US sinks to new low in rankings of world's democracies

[Elwood P Dowd]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/24/us-world-democracy-rankings-freedom-house-new-low

The US has fallen to a new low in a global ranking of political rights and civil liberties, a drop fueled by unequal treatment of minority groups, damaging influence of money in politics, and increased polarization, according to a new report by Freedom House, a democracy watchdog group.

The US earned 83 out of 100 possible points this year in Freedom House’s annual rankings of freedoms around the world, an 11-point drop from its 94 ranking a decade ago. The US’s new ranking places it on par with countries like Panama, Romania and Croatia and behind countries such as Argentina and Mongolia. It lagged far behind countries like the United Kingdom (93), Chile (93), Costa Rica (91) and Slovakia (90).

The report details the inequities that minority groups, especially Black people and Native Americans face when it comes to the criminal justice system and voting. It also illustrates that public trust in government has been damaged by the way rich Americans can use their money to exert outsize influence on American politics.

And it points out that extreme partisan gerrymandering – the manipulation of electoral district lines to boost one party over the other – has contributed to dramatic polarization in the US, threatening its democratic foundations. Gerrymandering, the report says, “has the most corrosive and radicalizing effect on US politics”.

(snip)

[RKP5637]

1. The GOP will see this as a sign of great success for the GOP activities! n/t

[Elwood P Dowd]

2. Yes, republicans hate to even hear the word "Democracy". (nt)

[Dustlawyer]

3. Money in our politics...

[Hortensis]

4. Gerrymandering encourages the far right to believe they ARE America

and have a right to rule. It seems obvious looking at it.

Like the old cake cutter experiment. Create two groups, provide one cake to share, but give only one cakecutter -- to one group, and then observe. Competing, divided groups have been created, even though it's all supposed to be amicable. Divvying starts out evenly, but from the beginning the group with the cake cutter feels more entitled, they're the controller of the cake, and their attitudes and behaviors, and what they're willing to share, go downhill from there.

[Evolve Dammit]

5. Another orange term and we'd be somewhere between Syria and Libya. seriously. nt

[sarcasmo]

6. Agreed, four more years of former guy and we wouldn't have a Democracy.

[uponit7771]

10. Hell ANY republican term now, they're all sympathizing with 1/6 terrorist

[Xavier Breath]

7. Slovakia?

I mean, c'mon, how do we even hope to compete with them?

[Jarqui]

8. It is still kind of shocking when you look at the list

https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores?sort=desc&order=Total%20Score%20and%20Status

though I'm not surprised either ... too much $ and corruption ...

[ck4829]

9. K&R

[Tommymac]

11. Hey come on, to be fair we have the (Dis)Honorable Citizen United along with Mr. Gerry...

they are good buddy's after all.

[burrowowl]

12. Sad!

[Lonestarblue]

13. This rating will go down even further after all the Republican legislatures get finished

with their voter suppression laws. If those laws are allowed to stand, we will no longer have a democracy. We barely have one now.

[mnhtnbb]

14. It's very clear that Republicans no longer believe in democracy,

especially since the vote suppression/manipulation law was signed last night in Georgia.

That group of self-congratulatory white men standing around watching the bill being signed while a black State Congresswoman was being handcuffed and arrested after knocking on the door said it all.

[spanone]

15. the legacy of drump