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Democratic Backsliding Reaches Western Democracies, U.S. Decline "Unprecedented"
- alex43578 7mo ago[flagged]
- digitalPhonix 7mo ago> an administration deliberately failing to enforce immigration laws What civil liberties are being eroded there? (I do agree that poor handling of the pandemic normalised the removal of civil liberties)
- alex43578 7mo ago[flagged]
- wredcoll 7mo agoWhat is the correct term for this kind of bad faith attempt at seeming logical while at the same time being utterly and deliberately wrong?
- alex43578 7mo ago[flagged]
- cosmicgadget 7mo agoDo you think the administration executing this faithfully in general, or just with regard to your one issue?
- alex43578 7mo agoI don’t think this administration is either, nor did I ever say that it is. I asked why these institutions or organizations have such selective outrage over issues. If the concentration of power in the presidency, as shown by an erosion of the Take Care Clause, is such a concern, where was the concern about the malfeasance of the last administration?
- e40 7mo agoBecause the malfeasance of the last administration was orders of magnitude less than the current one.
- cosmicgadget 7mo ago> I asked why these institutions or organizations have such selective outrage over issues. Because people have stuff they care about more and stuff they care about less. > as shown by an erosion of the Take Care Clause Honestly the only two times I have heard anyone refer to the Take Care clause is the current president during some twitter rant many years ago and yourself right now. There are a few good explanations for this but the most likely one, in my mind, is because the primary function of the executive is to enforce laws in a world with limited. And so no one needs to invoke the Take Care clause unless they're really mad about a single issue. > where was the concern about the malfeasance of the last administration? Pretty pervasive, if you hadn't noticed we voted in the guy who turned a mob loose on the counting of votes.
- kelseyfrog 7mo agoAt the same time democratic backsliding [1] occurs in cycles. We're probably not at a low point, but that doesn't mean it's permanent. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding
- mpalmer 7mo agoAs a citizen of one of these backsliders, in addition to voting in every election I'm allowed to, I am committing to taking additional civic action in the next few months to advocate for free and fair elections. I hope everyone in a similar position joins me in that.
- jfengel 7mo agoIn the United States, a significant portion of the population is all for that "backsliding". This isn't something imposed by an unconstitutional autocracy. This was something we voted for. There is an election coming up, and it's possible that the administration will lose enough support to prevent future erosion of democracy. But even without their active interference, they will still have the support of many, many voters. Current forecasts are too close to call, e.g.: https://www.270towin.com/2026-house-election/consensus-2026-house-forecast https://www.270towin.com/2026-house-election/consensus-2026-...
- rayiner 7mo ago[flagged]
- wredcoll 7mo agoNobody thinks that a president type figure appointing someone else to run a part of the government they are responsible for is an erosion of democracy. What, specifically, is the alternative? The president does literally everything? We have elections for each dmv clerk? Or maybe we draw some kind of line and say some jobs should have elections and others aren't worth the effort. (And no, you can't just say "the job of dmv clerk should't exist" because someone has to do it and I'd much rather that person be answerable to an elected government than a corporation or worse)
- rayiner 7mo agoWhat you’re describing is how administrative bureaucracies used to work in the U.S. before the 1920s and in Europe before the E.U. That’s consistent with democracy. The anti-democratic part is when the elected officials began delegating more and more power to those bureaucracies and those bureaucracies became more independent and insulated from elections. That when the backslide happened. In the U.S. that happened because of legislation and new legal doctrines in the 1930s. In Europe it happened because of increasing delegation of power to the centralized E.U. bureaucracy.
- Krssst 7mo ago> In Europe, with the advent of the EU, which shifted power away from voters to unelected bureaucracies seated in foreign countries. Removing it would transfer power away from the people to EU's adversaries and large monopolistic entities. The European parliament is elected. When people don't shoot themselves in the foot and put weird politicians in it, being a bigger group means more power to coerce large companies into behaving better. See: GDPR or small things like removal batteries or removal or roaming fees. So in a sense it allows people to recover some power over large companies. Generally attacks on the EU sound like they come from other countries or large companies that would benefit from it being split so that individual countries can be better bullied into submission (though the EU has not been very competent at not bullying itself into submission to the recent new American leader).
- bruceb 7mo ago[flagged]
- rorylawless 7mo agoWhat do you mean by “scientific”? These concepts aren’t discoverable in nature. However, they’re transparently defined in the code book and the “opinions” are available for analysis in the expert coder-level dataset.
- goatlover 7mo agoWhat if the things I don't like are anti-democratic? Like masked agents without warrants dragging people out of their homes and cars while ignoring federal court orders about using tear gas and other tactics? Or starting a war in the Middle East without consulting Congress and the American people.
- cosmicgadget 7mo agoHas this elected person said or done anything that specifically endangers voting rights? Or, say, federalizes voting?
- onetimeusename 7mo agoAre you opposed to the Voting Rights Act?
- cosmicgadget 7mo agoHaven't thought about it much tbqh.
- DivingForGold 7mo agoLinberg's assumptions are fake. Just look at Germany silencing free speech, and the whole of the EU attempting to control free speech in the digital realm, which the US has.
- toraway 7mo agoIt’s a well known benchmark in comparative political science with a specific rubric for how each category is analyzed. It’s imperfect but far more rigorous than dismissing indicators of backsliding as just “not liking Trump” (just one of many examples that together form a concerning trend): F.C.C. Chair Threatens to Revoke Broadcasters’ Licenses Over War Coverage https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/14/world/middleeast/fcc-broadcasters-iran-war.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/14/world/middleeast/fcc-broa... FCC boss vows to ‘rebalance’ media, urges more pro-America programming https://www.foxnews.com/media/fcc-boss-vows-rebalance-media-urges-more-pro-america-programming.amp https://www.foxnews.com/media/fcc-boss-vows-rebalance-media-...
- noshitsherlock 7mo agoI don't think Trump is the cause, but he's an opportunist stepping into a vacuum that has developed over a lengthy period of time.
- polothesecond 7mo agoTrump is a puppet. At least since his second term. Isn’t it funny in this country, how people will shoot at some figurehead of a subsidiary company or a fat geezer with narcissistic tendencies, or a political pundit. But a whole global elite pedophile cabal was exposed and no one involved in that is getting shot in the streets.
- keernan 7mo agoI question how much control individuals have over their beliefs. Violence and wars are fought over deeply held religious beliefs yet there can be no doubt that those same beliefs are 100% dependent upon (1) where you are born; and (2) the beliefs of your parents. That makes one wonder how much we control our own beliefs when the daily messaging is dictated by an elite whose money owns/controls the entirety of mass media and elected government office holders.
- tim333 7mo agoLiving in one of the alleged backsliders, the UK, I can't say things seem much different.
- olig15 7mo agoDid you submit any ID for the numerous services that now require it? Regardless of your answer, the fact they’re now asking for it is a problem.