Europe and North America are facing a battle between Democracy with equality vs authoritarianism with hierarchy. Today's conservative populous groups favor the latter.
The more groups that are recognized as having equal rights in society in a given nation, the more that nation is leaning toward Democracy with equality. The more that a nation operates by giving preferential treatment to a given set of group(s) based on ethnicity, economic class, and/or ideology, the more that country embraces authoritarianism with hierarchy. What muddies the waters here is how groups that promote authoritarianism with hierarchy are treated.
Why is equality a requirement for a democracy? Jeff Halper explains on pg 74 of his book An Israeli In Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel when comparing ethnocracy with democracy
'An ethnocracy is the opposite of a democracy, although it might incorporate some elements of democracy such as universal citizenship and elections. It arises when one particular group—the Jews in Israel, the Russians in Russia, the Protestants in pre-1972 Northern Ireland, the whites in apartheid South Africa, the Shi’ite Muslims of Iran, the Malay of Malaysia and, if they had their way, the white Christian fundamentalist in the US—seizes control of the government and the armed forces in order to enforce a regime of exclusive privilege over other groups in what is in fact a multi-ethic or multi-religious society. Ethnocracy, or ethno-nationalism, privileges ethnos over demos. whereby one’s ethnic affiliation, be it defined by race, descent, religion, language or national origin, takes precedence over citizenship in determining to whom a country actually “belongs.” Israel is referred to explicitly by its political leaders as a “Jewish Democracy.”
Thomas Jefferson put it a little bit differently by saying what a democracy becomes when the majority does not respect the equal rights of the minority in his 1801 Inaugural Address
'All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression'
In other words, unless minority groups are recognized and treated as having equal rights, you have groups that do not have an equal share of the nation as well as oppression.
The more consistently we apply the inclusion of equality with democracy, the more we are compelled to relabel what the U.S has been for most of its existence. Until lately, America has been a nation that is not a democracy. And the more that political conservatives answer back that we were created to be a republic, the more they show that they do not understand the different forms that a democracy can take and that they are in favor of hierarchy provided that they are the ones with the power over all others. So considering that, should we be surprised at the support that my fellow politically conservative evangelicals have shown Trump and how they will be reluctant to withdraw that support even though they feel a building tension inside?
Could we say that America was a democracy from 1787 to 1865? Blacks, Native Americans, and women could better answer that question. Could we say that America was a democracy from the start of Reconstruction to the 1920s? Blacks, Women, and Native Americans could better answer that question. Could we say that America was a democracy from the 1920s through the rest of Jim Crow? Blacks and women could better answer that question. Has America become a democracy since the days of the Civil Rights Movement? Blacks and the LGBT community could better answer that question--btw the LGBT community could answer all of the previous questions too. If you don't count the dominance that the wealthy have had over our government, we have been, ethnically speaking, coming closer to becoming a democracy than we ever had in the history of our nation. And that is because more and more groups were having their equal rights recognized by their governments and by more and more people in society.
And so America's transition to Democracy with equality has been very slow and long journey as it has been in much of the rest of the world. Before that, authoritarianism with hierarchy has ruled the day. And so perhaps we should not be surprised when we see groups throughout Europe and North America vying to reestablish authority with hierarchy. Once that has been reestablished, it is goodbye to democracy.
One of the keys to Trump's populism was the Obergefell Decision. Why? It is because it was after that SCOTUS decision when many of my fellow religiously conservative Christians were galvanized in fighting with their backs against the wall a culture war of their own making. The final spark that sustained the religiously conservative Christian initiated culture war was the emergence of the Trans community from the margins of society. And so the expansion of LGBT rights energized religiously conservative Christian to continue the culture wars. Without equal rights being recognized for the LGBT community, Trump might not have had enough ammunition to fan the flames and exploit the culture wars.
Our return back to the past, to authoritarianism with hierarchy, was well marketed by the Trump campaign. That kind of authoritarianism was sold as being ethnically based by demonizing DEI--religion is an ethnicity. And though the concerns of those who hated DEI have been initially based on religion, our actual return to authoritarianism is primarily economic class based--as the Trump Presidency has shown. In other words, what we are seeing is further cementing of a classocracy, Oligarchy in our case, wearing ethnocratic clothing. In other words we just experienced a partial bait and switch. And so we have begun our journey to become like Russia. Today's Russia is an oligarchy with a strongman leader and has a religious façade.
And so as we lose our democracy, let's remember that democracy was never really entrenched in America. And that is because, just as it is in the world, America's base has always been looking to dominate whether that pertains to dominating domestically or globally. What we are seeing today is tragic. It is like seeing a child die and so we are now robbed from seeing what that child would become if they were given an opportunity to fully mature.
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