Been doing some thinking about the events of January 6th; and I’ve realized that while they were shocking, abhorrent, they weren’t exactly unexpected.

A short thread on the current state of the US and democratic backsliding.

I remember in my graduate studies I took a course on democratization, where an assigned reading was a book called “How Democracies Die”

Here’s a link if you’re interested https://www.amazon.com/dp/1524762946/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_YnJaGb5BPBA68

One of the closing arguments of the book stated that there is not *one* example in em the entirety of human history of a democracy that exists in a society with no demographic majority, without some form of authoritarian tendencies or discrimination.

So, as the United States continues to diversify (which is objectively a good thing), our democracy moves into uncharted waters.

If history is any indication, as the voting populace becomes more diverse, backsliding would follow.

The US is not unique in this regard, many other examples of historically established democracies becoming subject to populist sentiments e.g. the UK, Poland, Hungary, France under La Pen just to name a few.

The US is not unique, but the fact that it DID happen here should serve as a warning to us. We are not exceptional or special.

Fortunately, however, our institutions did hold and the election was certified. Yet, we are not safe.

Preserving our democracy will rely on maintaining an civically engaged population dedicated to upholding democratic norms and processes, even if the outcome doesn’t align with our preferred policies.