2. Democracy - bear with me - is a bit like a sandcastle. By just holding an election, you can make something super basic that looks like a democracy. But without lots more effort, you're stuck with something weak that can easily be wiped away. Many countries never get past that. pic.twitter.com/ZRwfBnni4g
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) June 2, 2021
4. Like sandcastles, even strong democracies can be wiped out in one big wave (coup, civil war, or revolution), but these days, they're often destroyed by smaller waves -- the slower erosion of authoritarian populism, attacks on voting rights, politicization of rule of law, etc. pic.twitter.com/sGe7ZYyDTQ
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) June 2, 2021
6. That's happening in the US currently. The MAGA wave did a lot of damage under Trump. But now, the waves are continuing to erode democracy at the state level, at the local level, in addition to national level politics that are defined by increasingly authoritarian Republicans.
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) June 2, 2021
8. Republican political dynamics now actually reward GOP politicians who embrace authoritarianism and punish those who aim to protect democratic institutions. The extremism is getting worse in the party. And the waves, so to speak, are getting more frequent.
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) June 2, 2021
9. The point, then, is that we're in a period of severe danger for our democracy, and if we don't protect it now, it'll be way harder to repair or rebuild. I've studied many democracies that were washed away by authoritarian waves. Pretty much none have been successfully rebuilt.
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) June 2, 2021
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