Democracy in America Over

The Economist Intelligence Unit has officially decided that the United States is no longer a "full democracy," instead categorizing our country as a "flawed democracy." They site general civilian distaste for government and lack of trust in political institutions, of proof of this "fact". If you think the reasoning for this seems strange, you aren't the only one. The fact is that America is being categorized as a flawed democracy because people are expressing their democratic rights. Think about it, the intelligent people of the world are saying that the United States isn't a democracy, because people aren't accepting government actions and expressing their distaste for it. Last time I checked that's what a democracy is. People with differing opinions arguing with each other to find what is best.

Let's not get confused here. They aren't citing political unrest or rioting as the reason for our flawed democracy, something like that is too logical and obvious. This is an attack on the basic fundamentals of the democratic process.

This is the problem going on in today's world. It is now becoming unacceptable for people to be unhappy with their government. They are saying that if you have an opinion contrary to the elected leaders of government, then you are doing something wrong. This breaks apart the basic foundations of democracy and is an early step into the failure of it. As a global society, we can no longer dampen people's attempts to speak their mind.

That's not to say we don't have problems. We definitely do. I don't necessarily disagree with the major claim of the report, but more so hate their reasoning. There are numerous things that can be seen as proof that American democracy is on the decline. Low voter turnout, increased rioting and uprising, allegations of ramped voter fraud, and the takeover of unelected bureaucracy are all thing that should be scaring the citizens into engaging more in government. However, instead of citing the real issues, we continue to be pumped this idea that our differing opinions are the cause of the decaying republic.