American Democracy is in crisis, but not just because of Trump

Nineteen months under Trump presidency, US democracy is facing serious problems, but that's not all, or primarily Donald Trump's fault. This crisis of government has developed gradually for decades. But only now, since Trump's iconic attacks on beliefs, laws, institutions, and established values are testing the system until its destruction, the real degree of existing weaknesses and lines is becoming evident.

This deep crisis of trust, at the borders of national dissolution, comes at the time when the US is heading towards mid-term elections of November ʹ a popular American ritual, which has now become surprisingly unpredictable in the fear of foreign manipulation, and an FBI investigation that could eventually lead to Trump's dismissal.

The process of degradation affects US citizens, and all those around the world who hold the US democratic system, as a pedigma worthy of copying. Friends worry that the country's ability to support its traditional role of global moral and practical leader is being undermined.

The enemies, mainly anti-democratic regimes, authoritarian competitive regimes in Russia and China, hope so. Take a global example: Therump has consistently boasted about its readiness to use nuclear weapons.

As the supreme commander of the U.S. Army, he oversees the world's largest nuclear arsenal. Last year, he threatened to destroy “completely” North Korea, a nation of 25 million people. He has threatened Iran in the same form.

Such arrogant behavior makes many Americans impression. But it seems that they can do very little to stop Trump, if he decides to print “nuclear input”. Controls exist. There's a chain of command that can't be skipped. But security experts say no one, not even the secretaries of state and defence or the chairman of the joint army chiefs, has the legal power to block a president's order.

What could be less democratic than that? However, this dilemma was not created by Trump. It has existed for many years. Congress is now reviewing it, but it's retarded. The frequent use of <x0 executive orders” on Trump's part has issued another alarm bell.

The most famous was the ban on travel to people from 7 majority Muslim countries, but others regarding the construction of a wall bordering Mexico, its unilateral enforcement of steel tariffs, and its amendment of the law on Barack Obama's affordable health system were also highly disputed.

After such orders are decreed, however, they are rarely overturned. Following numerous legal challenges, the Supreme Court backed the ban on travel. Many were shocked to find out how a U.S. president could issue dictatorships and fetva, as if he were the worst kind of despot or citizen-elect ayato God.

But the use of such commands, which avoid public examination, has long been established. With this tool Franklin Roosevelt exiled all Japanese-Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The announcement of Abraham Lincoln's Emmacipation Act, which ended slavery, was also an executive order.

In the exercise of this arbitrary power, Trump is following the precedent, as undemocratic as it is. The expanded powers of what Vietnam-era historian Arthur Schlesinger called “imperial Presidenty” are a widely known phenomenon, which Congress, America's main constitutional pillar, failed to contain over the years.

This may be one reason why Americans, according to many polls, have a constant low regard for Congress. But there are many more. The dominant two-party system, virulent bipartisanism and politicians out of reality are blamed for the chronic failures of governance.

Their priorities are great; most members are repeatedly elected, reducing democratic choice. As for the presidency, the second constitutional pillar ʹ systemic problems produce even greater abnormalities. Trump was the fifth president to win despite the loss of popular vote, thanks to the collective archaic and unreformed American election process.

Members of Congress are widely viewed as overly attentive to corporations, wealthy donors, and special interests. In other words, they are viewed as corrupt. The waste is shocking. According to election campaign finance supervisor “Open Secrets”, a total of $6.5 billion was spent by presidential candidates and congressers in 2016 enough to raise every teacher's salary by 2,000 in the country.

The average cost of winning a seat in the Senate was $19.4 million. Winning the race for Congress in mid-term elections will cost an average of $1.5m.

The need for many such large ones effectively excludes many potential candidates from the democratic process, and puts others in the race for their financial supporters. But concerns over excessive financing, not transparent or illegal campaigning, precede Trump.

Despite reform efforts, a growing portion of the funds comes from anonymous sources. Under a recent “investigation U n SA Today”, 40 percent of all TV ads for political candidates, are financed by secret donors, with private political or commercial agendas.

Then there is money coming from governments or foreign individuals, through agents and lobbyists, an issue that represents an added concern in the context of Robert Miller's investigation into the 2016 Trump election campaign. Adding evidence of Russian influence and intervention has strengthened the feeling of a worsening crisis of American democracy.

However, as Trump minimizes the matter, and his efforts to close Myler's investigation represent a conflict of interest, these problems cannot be attributed only to him. The Russians have been aiming to undermine American democracy since 1945. The difference now is that they are becoming better able like other foreign states.

American intelligence chiefs agree. Our very democracy is at a crossroads”- Interior Secretary Kirsjen Nielsen said last week. “Free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy, and it is now clear, they are the object of our opponents, who aim to plant disputes and damage our lifestyle”.

What, though, if Trump was proved guilty of a foreign power plot? How would he react? This is an unknown and frightening terrain. Can the judiciary, and in particular, the highest court the third constitutional pillar, and the proud symbol of the doctrine of founding fathers' division of powers save American democracy?

Sounds impossible. In the appointment of a prominent conservative, Brett Kavanug, for the last case in this court, Trump attended the latest practice in shaping the court in his political view. Things haven't always worked this way. As David Greenberg noted, appointments to the Supreme Court have been largely apolitical. This is not written in the constitution when the rules were written in Philadelphia in 1787.

Trump's planner son's behavior is highlighted by these entrenched structural problems. However, his arrogant presidency is eroded democracy in the country. His encouragement by ultranationalist, racist and neo-fascist forces from Warsaw to Charlottesville, demagination of division, demonstration of independent journalism, contempt for Western European democracies, flirting with dictators, and rejection of international order with current rules reinforce perceptions that the US's global role as a beacon of democracy is rapidly fade. Trump did it himself.

So, what should be done? The most urgent task is to recognize what's happening. Decades of self-fulfilling assumptions, about America's unequivocal and unequivocal affiliation in the democratic model, have left the United States vulnerable to subversion both inside and abroad.

Radical and sweeping reforms are urgently required. There should be a national discussion and a review of basic democratic principles. Maybe it's time, 231 years later, for a constitutional convention in Philadelphia?

“The Guardian” World.al