A fatal flaw? 52

Is liberal democracy, the nation held together as such by a constitution of liberty, the genuinely open society, no longer able to sustain itself?

If so, why?

We know what enemies assail it, what developments continue to weaken it, but wonder why it has not proved strong enough to withstand them, if it is failing to do so.

Is there a fatal weakness in the best political system ever devised, exemplified by the Constitution of the United States of America?

Or do you think the long established libertarian nature of the US, Canada, Australia – perhaps even of Britain, far gone as it is – will yet prove stronger than the ruinous pull to the Left and the encroachments of Islam? Will it stop and reverse the trend now well underway towards tyranny?

John O’Sullivan wrote recently at the National Review:

I doubt Wokeness will triumph in the United States or anywhere in the English-speaking world where democratic and liberal traditions are deeply rooted, if at present very far from flowering. Those traditions will almost certainly be strong enough to contain a Woke regime long enough for an election to punish its preordained chaos, failure, and authoritarianism.

Are democratic and liberal traditions deeply rooted enough in the English-speaking world? Are they strong enough? Will electorates punish an authoritarian regime if they mistakenly put it in power? (What if such a regime abolishes elections?)

We look forward to our readers telling us any answers they may have to these questions.

(You can be as cynical about human nature as you need to be, if the answer, or part of it, lies there.)

Posted under United States, US Constitution by Jillian Becker on Thursday, July 23, 2020

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