Democracy world-wide is in a state of recession according to the Democracy Index.1
“The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.”
In 2020, the Democracy Index reported that almost 70 percent of countries had reduced democratic scores. The United States was demoted to a “flawed” democracy in 2015 and has not since recovered (23 countries2 are listed as “full” democracies).
Here is what the report had to say about the United States:
US democracy under pressure from rising polarization and declining social cohesion
The US’s performance across several indicators changed in 2020, both for better and worse. However, the negatives outweighed the positives, and the US retained its “flawed democracy” status. Increased political participation was the main positive … The negatives include extremely low levels of trust in institutions and political parties, deep dysfunction in the functioning of government, increasing threats to freedom of expression, and a degree of societal polarization that makes consensus almost impossible to achieve. Social cohesion has collapsed, and consensus has evaporated on fundamental issues – even the date of the country’s founding.3
We will tackle polarization and dwindling public trust in the system, and what we can do about it as lawyers, later in the year. For now, the best place to start is, well, the start. The singular question that has plagued me in my mission to discover what lawyers should be doing to support the Constitution is how are lawyers supposed to collectively support the Constitution when we are also tasked with disputing each other in Court as to how that very same Constitution should be interpreted? Are there fundamental Constitutional principles with which all lawyers should agree? It is the essential question that must be answered before we can move forward in our quest to ascertain what we can do to uphold our oath to support the Constitution. And it will be the topic of our next speaker series.
I hope you will all join me at 4 p.m. on Mon., Sept. 19 to listen to one of my favorite law school professors, Prof. Joel Goldstein, who has agreed to come out of his much-deserved retirement to speak to us on this topic. It is truly an honor to have him speak to us, and I look forward to seeing you all there and chatting with you afterward at the happy hour.
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Also, I wanted to give a shout-out to BAMSL’s Pro Bono Committee and St. Louis Attorneys Against Hunger Committee. Both have been working diligently to support our community, which is especially needed given the recent floods. Not only is giving back to the community the right thing to do, but it also helps to build trust in our system of government (a key to helping to support our Constitution! See what I did there?). Our St. Louis Attorneys Against Hunger Committee is seeking 100 volunteers as part of the 9/11 Day of Service to pack food for the St. Louis Area Foodbank and the Outreach Program. Please visit our website to sign up.
See you all at the next BAMSL event.
1https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2021/
2Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Australia, Netherlands, Taiwan, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, Uruguay, United Kingdom, Chile, Austria, Costa Rica, Mauritius, Japan, Spain, South Korea.
3Democracy Index 2020, In Sickness and in Health? The Economist Intelligence Unit, p. 6-7.
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