United States will continue to play an important role for democracy

Dear Editor,
US presidential elections have always attracted a global audience; and, in general, that’s been a good thing. The quadrennial balloting despite the obscene spending by campaigns, and the often-rancorous exchanges between candidates have served as examples to the world that free and fair elections are possible, and that transitions of power can be peaceful.
Americans might be deeply divided politically, but every four years they have a chance for a political reset, and voters of all parties accept the outcome. So what does this year’s election signal to the world? The coming days and weeks will make that clearer, but one thing is certain: the vote has revealed cracks in the country’s democratic foundations that will have significant global repercussions.
Since the early 1990s, the US and other democracies around the world have played an important role in convincing incumbents who lose elections to step down peacefully. That pressure has mattered in numerous countries. In recent months, for example, US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo encouraged political actors to accept contested election results here in Guyana that reflected victory for the People’s Progressive Party Civic.
President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the election results will inevitably complicate future US support for democratic elections around the world, making their efforts less effective and very likely subject to ridicule.
However, with all of that being said, there is a fundamental threat to democracy than many people realise. Because of that tin line between truth and lies, people have started to question whether truth is even knowable.
As former US President Barack Obama put it recently in an interview, “If we do not have the capacity to distinguish what’s true from what’s false, then by definition the marketplace of ideas doesn’t work. And by definition our democracy doesn’t work”. In numerous recent surveys, less than half of self-identified Republicans said they believed Joe Biden won the election, despite vote tallies showing him to have been the victor.
One survey found that 70% of Republicans believe the election was fraudulent, a position that has not been supported with any concrete evidence. While the U.S. foundation of democracy is probably strong enough to withstand President Trump, at least for now, it is likely that his methods for evading electoral accountability, contradicting inconvenient facts with lies, and governing with bluster rather than actions will undermine democratic accountability around the world.
The American voters ultimately chose Biden over Trump, and despite his refusal to concede, Trump will soon be turned out of office. His authoritarian impulses, including the encouragement of intimidation as an electoral tactic, failed. In the end, the tools of democracy were effective, and a sitting incumbent president was defeated at the ballot box.
It will take time and effort to repair the damage Trump’s authoritarian impulses have caused. Perhaps the failure of his last outrageous stand will serve as a cautionary tale to politicians in the USA and around the world.
Despite all of this rancorous exchange, the USA will continue to play an important role for democracy in the world.

Sincerely,
David Adams