this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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Given up? I don't know. I've been appalled pretty much non-stop since 2000, though. When we were taught history, the X'ers learned that the pendulum always swings back the other way. And when you looked back, the notion always kind of held water. But, draw a line from Nixon through Reagan, the Bushes, to Trump, and the conclusions you'll draw are pretty grim.
There was an influential statement that was true in 1990 that was haunting, though: βThe only presidential democracy with [more than 41 years] of constitutional continuity is the United States.β (I think there are around 5 others now between 40 and 70-something years old now.) Despite having a long run, this system isn't particularly sturdy.
We'll see, I guess.
When the US tries it's hand at nation building, and our government diplomats, consultants, and mentors are making suggestions to nascent nations in what kind of republic framework to use, we do not suggest the same Constitutional system we have. We normally try to guide others to a variation of parliamentary systems with a weak president figurehead.
Our own government knows not to use it's own model for other nations! It's not that we're exceptional, just that we've beaten the odds so far. We used to try to copy the US system other places, but they kept failing to executive branches that seized power. How the US held on as long as it did is a wonder. That said, it looks like our exceptional run is effectively over. The fox is in the henhouse and Congress is cheering the bloodbath.
Of course, if you're going to use US foreign policy, you have to include things like the 1973 coup in Chile when the US overthrew a democratically elected leader to install a dictator, because the US didn't agree with the democratic leader's politics
Yeah, our big democracy talk is just like the pirates code from Pirates of the Caribbean: flexible, with a strong vein of selfishness.