How to save America's fragile democracy

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/america-s-democracy-failing-world-knows-it-n1284597?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ma

A number of non-governmental organizations that have long worked to rebuild communities in countries beset by violent and intractable conflicts — places that have collapsed under the weight of mass atrocities, political assassinations, authoritarian take overs, and widespread citizen violence — have shifted focus to a new subject: The United States.

For a country that has long thought of itself as a beacon of democracy, this is a wake-up call.
At this moment, our country is in great need of lessons on what it takes to restore crumbling political systems. This week, the United States was added to a list of “backsliding” democracies in an annual report on the global state of democracy, marking a serious decline in international observers’ assessments of our political stability.

In naming the U.S. to the list for the first time, the report’s authors — Sweden’s International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) — pointed to the “visible deterioration of democracy” in the United States on several criteria, including unwillingness to accept credible election results, voter participation suppression efforts, increasing polarization, and declines in civil liberties.

There are a lot of different ways that democracies can fail. Some collapse under the weight of political leaders who assume authoritarian control, arrest opponents, or refuse to allow new elections to take place. Others suffer at the hands of citizens who support political violence, dehumanize other political parties as “evil,” or call for civil war. Still others struggle with voter suppression and intimidation efforts, weakened trust in institutions, and falling political participation.

*snip*

[SunSeeker]

1. We should do media literacy training in public schools like we're doing in Ukraine.

Students In Ukraine Learn How To Spot Fake Stories, Propaganda And Hate Speech

About five years since the war in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed separatists began, triggering a surge in propaganda and disinformation, some students in four cities across the country are learning how to better assess what they're reading, seeing and hearing.

A report released Friday by global education organization IREX says that students in 8th and 9th grades were better able to identify false information and hate speech after teachers integrated the organization's media literacy techniques into their lessons.

Students were twice as likely to detect hate speech and 18 percent better at identifying fake news than students who missed out on those lessons, according to the report.

The Learn to Discern program, funded by the U.S. and U.K. embassies in Ukraine, was tested in 50 schools, including in the eastern city of Mariupol which saw major fighting in the war's first years.

...

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/22/705809811/students-in-ukraine-learn-how-to-spot-fake-stories-propaganda-and-hate-speech

[TygrBright]

2. THIS THIS THIS Many times THIS!!

At its heart, this work is about resilience, rooted in an understanding that democracies must be nurtured through education and not just defended with force. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the U.S. made unprecedented investments in our security infrastructure. We created an entire new agency — the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — whose mission is to “secure the nation from the many threats we face.” But now, the call is coming from inside the house: the biggest threats to our nation are ones we’ve created ourselves.

This is the essential thing we MUST pay attention to, and address.

urgently,
Bright

[Initech]

3. Right now ours is collapsing under the weight of a news network.

That wants absolute power and a bumbling buffoon in the White House they can control because it's good for ratings. They had that with Trump, and they lost it, and now they want it back. So they're doing everything they can to divide America based on bullshit "culture war" issues that they made up.

[kentuck]

4. Shake the hell out of it!

Shake it 'til it screams in fear.

It's about to get dirty, you all! If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Screw the status quo! Change or die!

[wnylib]

5. Despite its title, the article uses more space in

describing the problem than in offering solutions.

Some of the solutions it suggests require cooperation in government that is nearly impossible because of already existing polarization.

I think that, to get mobilized on saving democracy, we need some strong, inspiring leadership from a few well known people across the polarizing divide. People well known and respected who confront the situation directly and publicly, spelling out the problem and calling upon people to pull together in common cause.

Name the threats that we need to defeat and get the public behind doing it - public threats of violence, politicians who endorse racism and hate groups, voter suppression laws, and people who advocate civil war.

Since the media are not doing it, we need some individuals who can command media attention to do it and to advocate a movement to end the attacks on democracy.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

6. Education is key; that's why it is under perpetual attack by Republicans.