Is America truly in danger of losing its democracy? With the election occurring in less than a month, politics and polarization consume conversation and society. Genevieve Nadeau, counsel and impact manager at the nonpartisan, nonprofit Protect Democracy, addressed the state of democracy in America at the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy’s Oct. 1 program. Though fundamentally optimistic, she doled out warnings to educate the audience and then delivered some positive protective strategies.
Nadeau said she had long believed that democracy was a given—until now. As she explained, the United States is experiencing a relatively rapid decline in democracy, with a Freedom House score that dropped from 94 to 83 in the last fifteen years, and polls suggesting that as little as one-third of the current American generation say it’s essential to live in a democracy. This aligns with a trend of democratic backsliding around the world. In its place, autocracy is rising.
As this semester’s second Rappaport Senior Fellow, Nadeau began by explaining what democracy is, and in contrast, what it looks like when a democracy is replaced with authoritarianism. Simply put, democracy is a government constrained by checks and balances, and that protects civil liberties, holds elections, and is characterized by due process. But it’s not always easy to uphold. “So much of American democracy is what I would call soft, right? So much is governed by norms. These are unwritten rules that are difficult to enforce, at least in any sort of formal way, and they require and depend upon people to abide by them,” she said.
When these norms become less popular, an alternative presents itself in authoritarianism. “It’s basically a form of government where power resides in one person or a small number of people, that lacks checks and balances, and that is characterized by obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom,” Nadeau explained.
“The key is to keep fighting, persevering democracy through tactical responses like lawsuits and protests, resisting the desire to give in to fatigue and polarization.”
Genevieve Nadeau of Protect Democracy
Nadeau reviewed seven common traits of an authoritarian rule, including corrupting elections, aggrandizing executive power, and spreading disinformation. She said that the key is not to think of democracy and autocracy in absolutes, but to view them as opposite ends on a sliding scale. However, the more a nation shifts towards autocracy, the harder it can be to reverse course. If the nation re-elects an aspiring autocrat to the White House, Nadeau warned, we must take their promises both seriously and liberally: “The first Trump presidency did a lot of damage to our democracy. We should expect the second time will be worse.”
The key is to keep fighting, persevering democracy through tactical responses like lawsuits and protests, resisting the desire to give in to fatigue and polarization, Nadeau noted. Citizens can’t simply cross their fingers or assume that the system will hold. She urged everyone to remain engaged, explaining that authoritarianism thrives on fear and indifference, and it is exhausting by design.
All the more reason, Nadeau said, to protect civic spaces, spaces that are outside of the government in which individuals and organizations can exchange ideas. In her appeal to lawyers to take responsibility for upholding institutions of democracy, Nadeau stressed that this is an area where lawyers can shine.
She reminded her audience that democratic forms of government produce better outcomes than other forms of government, they are economically prosperous, people are healthier and live longer lives. Those are the values to fight for, she said. Democracies create more equity among their people, and experience less violent conflict.
No matter what direction America decides to go in November, democracy still isn’t out of the woods. As Nadeau advised, the biggest mistake citizens can make is to breathe a sigh of relief and move on. Instead, they must continually push back against abuses of power and preserve democracy in America. It won’t always be a struggle, but when it is, we simply have to remember, as Nadeau put it, that “democracy is worth it.”
Photograph by Reba Saldanha