The Threats To U.S. Democracy Go Far Beyond Elections and the Courts

The idea that U.S. democracy is in danger is now widely accepted among the U.S. political class and increasingly by the American public as well. ​“Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today,” President Biden said during his March 7 State of the Union address.

Much of the media attention on the threat has focused on our electoral system and courts. These procedural elements of democracy are of course critical. But there isn’t enough public discussion of threats to substantive democracy — the degree of government accountability to the public, as well as the protection of free speech and the right to dissent.

There is a steadily worsening erosion of substantive democracy in the United States, but it isn’t widely understood as a pattern, even when individual components of it are known. But it’s critical to understand that all of these attacks on our democratic system pose a hazard to our rights.

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