Liberal vs. Illiberal: I kept seeing these terms, so I needed to figure out what they meant. For a long time I thought “liberal democracy” meant being led or directed by liberals.
Yikes. So wrong! Liberal democracy means “a political system marked not only by free and fair elections but also by the rule of law, a separation of powers, and the protection of basic liberties of speech, assembly, religion, and property.” America has a liberal democracy, which seems an unfortunate term given that many conservatives are allergic to the word ‘liberal’ in any context. [All quotes in this blog are from Michael Austin’s book, We Must Not Be Enemies: Restoring America’s Civic Tradition.]
Illiberal democracies, on the other hand, hold elections but do little to protect the liberties listed above.They do not prevent the majority from “invading the rights of everybody else, so for the minority they are no different from the worst dictatorship.” Laws and institutions cannot prevent a democracy from becoming illiberal. “All our institutionalized protections can be undone, given enough time, by an unsympathetic majority. The constitution can be amended, new judges can be appointed, agencies can be dismantled, and freedoms curtailed.”
Has this happened yet? Not on the part of the majority, but doesn’t it seem as if conservatives are a powerful minority bent on “invading the rights of everybody else?”
How do we stop our liberal democracy from sliding into an illiberal one? “To be truly democratic, people have to be willing to protect each other’s rights and interests even when they control enough votes to do otherwise. They have to recognize each other’s right to exist, express opinions, and participate fully in the political process. And they have to preserve the laws and institutions that guarantee human rights and civil liberties for everyone, not just for the ruling majority. We must have enough regard for each other that we decline to use the mechanisms of democracy to treat our fellow citizens unjustly.”
How are we doing? And who’s the majority? Progressives? Conservatives? Whites? BIPOC? I find myself with lots of questions and few answers. 🙂
One Response
Do we have to know the answer to your questions in order to retain our Liberal Democracy? I don’t think we need to know who the majority are at this point, but I do know that we absolutely need to make sure our elections are fair and that no one compromises them or undermines them.