Democracy Works after All

American institutions are respecting the will of the voters. But the events of recent weeks still give us pause for thought.

In the 2 1/2 centuries that the United States has been in existence, the country has survived a great deal; economic, political and social crises of every kind. And the U.S. Constitution, which became effective in 1789, has proven to be a very useful political framework. The U.S. is not a perfect democracy, but overall, it is a successful, stable democracy.

Thus, there is no need to get hysterical as we evaluate recent events. It is not unusual for a losing side in an election to take some time to come to terms with its defeat. One just has to recall statements by prominent Democrats after Donald Trump’s victory four years ago.

Then, too, they said the election was manipulated and that Trump was an illegitimate president. Hillary Clinton, who lost, still believes that today. And then, too, there were calls for the Electoral College to do the right thing for the country, to ignore the will of the voters and refrain from electing Trump.

The Electoral College resisted this dangerous idiocy four years ago, just as it has this year. In a democracy, it is essentially never the right thing to ignore the will of the voters. Trump won in 2016 according to the rules and became president. Joe Biden won in 2020 according to the same rules. The electors confirmed his victory on Monday and thus, made it official. They voted 306 to 232 for the Democratic candidate, Biden. And so, Biden will be inaugurated as the new president next year on Jan. 20.

Still, one may get a bit queasy if one looks at what recently happened in the U.S. Yes, on the one hand, you could say that the institutions stood firm. Trump and his bizarre troop of lawyers failed in all their attempts to challenge or overturn the election results. Judges of every political stripe all the way up to the Supreme Court rejected the attorneys’ ridiculous lawsuits. In key states, Republican politicians repelled the president’s attacks on the election and defended the democracy.

Democracy Only Survives When There Are Enough Democrats

But none of that changes the fact that these efforts and attacks took place. The incumbent president of the U.S. tried to overturn the results of a free and fair election. Trump clearly lost his reelection bid. But not only did he fail to acknowledge his defeat, he tried to stay in office using tricks that may have been legal, but were in no way legitimate.

And a good many Republicans helped him do it under significant pressure from their constituents. Last week, 126 Republican members of Congress signed on to a legally groundless Texas lawsuit challenging the election results. It was a naked partisan stunt, a shameless attack on a pillar of American democracy. It was quite a historically dramatic event.

And therein lies a lesson that other countries have learned the hard way: Democracy only survives when there are enough democrats. We knew that Trump had no regard for democracy. But as of last week, it is not entirely clear whether the Republicans are still a democratic party, or just a cult that worships a wannabe autocrat.