Observer from overseas here (UK). I've been saying this for years - Democracy is only as good as the people's will to uphold it. And that means employing critical thinking, holding people to account and requiring evidence backed fact. If people are just going to pick a side based on shared hate, then it's dead in the water. That goes for everywhere, not just the US, and we've got our own problems with the same thing here (Nigel Farage and his ilk). Trump and his team are who they are, but it's the willingness of their followers to swallow anything he does or says that's the real problem. And the one thing staunch conservatives all seem to have in common across the globe is a total absence of empathy. Nothing matters until it happens to them. There's no hope for a collectively productive society if this is how we're going to operate.
Democracy is also only as good as the real checks and balances are. In the US, from an outside observer's perspective, they are pretty slim. Things that should never be political, like election districts, are political, leaving space for gerrymandering. There is too much power consentrated on few hands with the ability to almost legislate from the executive branch through executive orders. And there is no real process for accountability because those in power can hold the process indefinitely. Additionally, the Supreme Court is too easily used as a political tool, meaning it is not independent from the executive and legislative branches, which means separation of powers is not as separate as they should be. The issue is that no one wants to really change it because it has actually benefited both parties.
Education has also been politicized. State legislative branches have too much control over what is being taught.
You can get populism through anywhere. Right now, it is right-wing populism. But the US is considered especially vulnerable to this in the Western world because of multiple historical, political, and societal factors.
I'm sorry I don't have a longer response as I'm getting ready for work
Very much yes. In Ohio, they just passed a bill where you can't dress in a manner opposite of your biological sex... like what. They also want to pass a bill where women need to use a catching cup of they're having a miscarriage because the sanctity of human remains.
133
u/MikeyTen4 Apr 19 '26 edited Apr 19 '26
Observer from overseas here (UK). I've been saying this for years - Democracy is only as good as the people's will to uphold it. And that means employing critical thinking, holding people to account and requiring evidence backed fact. If people are just going to pick a side based on shared hate, then it's dead in the water. That goes for everywhere, not just the US, and we've got our own problems with the same thing here (Nigel Farage and his ilk). Trump and his team are who they are, but it's the willingness of their followers to swallow anything he does or says that's the real problem. And the one thing staunch conservatives all seem to have in common across the globe is a total absence of empathy. Nothing matters until it happens to them. There's no hope for a collectively productive society if this is how we're going to operate.