Adult | Nonfiction
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Are you like me? Are you wandering about, dazed and confused about the state of North American politics and discourse? How did we get to a place where there is so much anger, intolerance, hate and even violence? When did we stop listening to others’ ideas, and just yell at each other instead? And most importantly, can we reverse course? Here in Canada, we watched the US devolve into a deeply divided country, and I fear we in Canada are following along the same path. So it is with great interest and not a little concern that I decided to pick up this new title from the authors of How Democracies Die. Using examples from throughout history and around the world, they provide a sound analysis of how the US failure developed over time as a result of a number of factors in combination. They include rising nationalism, an outdated (though still impressive) constitution, a complex system of checks and balances open to abuse (stacking the Supreme Court, for example), and a power-hungry leadership that capitalized on racism and fear, radicalized party policies, and used legal but unethical tools to sway the electorate, crush opponents and dampen criticism. And while it’s not only in the US, success for this big, young country is key for all of us. And so we continue to hope. And while the topic is sobering, the authors offer hope in the form of options for Americans to finally achieve the multiracial democracy it deserves. Because the alternative, they warn, is no democracy at all. The writing is engaging and fascinating, even for laypeople, though the topic is dense and requires close reading. Overall I find it an excellent, thought-provoking call to take action. My thanks to Crown for the digital reading copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
More discussion and reviews of this book: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/122769171