By Surjit Singh Flora
In 1835, the French diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville authored a book titled, ‘Democracy in America’. It is taught in several universities in the United States and Europe, including Cambridge, Oxford and Princeton.
According to Harvard Professor Harvey Mansfield, it is the most important book ever written on democracy and one of the most informative and excellent commentaries on the American system.
Written in two parts, the book contains some prophecies. There was a prophecy that democracy is a structure in which the hands of those who commit atrocities in the name of secret/indirect dictatorship and gaining the majority get heavier with time.
The kind of attack on Capitol Hill, the temple of the US capital, was carried out by President Donald Trump’s supporters.
Lincoln’s legacy
How ridiculous it seems that Trump is the leader of a party whose door was once in the hands of Abraham Lincoln, one of the founders of the Republican Party.
In March 1854, he named the party Republican so that the publicly elected people would always remember and defend the spirit of the republic. Trump can be credited with blowing up Lincoln’s legacy and making Alexis de Tocqueville’s prediction come true.
In fact, Trump is not the face of any political movement but a sign of a broken mindset. Sadly, this mentality is continuously growing around the world.
The path taken by the President, instead of acknowledging the defeat on the wall in the election, cannot be ruled out simply because of the Trump phenomenon.
This is a serious problem where people who do not care about the democratic process consider it their right to destroy opinion. Over the years, especially since Trump came to power, many dictators have won elections in two different parts of the world that have little to do with the public good.
Russia, Turkey, Israel, Hungary, Poland, and the United States are the latest examples. Similarly, these trends can be clearly seen in Japan, Canada, Austria, the UK, India and Australia.
China’s case is clear. In Germany, after decades, members of the right-wing faction have entered Parliament.
Surjit Singh Flora is a veteran journalist and freelance writer based in Canada.
