Sam Douds Blog Post 5 - America is Threatening Its Own Hegemony

            The United States’ recent democratic failures - specifically in reference to its elections, justice system, and legislative branch – threaten its global hegemony by making the state appear untrustworthy. This essay will examine the hazards that election controversy, justice system deficiencies, and legislative stalemate represent to the U.S.’s continued hegemony. The U.S.’s status as a global police force has previously been buttressed by its commitment to values such as equality, liberty, and autonomy. The U.S. has justified nearly all of its international conflicts through an interpretation of these values, including their interventions. However, when the U.S. falls short of these virtues on the domestic front, it loses credibility and appears both hypocritical and unreliable. This is a reputation that the United States cannot afford to sustain as the leader of the liberal world order.

            A democracy “by,” “for,” and “of” the people, as Lincoln described the U.S., cannot be maintained without trust (Gettysburg Address). Prior to and following the 2020 Presidential election, American leaders engaged in voter suppression by making it harder for some citizens to vote and by making others believe that the election was fraudulent. For example, “[l]atino voters waited almost 46 percent longer [to vote] than white voters, and Black voters waited 45 percent longer on average” (Klain et al. 2020). This was in large part the fault of politicians who aimed to limit the number of people who voted by enforcing new suppressive policies. Furthermore, in January – almost exactly a year after the disgraceful Trump insurrection, The Guardian reported that “[m]ore than 40% of Americans still do not believe… Biden legitimately won.” This can be attributed to leaders who disseminated election misinformation. While certainly problematic domestically, these issues also threaten America’s position in the global food chain. If a state cannot run its own free and fair elections, cannot trust its leaders, and cannot trust its own governmental apparatus, it certainly cannot be trusted to be a reliable partner. Why buy into a liberal world order by remaining in the United Nations (UN) or World Trade Organization (WTO) when its de-facto leader struggles to govern itself?

            This systemic lack of faith in the institutions that control this nation extends also to the U.S. justice system. Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, and many others have unfortunately been made famous by the obvious shortcomings of said system. Where the American concept of justice has always lacked in terms of true equality, today’s aware Americans want change. One Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that between June 8 – June 14, 2020, about 26 million people protested the murder of George Floyd, another prominent victim of a justice system in dire need of reform. These demonstrations made an international impression as advocates from around the world stood in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement (CBS). This inability to handle one’s own human rights transgressions, to ensure the values of life and liberty to one’s own citizens makes the U.S. appear untrustworthy. The U.S.’s ability to advance its international agenda is fundamentally limited by its readily apparent, and easily criticized domestic issues.

            The U.S.’s deep divisions over issues of politics and race reach the legislative branch as well. Congress has become so polarized that they have largely achieved a stalemate in which voting for a bill supported by an opposing party appears treasonous. This legislative stalemate makes the U.S. less democratic. As a result of gridlock, executive powers have grown tremendously. Declaration of war powers have become defunct. The Supreme Court has almost become a legislative body by proxy. Power within the United States has become more concentrated in less democratic places. Where previously, allies and future partners could put their faith in the collective governmental system, they must now largely trust the bureaucracy and the Supreme Court. This was not the intention of the founders and it makes the U.S. appear almost unstable. Liberalism requires a degree of trust that overcomes the anarchy of international politics. When the foundation upon which that trust is largely based (the United States) appears faulty, the whole arrangement threatens to fall apart.

            The United States recent democratic failures make the state look capricious. The eternal values that the U.S. claims to uphold clash with its modern behavior. If the U.S. intends to remain the global hegemon, it must decide if it will change in accordance with the values upon which it was founded, or continue on this path towards authoritarianism and instability.