Time to re-examine our democratic intentions

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/07/2024 (799 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What a terrifying week in the U.S. and the western world we saw recently. It should be a wake-up call for Canadians.

First, there was the much-anticipated Biden-Trump debate that, for several reasons, wasn’t. Next, the partisan-politicized U.S. Supreme Court granted wide-ranging immunity to presidents for illegal acts, in essence absolving Trump of insurrection. This is exactly the type of ruler overreach that, in other countries, has eventually resulted in armies refusing to follow presidential orders and initiating government coups.

Meanwhile, artificial intelligence (AI) is predicting an American civil war as an inevitability. And American adversaries such as Russia, North Korea, China and Iran are aligning despite fundamental differences.

Meanwhile, Israel is squandering its international goodwill and support as a result of its blockades of aide to Gaza and its failure to rescue hostages despite the unprecedented death toll of civilians and children.

Meanwhile in Canada, we are fervently arguing whether our prime minister has overstayed his welcome.

There are so many things that just don’t make sense to me — the first of which is why explanation and rationalization seem to pass as justification, particularly in the media. To that end, I will restrict myself to comment on what’s going on in familiar contexts we accept as democratic, beginning with the U.S., a country to which we’re joined at the hip.

The presidential debate was in no real sense a debate — the rules themselves ensured the event would be a hostile exchange of differences and delivery focused on who would win rather than what the arguments were. It is also a scenario that should never have happened — surely a nation with a population of more than 340 million can pick better candidates than two old men way past their best-before dates, both of whom let their egos overrule their judgments.

And a faux debate in no way represents the reality of the presidency.

What makes this situation even more egregious is that the content of the verbal exchange and the character of the combatants overlooked substance in favour of style. Trump’s lies, insults and threats, as well as his virtually total disregard for the rule of law and recent felony convictions, have somehow become so banal as to be normalized by commentators and media.

On the other hand, Biden’s physical frailties were highlighted, rather than his personal integrity and legislative record, something not in question despite many attempts by Republicans in Congress to begin impeachment proceedings.

Finally, how is it that Trump’s racial epithets have no impact on his supporters, and neither do his pandering to white evangelical Christian nationalists with his vicious attacks on immigrants, trans people, regular targets such as Palestinians and Blacks, and his feigned support of abortion bans?

The greatest irony might very well be in his purported support for a copy of the Ten Commandments, most of which he openly ignores or violates daily, in all American school classrooms.

Enough said, except that all this overlooks the fact that the U.S. is losing its credibility and clout in the world because of its internal machinations and international arrogance, and in the process is discrediting democracy and bolstering totalitarianism.

And all of this is feeding into growing racial discrimination and political extremism in Europe and North America, where people are expected to pick sides instead of uniting against inhumanity and wanton violence.

But Canadians are also showing that we, too, are not immune to illogic and delusions. Does anyone really believe Conservative Party Leader Pierre Polievre is less arrogant than Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, that the Conservatives would somehow turn the economy around, build enough housing and deal more fairly with Indigenous peoples or immigrants?

Or that ridding ourselves of Trudeau will make us happier? Our puny complaints, resulting from our thoughtless knee-jerk reactions, are caused not just by our politicians, but by our own actions, as well.

My enduring hope is that somehow the thoughtfulness and human solutions that are only possible in democracies will prevail, and someday be obviously evident in our media reports and our citizen actions. What I believe is that in democracies, we citizens are implicated and complicit if we allow some explanations to stand unchallenged and do not vehemently oppose falsehood and dishonesty, discrimination and violence.

We can start by calling out liars, taking positions based on humanitarian versus sectarian values, arguing civilly about right and wrong, refuting any politics which demands we belittle and exclude others or separates us into uncompromising camps.

That’s how I make sense of my democratic citizenship responsibilities at this moment.

John R. Wiens is dean emeritus at the faculty of education, University of Manitoba.