An inauguration in an empty square and the decline of American democracy

National Post, 19 January 2021

America arrives at this inauguration with perhaps a quarter of its population believing that its elections are corrupt and its criminal justice system is not fair.

One of the more tedious aspects of American presidential inaugurations is the customary wall-to-wall commentary about how the “peaceful transfer of power” is a unique feature of the United States, as if it is not routinely done by others. Indeed, the Westminster model manages to dispose of the whole affair in a matter of days, not months, with nothing more required than dropping in on the Queen or governor general.

As recently as December, president-elect Joe Biden was speaking about America’s democratic system as “messy” and “requiring patience,” but still being the “envy of the world.” He doesn’t quite speak so extravagantly as of late. This latter day modicum of humility is as welcome as it is novel.

The more pertinent question as Biden takes the oath of office is whether America’s democratic institutions are the envy of Americans. President Donald Trump’s unique megaphone — built over decades in the world of celebrity — had a great distorting effect, which often caused his critics and enemies to overlook the message in their distaste for the messenger.

For example, the last person before Trump who claimed widespread electoral irregularities in a state-wide election in Georgia was Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate for governor who refused to concede the 2018 election. She is currently the great liberal heroine who’s widely credited with turning Georgia blue in 2020.

Charges of electoral corruption are nothing new. Indeed, such allegations tend in the United States to come more from the left than the right. So long is the tradition of suspicious elections that there is high praise for the aggrieved who accept their lot — Richard Nixon in 1960, Al Gore in 2000. Trump did not accept his lot, did not play the part of the gracious loser and therefore upended a key part of American democracy, namely upholding the pretence that elections are fair.

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