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Authoritarianism is the historical norm in every human civilization. In fact America is one of the only examples of an empire that has been democratically gove

Authoritarianism is the historical norm in every human civilization. In fact America is one of the only examples of an empire that has been democratically governed since its inception. America is also a rare example of a revolution being followed by a lasting, multi-generational democracy (and that was a close call -- remember that our first president was the commander of the army that fought for revolution); the typical pattern is for some military leader to refuse to give up power after a successful revolution, or if a democracy is established it will usually end quickly after it is challenged by some crisis. Examples are plentiful and can be found in the histories of every region of human habitation on this planet, and it is a fantastic example of a phenomenon that seems to transcend things like technological development, culture, religion, and so forth. Remember that for a democracy to work people have to be active participants, and most people have other things to worry about in their lives. Democracies tend to erode over time; every crisis will lead to a bit of erosion of a democracy, and if the democracy is not reinforced following the crisis, it will be eroded even further during the next crisis. The decline of the Republican system of Rome is an interesting case study -- crisis after crisis weakened the democratic institutions until Caesar struck the final blow.

abecedarius 8y ago
Right, but this doesn't explain the speed of recent change. Maybe Steven Pinker jinxed civilization the same way that guy did who wrote a book a few years before WW1 about how globalization made war between modern states unthinkable.
- betterunix2 8y ago
  What makes you think this is unusually fast? If anything the example of Rome was unusually slow, which is why it is so easy to understand the sequence of events. The current trends are proceeding far slower than the decline of the Weimar Republic: in 1928 the Nazi party won less than 3% of the vote; in 1930, over 18%; in 1932 they were the largest party in parliament with nearly 38%; after 1933 free elections stopped being held and Hitler was given the power to enact laws without a parliamentary vote. [Edit: Edited to correct the vote totals for the Nazis in 1930 and 1932.]
  - humanrebar 8y ago
    > Hitler was given the power to enact laws without a parliamentary vote It's worth noting that no bill passed recently to create this new behavior. It's all done through executive orders and other bureaucratic measures. Congress has been happy to delegate its authority to the executive branch, the executive obviously likes it, and the judiciary isn't going to contradict both other branches, so more detail oriented democratic measures (legislation, constitutional amendments) have basically fallen away. Thankfully the U.S. still has peaceful transmission of presidential power between the major parties. For now at least. If there was one-party rule in the executive branch for too long, things would stop looking democratic pretty fast since neither the legislative nor judicial branches seem to be up for getting Congress to do its job again [1]. [1] Like actually declaring war, requiring legislation go through the legislature, balancing budgets, passing trade deals, overturning broken laws instead of rewriting them from the bench, and just about everything else besides approving judicial appointments (which is actually happening at a steady clip for the moment).
    - dao- 8y ago
      > Thankfully the U.S. still has peaceful transmission of presidential power between the major parties. As an outsider, i.e. European, I found this pretty interesting and alarming – but not surprising given recent developments in politics and the Republican party in particular: https://art19.com/shows/the-daily/episodes/c1cfe151-9c2b-4d90-aeb6-8d37a655996e https://art19.com/shows/the-daily/episodes/c1cfe151-9c2b-4d9...
    - paulmd 8y ago
      > Thankfully the U.S. still has peaceful transmission of presidential power between the major parties Let's not be too hasty there. It's being severely curtailed at the state level (several states gutting the power of Governor after democrats took that seat in the last election) and who knows what will happen with Trump. He's already screaming about voter fraud, if he loses who knows what's going to happen.
      - 0x445442 8y ago

abecedarius 8y ago

Right, but this doesn't explain the speed of recent change. Maybe Steven Pinker jinxed civilization the same way that guy did who wrote a book a few years before WW1 about how globalization made war between modern states unthinkable.

betterunix2 8y ago
What makes you think this is unusually fast? If anything the example of Rome was unusually slow, which is why it is so easy to understand the sequence of events. The current trends are proceeding far slower than the decline of the Weimar Republic: in 1928 the Nazi party won less than 3% of the vote; in 1930, over 18%; in 1932 they were the largest party in parliament with nearly 38%; after 1933 free elections stopped being held and Hitler was given the power to enact laws without a parliamentary vote. [Edit: Edited to correct the vote totals for the Nazis in 1930 and 1932.]
- humanrebar 8y ago
  > Hitler was given the power to enact laws without a parliamentary vote It's worth noting that no bill passed recently to create this new behavior. It's all done through executive orders and other bureaucratic measures. Congress has been happy to delegate its authority to the executive branch, the executive obviously likes it, and the judiciary isn't going to contradict both other branches, so more detail oriented democratic measures (legislation, constitutional amendments) have basically fallen away. Thankfully the U.S. still has peaceful transmission of presidential power between the major parties. For now at least. If there was one-party rule in the executive branch for too long, things would stop looking democratic pretty fast since neither the legislative nor judicial branches seem to be up for getting Congress to do its job again [1]. [1] Like actually declaring war, requiring legislation go through the legislature, balancing budgets, passing trade deals, overturning broken laws instead of rewriting them from the bench, and just about everything else besides approving judicial appointments (which is actually happening at a steady clip for the moment).
  - dao- 8y ago
    > Thankfully the U.S. still has peaceful transmission of presidential power between the major parties. As an outsider, i.e. European, I found this pretty interesting and alarming – but not surprising given recent developments in politics and the Republican party in particular: https://art19.com/shows/the-daily/episodes/c1cfe151-9c2b-4d90-aeb6-8d37a655996e https://art19.com/shows/the-daily/episodes/c1cfe151-9c2b-4d9...
  - paulmd 8y ago
    > Thankfully the U.S. still has peaceful transmission of presidential power between the major parties Let's not be too hasty there. It's being severely curtailed at the state level (several states gutting the power of Governor after democrats took that seat in the last election) and who knows what will happen with Trump. He's already screaming about voter fraud, if he loses who knows what's going to happen.
    - 0x445442 8y ago