The End of Democracy as We Know It

I’m publishing this series of articles to share and discuss my ruminations on coping with a troubled and messy world. Please “follow” me to never miss an article.

As those who follow my blogs regularly know, I’m extremely pessimistic about the fate of American Democracy. Recent events have only added to my fears.

Consider.

A Republican candidate for the Senate has run ads featuring him holding a rifle and spouting that it’s “open season on RINOs (Republicans In Name Only).” Indeed, according to him, “there’s no time limit to taking them out.” In today’s world, such sentiments cannot be taken lightly. They are a direct incitement to those who are more than ready to partake in actual violence.

The Republican Convention in Texas has endorsed the faulty claim — The Big Lie — that Trump won the last election. Indeed, it’s mandatory for any Republican aspiring to be on the ballot in Texas. It’s also endorsed banning the mere use of the word Gay in schools, let alone teaching about it. Indeed, Gay is seen solely as a “choice,” if not a “disease.” To demean and thereby disenfranchise a whole segment of the population is not only cruel, but evil.

America has always celebrated and respected honest differences about the role and size of Government. But these are not one of them.

Acceptance of the outcomes of fair elections, and thereby the peaceful transfer of power, is one of the hallmarks of Democracy. To reject it is not only anti-Democratic, but the death of Democracy itself. As I’ve said so many times, I’ve never been so worried about the fate of American Democracy, indeed, Democracies everywhere.

What in God’s name has happened to us?

Ian I. Mitroff is credited as being one of the principal founders of the modern field of Crisis Management. He has a BS, MS, and a PhD in Engineering and the Philosophy of Social Systems Science from UC Berkeley. He Is Professor Emeritus from the Marshall School of Business and the Annenberg School of Communication at USC. Currently, he is a Senior Research Affiliate in the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, UC Berkeley. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Management. He has published 41 books. His latest is: The Socially Responsible Organization: Lessons from Covid, Springer, New York, 2022.