The Decline of American Democracy

Here's an excerpt from an editorial in LE MONDE (translated by DeepL, free version) that reflects reactions all over the civilized world:

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Supreme Court deepens US democracy decline
The protective fence that now surrounds the immaculate headquarters of the highest judicial body in the United States of America in Washington is a clear indication of the danger that threatens it: that of cutting itself off from the country through purely ideological drift. In two rulings handed down on 23 and 24 June, the conservative justices of the nine-member Supreme Court sacrificed themselves to two totems of the religious right: the intractable defence of firearms in the name of a freedom that must not suffer any limits; and the tireless fight against the right of women to control their own bodies.

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This is when the enormity of what the Trump Supreme Court is doing: when global bodies and the West and specifically Western Europe react in shock and disapproval at the highest level. Not to mention the fact that Pres. Biden's statement about the Roe decision yesterday was lengthy and dramatic. There was nothing mild about his stand: Congress must act to guarantee the right to abortion.

Can all this lead to strengthening the Democratic majority? That's the big question.

Doesn't all this come from division? When I was young the differences were not so great and communication was possible. I would attribute the polarization and the empowerment of the far right to the changes in how we get our news: the internet, the breakdown of the traditional newspapers, right wing talk radio, Fox News, social media. These have changed everything for the worse. They have taken away our common language and our common ground.

But what democracy? The structure of American governance has always been fundamentally undemocratic - in some key respects. This is underlined in another paragraph from this same LE MONDE editorial:

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This devastating epilogue for the image of the United States is the product of the tyranny of a minority enabled by an electoral system outrageously favourable to the most conservative states. It has resulted in a president widely defeated in the popular vote, Donald Trump, appointing three judges selected by a lobby, and then having them confirmed by a Senate that is a distorted reflection of the country.

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It further points out that two of Trump's three appointees lied about what they would do: they suggested they would take Roe v Wade for granted. Does this not make the Court illegitimate?

Thanks for the post

Nice to know you read it. There is so much to write about now, including Ukraine.

Another reason for the erosion of democracy is the invasion of corporations into everything. Here's the beginning of a current article in the publication called THE HUSTTLE. This is something like David Foster Wallace's 1996 INFINITE JEST, a novel set in a satirical future when the calendar was up for commercial grabs and it was The Year of tae Depend Adult Undergarment.

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The Hustle Issue #214
The Hustle, Sunday, June 26, 2022

Can a corporation 'own' a color?
A handful of companies have pushed the boundaries of intellectual property law by laying claim to individual colors.

BY ZACHARY CROCKETT

On a summer day in 2019, Daniel Schreiber opened his mailbox to find a threatening letter from one of the world’s largest telecom companies.

In the letter, Deutsche Telekom AG (the parent company of T-Mobile) accused Schreiber’s small insurance startup, Lemonade, of trademark infringement. Schreiber was confused: He hadn’t used T-Mobile’s name. He hadn’t appropriated the company’s logo or tagline. Hell, he wasn’t even in the cell phone business.

But as he read on, he realized his “crime” was using the color magenta.

In recent years, companies like T-Mobile have achieved something once thought to be legally impossible: They’ve successfully trademarked individual colors.
Read the whole article HERE.

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This is as absurd and wrong as David Foster Wallace's idea of brand-naming a year, and one of its implications is that commerce is deemed more important than art - as well as entitled to take over the available visual world, and nature. Does it ever bother you that grocery stores put little stickers on fruit, as if it was their product? Commercialization explains other things, like how the solution to war is more war: because it benefits the arms industry. There commerce is placed above life itself. Of course arms manufacturers have always profited from war. But the volume , range, and reach of this business has grown exponentially.

Bang on correct.