Democracy is always in danger because it contains the seeds of its own demise. An authoritarian can win an election and once in office, batter and dismantle democratic institutions. Freedom of speech means there will always be people saying dangerous things.
I understand it. And what worries me about the future of democracy is that authoritarianism has such wide appeal.
Democracy is slow grinding work. Autocracy promises quick easy solutions.
Democracy requires a lot of its citizens. Autocracy allows people to be lazy.
Democracy is plagued by “gridlock,” which happens when you separate power so that no single person or branch of government has too much of it.
Rule of law literally means lots of rules, procedures, and hurdles. The autocrat isn’t hampered by rules and hurdles and procedures, so the autocrat can get everything he (and his supporters) want.
Democracy requires compromise: It’s unlikely you’ll get everything you want or demand.
Democracy strives for fairness but can never be completely fair, because democratic institutions are run by fallible human beings and because there is constant pushback from people who prefer autocracy or want to embrace a strongman.
Because democratic institutions can’t be perfect, people get cynical. If you are a cynic, how will you care enough to find the energy to do the work required of citizens in a democracy? The cynic says, “Everyone cheats, so the winner is the person who cheats best,” which leads to the embrace of a strongman who is good at cheating. (For more on cynicism, see this post.)
They want results now, and the autocrat promises results now. They fall into the “us v. them” thinking. They don’t care about falling under the boot later. They think about defeating their “enemies” now.
To begin with, autocracy as a form of government is as old as civilization. On the other hand, representative democracy didn’t enter the world stage until very recently. The United States was founded as a representative democracy, but because only a small group of adults were represented (white men) it wasn’t a true democracy. As a nation, we didn’t begin approaching a true multi-racial democracy until after the 1950s.
It also depends on what you mean by “work.” Autocracy is not efficient. And it’s not fair. It benefits a few people at the expense of others. But it can be stable.
The very stability of autocracy has a certain appeal.
Democracy is ever-growing and changing. Liberal democracy has a tendency to expand as more groups seek to be included. Democracy is based on the idea that we can keep making our lives better.
Autocracy, in contrast, promises stability. This comes from Ivan Ilyin, as quoted by Yale Professor Timothy Snyder in The Road to Unfreedom.
Ivan Ilyin (a Russian philosopher) despised democracy, which he thought was unstable, with the middle and lower classes constantly striving for advancement. The nation, for him, was like a body, and the citizens the cells. Each remained in its place. The foot shouldn’t try to become the head. The rulers at the top should rule, everyone else must remain in their place. Hence, hierarchy.
Autocracy is usually based on a hierarchy. 19th American society was a patriarchy (a hierarchy with white men at the top and Black women at the bottom.)
The fascist way of thinking is that nature forms a hierarchy. People who prefer hierarchies think they are orderly. Putin said that democracy is “messy.” People who prefer hierarchies think some people are superior to others. They also think there will always be a hierarchy so they want to make sure they are at the top. When others demand equality, they think they will be replaced. Tucker Carlson has put forward the White Replacement Theory, which holds that non-whites literally want to “replace” whites. That’s why they’re so scared of migrants, who they think are coming to literally take what belongs to them.
Whereas democracy is based on the idea that the purpose of government is to improve our lives, autocracy is based on the idea that the purpose of government is to “protect” us from our enemies (or land blows on our enemies).
Put another way, for hierarchical people, the purpose of government is to maintain the hierarchy. For democratic people, the purpose of government is to help people. That’s why the GOP doesn’t try to “help” people. That’s not what they think government is for. They think the purpose of government is to maintain the hierarchy and create stability.
Because autocratic governments don’t govern in the traditional sense, they make it about a fight: Let’s beat the enemies!
There is a lot of appeal in that. It’s the appeal in fighting our enemies that worries me.
This person says: 
Well, what about all the other items on the DOJ agenda, like stopping voter suppression at the polls, putting a stop to the harassing of election workers, and stopping Russian cyberattacks from targeting American democratic institutions?
If you don’t think these things are important, consider that in a Trump administration, the president himself would be suppressing votes, encouraging the harassing of election workers, and encouraging Russian attacks on American democratic institutions.
(Some of the people pushing the narrative that nothing matters except imprisoning Trump have the idea that criminal indictments and prosecutions will save democracy. If you think that, see this post.)
To be clear: I am not saying Trump should not be (or won’t be) prosecuted. I am saying that doing so will not save democracy. Done incorrectly in a way that it appears political would be damaging, and there are other things that will save democracy, namely the vast majority of people working hard to strengthen democracy.
I grabbed a few of these from Twitter (I removed the names) to give you an example of what I see on social media:
Notice that these are personal demands. “I will not be satisfied until . . .” It’s only Trump in prison that matters — nothing else. (People actually mean this)
See the appeal of “us v. them” politics?
I suggest that there are other things that should make them just as happy (or happier). Merrick Garland is dismantling powerful white supremacy groups. The American Rescue Plan Act, the Infrastructure Investment, and the Jobs Act improved people’s lives. The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act symbolizes the kind of nation we want to be. Also, Biden immediately reversed Trump’s executive orders thereby reversing Trump era policies.
The “only imprisoning Trump matters” people stop caring about whether the government does things like pass the American Rescue Plan Act. They stop caring about whether government improves the lives of the people.
They care only about landing blows on the enemy. See the problem?
Landing blows on the enemy is deeply satisfying. But we are in dangerous territory here when literally nothing matters to people except seeing Trump broken.
According to political psychologists, the appeal of authoritarianism happens on both sides of the political spectrum. What Richard Hofstader calls “the paranoid style” exists on the left as well as the right. For more on that, see this post. 
Would-be autocrats have so many advantages.
Cheating is easier than playing by the rules. (The party that wants democracy must respect laws. If you doubt it, see this post on why Democrats should not “fight like Republicans.”)
Authoritarians stay in line. They do what they’re told. Non-authoritarians tend to splinter. Keeping the masses in line creates strength.
Lying is easier than telling the truth. The truth is complicated. Lies can be packaged neatly.
Democracy requires truth and a shared factuality. Fascism is based on lies and myths.
Lies are Appealing
Lies are appealing because they offer simple explanations for complex situations. It’s easier to believe that voting machines can easily be hacked than to believe that your own policies are unpopular. There are tens of thousands of people on Twitter who believe a conspiracy theory put forward by a large account that Merrick Garland is corrupt and complicit. 
Explaining that investigations take time and don’t always achieve the result we want is difficult. It took me about 30 pages. Saying, “Trump has not been indicted because Merrick Garland is corrupt (or incompetent)” fits on a bumper sticker. See the problem?
I actually worry more about what we might call left-wing misinformation than about right-wing propaganda. I expect the right-wing to lie because they don’t want democracy, and they know that the lies destroy.
One side has to hold on to facts or factuality will completely disappear.
Our task is to persuade people because it’s not as obvious as it should be.
Here’s a good example of the appeal of authoritarianism:
That person is annoyed because we voted in record numbers in 2020, but bad guys are out there still breaking laws and trying to undermine democracy.
Putin can say, “Silence the bad guys,” and it’s done.
Here’s one thing that’s frustrating. There will always be bad guys and lawbreakers. There will always be people who dislike democracy and actively try to dismantle it. Out vote the John Birch society and up pops QAnon. It’s a constant struggle.
Democracy is always in danger because it contains the seeds of its own demise. An authoritarian can win an election and once in office, batter and dismantle democratic institutions. Freedom of speech and the freedom of the press means there will always be people saying dangerous things.
In a democracy, we don’t imprison people for their words or for being a dangerous zealot. If you do that, where do you draw the line? What stops the Republicans from calling you a dangerous zealot?
See how much harder it is to maintain a democracy than an autocracy?
The struggle between those who want democracy and those who don’t does not end until the people who want democracy give up, either by saying “What’s the point?” and becoming inactive, or embracing their own form of authoritarianism.
Go ahead and cheer each time one of Trump’s people is indicted. But don’t forget to keep working to save democracy. Otherwise, another Trump will get elected and just pardon them all.
Need ideas? See this list.
