Over the past three years, the world’s oldest democracy has been tested in ways not seen in decades.
A sitting president tried to overturn an election and his supporters stormed the Capitol to stop the winner from taking power. Supporters of that attack launched a campaign against local election offices, chasing out veteran administrators and pushing conservative states to pass new laws making it harder to vote.
At the same time, the past three years proved that American democracy was resilient.
Former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results failed, blocked by the constitutional system’s checks and balances, and he now faces both federal and state charges for those efforts. Then the voters stepped in. In every presidential battleground state, they rejected all candidates who supported Trump’s stolen election lies and were running for statewide offices that had some oversight of elections.
The election infrastructure in the country performed well, with only scattered disruptions during the 2022 midterms. New voting laws, many of which are technical and incremental, had little discernable impact on actual voting.
Half the presidents in my lifetime lost the popular vote, and their party is the one that stole the Supreme Court.
“American democracy”
This just in, “democracy” that was originally just white, land-owning men who were allowed to vote isn’t actually as democratic as it would like you to believe.
We need to send some SCJs to prison along with half the treasonous Republican Party.
Right? As a librarian for the city, I’m a government employee. If I did just one of the shitty things Thomas did, I’d be fired immediately and jailed.
You Say I “might have exhibited millions of Plebians, sacrificed to the pride Folly and Ambition of Monarchy and Aristocracy.” This is very true. And I might hav[, Start insertion,e, End,] exhibited as many millions of Plebians sacrificed by the Pride Folly and Ambition of their fellow Plebians and their own, in proportion to the extent and duration of their power. Remember Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes exhausts and murders itself. There never was a Democracy Yet, that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to Say that Democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious or less avaricious than Aristocracy or Monarchy. It is not true in Fact and no where appears in history. Those Passions are the same in all Men under all forms of Simple Government, and when unchecked, produce the same Effects of Fraud Violence and Cruelty. When clear Prospects are opened before Vanity, Pride, Avarice or Ambition, for their easy gratification, it is hard for the most considerate Phylosophers and the most conscientious Moralists to resist the temptation. Individuals have conquered themselves, Nations and large Bodies of Men, never.
Pretty sure the United States is not, in fact, the “oldest democracy”. Good ol American Exceptionalism, because it’s apparently not okay to just be normal.
Bad article.
Depends on the criteria:
If you’re looking for the very first instance of democracy, credit is often attributed to Ancient Athens. It’s there the term originated, based on the Greek words demos (“common people”) and kratos (“strength”). In the 6th century BC, the city-state allowed all landowners to speak at the legislative assembly, blazing a path that would be followed by democracies in the future.
However, Ancient Athens wasn’t really a country in the modern sense. It’s also not around anymore, so that certainly disqualifies the oldest continuous democratic country today.
…
Democracies also have to be continuous in order to count. Although France has important democratic origins, the country is currently on its fifth republic since the French Revolution, thanks to Napoleon, Vichy France, and other instances where things went sideways.
…
Using this specific criteria, there is only one country with continuous democracy for more than 200 years (The United States), and fourteen countries with democracies older than a century.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/countries-are-the-worlds-oldest-democracies/
400+ years, Native American Haudenosaunee (improper name Iroquois) tribe:
https://atlantaciviccircle.org/2021/11/17/native-americas-influence-on-american-democracy/
And they let women vote, too.
Of course America would choose a definition that serves their purposes.
Hey… isn’t letting people vote kind of the whole point of a democracy? When did women get the right to vote again… oops!
The link provides an example of criteria (recognizing that it’s a difficult question) that even a European organization, like the World Economic Forum based in Switzerland, considers acceptable. This supports the claim made in the article. Of course, if you don’t agree, that’s okay too.
deleted by creator
