Watching democracies die

The US voting with Russia, North Korea, Belarus and Hungary in a UN resolution on the Ukraine war is shocking and unimaginable. How Trump, Vance and other Cabinet members seem to have embraced the totalitarian rulers of this world and insulting long standing allies is like a far-out nightmare. Add to all that is the blitzkrieg evisceration of American institutions that used to provide beacons for aspiring democracies.

American democracy has never been perfect. Oligarchs did pretty much what they wanted to do but there were guardrails that made sure they didn’t go overboard. An unelected oligarch, the richest man in the world, is co-governing the country, throwing out the usual rules such as those governing conflicts of interest. Where the judiciary now stands is still iffy.

While there are some voices protesting how America is being run now, they are not enough. It seems, as the election results showed, many Americans are ready to give up their freedom in a democracy to vent their frustrations on the failures of the system. The MAGA crowd was told they would lose government assistance in health care and other needs so Trump can give a massive tax cut for the oligarchs. They voted against self-interest so they can protest.

According to Pew Research, 72 percent of Americans say the US used to be a good example of democracy, but not anymore. Ahead of the November presidential election, just 19 percent of Americans say democracy in the United States is a good example for other countries to follow.

No wonder America is in such turmoil today. The people lost faith in their democracy. Yet, as of December 2023, according to yougov.com, most Americans are supportive of democracy and think dictatorship would be bad for the US. Only four percent of Americans say it would be a good thing for the US to have a dictator in charge, while 80 percent disagree. But younger adults say they’re less committed to democracy.

The University of Virginia now reports that as many as 20 percent of Americans have given up on democracy as the preferred form of government. A recent Gallup survey shows a new low – just 28 percent of US adults are satisfied with democracy, compared to 61 percent in 1984, when the question was first asked, and 36 percent in 1992.

The University of Virginia article also noted that “the Pew Research Center finds a significant majority (63 percent) express little to no confidence in the future of the US political system…Those without a college education have had the sharpest decline in satisfaction with how democracy is working, and this decline is also reflected in beliefs about the responsiveness of political institutions to peoples’ needs.

An interesting observation was made by humorist Andy Borowitz: “in the past fifty years, American politicians have grown increasingly allergic to knowledge and mass media have encouraged the election of ignoramuses by elevating candidates who are better at performing than thinking.”

What about us, Filipinos? According to The Economist Intelligence Unit, a London-based think tank, the 2022 Democracy Index of the Philippines was 6.73 out of 10, while a SWS survey conducted in the last quarter of the same year found that a record-high of 89 percent of Filipinos were satisfied with how our democracy works.

“Satisfaction with the way democracy works had peaks of 70 percent in September 1992, 70 percent in July 1998, 69 percent in September 2010, 86 percent in September 2016, and the current record of 89 percent in December 2022, related to the successful presidential elections of 1992, 1998, 2010, 2016 and 2022, respectively,” SWS said.

But the SWS also pointed out that satisfaction with democracy fell to 44 percent in June 2004 after that year’s controversial presidential election of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Last week, The STAR published the results of a new study published by the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute showing that 25.3 percent of Filipino undergraduate students think that “under certain circumstances, a non-democratic government is acceptable.”

This is the post-EDSA generation with no memory of the evils of martial law under Marcos, the father. This is a failure of the educational system to teach proper history and frustration with current bad governance.

This ranks the Filipino youth just behind Singapore (27.6 percent) and ahead of Thailand (24.1 percent), Indonesia (24.6 percent), Malaysia (19.4 percent) and Vietnam (18.9 percent) in their willingness to consider non-democratic systems.

These findings come from  a study conducted between August and October 2024.

Only around half (49.2 percent) of Filipino undergraduate students believe democracy is the best governance system, positioning them among Southeast Asia’s most skeptical youth regarding democratic institutions. This figure is lower than Malaysia’s 65.4 percent, Singapore’s 52 percent and Thailand’s 49.7 percent.

“Dissatisfaction with their country’s current political system is relatively widespread among Filipino youth, with 61.4 percent expressing discontent – the second highest rate in Southeast Asia behind Indonesia’s 71.5 percent. This contrasts sharply with Singapore and Vietnam, where nearly 90 percent of youth reported satisfaction with their political systems.”

There is also low trust in law enforcement, with only 30.3 percent of Filipino youth expressing a favorable view. This is far below the confidence levels in Singapore (76.8 percent) and Vietnam (68.1 percent).

The study also found that the Filipino youth expressed the second-highest concern for corruption, with 73.3 percent, trailing only Indonesia at 89 percent.

In the Philippines, while 62 percent believe people can express their political views without fear, a striking 85.3 percent remain concerned about freedom of speech — the highest level of concern in the region.

Democracies are dying around the world as right wing anti-democratic political parties gain strength. These are happening because of the failure of current democratic institutions to address the needs and concerns of the people.

How our Congress institutionalized plunder of the Treasury with the 2025 budget while neglecting needs like health care and adequate public transport is how disenchantment with democracy grows.

We do not have time to waste. In America as it is here, disenchantment is politically dangerous. We have been warned.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco