Diplomatic Circles

The United States is in deep trouble, but democracy isn’t

The United States is the oldest democracy, but it’s a pretty primitive one. Consider the antique and ridiculous electoral college, or the rudimentary social welfare system, or the fact that it has the most gerrymandered electoral districts on the planet.

President Donald J. Trump, pictured Nov. 24, 2020, pardoning 'Corn' as the 2020 National Thanksgiving Turkey, during the annual pardoning of the National Thanksgiving Turkey in the Rose Garden of the White House. Polarization of the kind America is experiencing now is disruptive and tenacious, but it tends to be intergenerational (this episode certainly is), and generational turnover usually erases it in 10 or 20 years. The sixties passed, and, in all likelihood, so will this, writes Gwynne Dyer. Official White House Photograph by Shealah Craighead

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

November 23, 2020

LONDON, U.K.—There’s no hurricane coming, but the windows of downtown Washington, D.C., are covered with plywood. They were initially boarded up due to fear of street violence during the election, but that fear lingers three weeks after the vote, because the resta...

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