Article by Deepak Bhargava and Felicia Wong: “Liberal democracy is in crisis in the United States, and the roots of that crisis go far deeper than any single politician or political party. Almost 70 percent of Americans do not believe our democracy is working well. Governing elites and the institutions they run have lost credibility. Pervasive and justified anger has led many to embrace dangerous alternatives or to sit out the democratic process altogether. Ours is an anti-system age.
But surprisingly, many policymakers and civil society leaders seem to believe that upcoming elections will allow for a return to “normal,” and enable them to work more or less as they always have. Legislative advocates are now sharpening their campaigns, jockeying over which issues—health care, voting rights, housing, child and elder care, and so on—should take priority. Political and communications consultants are parsing which policies might address voters’ focus on the affordability crisis. Some problems are new, as recognized by experts puzzling out how to rebuild federal agencies decimated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But overall, the approach to governance that seeks to make relatively modest change within a broken system has come roaring back. Even recent ideological debates feel like the rehashing of decades-old arguments. We have seen this movie before, and we know how it ends. The gravitational, habitual pull toward familiar ways of working is very strong.
The hard truth is that in the absence of a dramatically different approach to governing, authoritarianism and oligarchy will become even more entrenched, and far harder to uproot. Both have deep roots in the country’s history. These forces will not go away no matter what the next elections bring. Another even more devastating authoritarian breakthrough is the almost predictable result unless future governance makes a break from the past. The stakes are very high…(More)”.
