such controversies as runaway inflation, depression, and blame for the nation’s loss in the Great War resulted in hate-speech and violence against Jews, gypsies, intellectuals, Democratic Socialists, and all people of color fomented by the rise of the white nationalist Nazi Party. Hitler’s ascension to power after a free election in 1933 was the beginning of a dark age which has ramifications to this day.

As I sat in shock watching the insurrection at our Capitol on Jan. 6, I kept thinking of the words of historian-philosopher Will Durant: “From barbarism to civilization requires a century; from civilization to barbarism needs but a day.”

What happened in Germany, the land of Bach and Beethoven, of Bismarck and Brahms, can happen here. History is replete with examples that civilizations are not conquered from without until they have destroyed themselves from within.