Stories

Democracy in America

Paul Bunner
June 1, 2016
The 2016 U.S. presidential campaign is an unrivalled spectacle of political entertainment that is by turns fascinating, repulsive, and worrying. As the primaries wind down and the main event begins, C2C Journal launches its Summer Edition on the theme of Democracy in America. The title, borrowed from the famous 1835 book by French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville, heralds the overarching theme of ten essays we will publish over the course of June, starting with Trevor Shelley’s examination of Tocqueville’s remarkably prescient hopes and fears for the country that became the world’s strongest defender of democracy but is now making a mockery of it.
Stories

Democracy in America

Paul Bunner
June 1, 2016
The 2016 U.S. presidential campaign is an unrivalled spectacle of political entertainment that is by turns fascinating, repulsive, and worrying. As the primaries wind down and the main event begins, C2C Journal launches its Summer Edition on the theme of Democracy in America. The title, borrowed from the famous 1835 book by French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville, heralds the overarching theme of ten essays we will publish over the course of June, starting with Trevor Shelley’s examination of Tocqueville’s remarkably prescient hopes and fears for the country that became the world’s strongest defender of democracy but is now making a mockery of it.
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter

Supporters of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are predicting nothing less than the fall of the American empire if their opponent wins the U.S. presidency this November. The Clintonites warn that a Trump victory will result in a global economic meltdown precipitated by trade and currency wars, a Russian takeover of eastern and central Europe following the collapse of NATO, a confrontation between China and nuclear-armed South Korea and Japan in the Pacific, an explosion of home-grown Islamist terrorism in response to Trump’s ban on Muslim immigration, and an acute shortage of illegal Mexican immigrant nannies and pool boys.

The Trumpians believe a Clinton presidency would be a “catastrophe” for American economic, political and military power. They also think it will lead to a ban on the phrases “Islamist terrorism” and “separate bathrooms”, repeal of the Second Amendment, a tsunami of affirmative action for everyone who is non-male, non-white and non-heterosexual, and a special room in the West Wing where Old Bill gets an unlimited supply of interns and cigars to help him orchestrate the ruin of the U.S. economy.

Many Canadians watching nervously from the north are fearing disaster no matter who wins the presidency. This is the thematic thread that runs through most of the articles in the Summer 2016 edition of C2C Journal.

We titled it Democracy in America to honour the 1835 book of the same name by Alexis de Tocqueville and to highlight the irony that what is happening in the 2016 presidential year bears almost no resemblance to what most of us – including Tocqueville – would recognize as a healthy, functioning democracy.

What it looks like instead is the mother of all reality TV shows, featuring an actual reality TV show host and real estate developer of dubious competence and integrity who won the Republican nomination by calling all his competitors stupid, ugly, impotent liars. His opponent is a career political opportunist who is dragging around so much baggage – including an FBI investigation – that she can’t even finish off her only competition for the nomination, a fossilized socialist rehashing economic balderdash they don’t even believe in Beijing or Havana anymore.

However awful it is as democracy, it is also great entertainment. Like train wrecks and epic fail videos, we can’t look away. Trump, even more than our own Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has so mastered the medium that it doesn’t matter how glib or factually unsupportable the message is, we are drawn to it like moths to flames. So you might as well resign yourself to a summer of Fox News, Politico, C2C Journal, and non-stop coverage of the battle between Hillary and The Donald for the soul of America.

Our exploration of this fateful contest begins with Trevor Shelley’s reflections on Tocqueville’s remarkably prescient hopes and fears for American democracy. Next up is John Robson, who understands why voters are mad as hell at the unholy choices before them, but suggests they should be even madder at themselves for the selfish, ignorant, hedonistic vote-sellers they have become.

Peter Shawn Taylor examines the parallels between the possible if not probable implosion of the Republican Party and what happened to Canada’s conservative movement when it cracked up nearly three decades ago. Luigi Bradizza drills deeply into the ruins of democracy in America, where a failed education system has rendered millions unemployable and incapable of fulfilling the basic responsibilities of citizenship. Jason Unrau provides some gonzo comic relief to this grim epitaph for U.S. exceptionalism by trying to persuade you that Donald Trump is, in fact, the apogee of American democracy and the pure and perfect expression of her exceptionalism.

There is more, including Patrick Keeney on the prescient work of cultural critic Neil Postman, who foretold 31 years ago what would happen when politics and popular culture became indistinguishable and Kim Kardashian’s latest cosmetic surgical enhancement became more important to most people than the latest atrocity by ISIS. Kelly Jane Torrance, a Canadian editor at the Weekly Standard, explores the parallels between the presidential races of 1968 and 2016, Tim Anderson previews what’s in store for Canada after Clinton becomes the most powerful woman on earth since Queen Victoria, J.J. McCullough investigates the ominous “alt right” movement of angry young white males, a key Trump constituency that may be the harbinger of a dangerous new radical movement in American democracy.

If this all sounds too gloomy, take heart. The Dark Ages only lasted 500 years after the fall of the Roman Empire.

~

Paul Bunner is the editor of C2C Journal.

Love C2C Journal? Here's how you can help us grow.

More for you

A Likely Story: The “Diversity” Myth Consumes the Canadian Literary Scene

If a given minority is believed to have almost no presence in a particular industry or sector, that might suggest some bias at work. Certainly worth looking into, and potentially trying to rectify. But what if widespread misunderstanding of the essential numbers is distorting public perceptions? And what if the leaders and financiers of said industry – in this case, Canadian literature – are deeply invested in advancing a false narrative? Deciding to find out what is really going on in the world of Canadian books, Winnipeg-based novelist Bob Armstrong painstakingly charted the personal demographics of hundreds of Canadian writers and matched those data against their performance in a range of Canadian literary awards, promotional programs and festivals. His findings did not exactly advance a narrative of oppression.

“Genocide”? Canada’s Government Wanted to Close Every Indian Residential School in the 1940s

An avalanche of propaganda today urges Canadians to believe their country perpetrated a genocide against Indigenous people with its residential school system. Some proponents even want to criminalize statements disagreeing with such claims. But doing so will make the search for truth impossible. Digging deep into federal archives, Greg Piasetzki uncovers the complicated and perhaps surprising history of the now-reviled schools. Piasetzki’s careful research reveals not only the deep regard many federal officials had for the wellbeing of Canada’s native children, but also how they actively sought to shut down the entire system as early as the 1940s.

Defending the Refuge of History’s Perennially Persecuted People

Among history’s multiplicity of ethnicities, thousands over the millennia succeeded in carving out their own countries – while thousands more never did. Some conquered, subjugated or even annihilated their neighbours, while others managed to muddle through, and still others fell victim to their tormentors. But no people, notes David Solway, has been universally and eternally persecuted – in every century of its existence, and in every place where its members ventured. None except the Jews – with the only reprieves occurring during the brief times when the Jewish people had a place to call their own. In his review of Solway’s new book, Crossing the Jordan, Tom Flanagan encounters some magical turns of phrase, a stoutly argued case for the indispensable role of Israel, pugnacious assertions about expanding Islam and, above all, a rare prescience about the gathering global threat against the Jewish people.

More from this author

Good News From C2C Journal

C2C Journal is pleased to announce that thanks to the loyal and generous support of our readers, contributors and donors, the Journal is immediately increasing volume and frequency of original stories and essays, expanding staff, unveiling a redesigned website, and launching a sustained social media marketing push on multi-media platforms. Editor Paul Bunner has the details.

One step forward, two steps back for freedom

When he wasn’t kayaking on or swimming in the North Saskatchewan River near his home in Edmonton, C2C Journal editor Paul Bunner spent some of his summer fighting two battles for little freedoms in his local community. He won one and lost one. Although he’s a veteran political activist at the federal and provincial level, Bunner contends that the lifeblood of democracy must be nurtured at the foundations of society if it is to flourish at the top.

The Last Front Page

The rapidly shrinking newspaper business raises all kinds of questions. What will we wrap fish guts in? How will we light backyard fires? And where will we get reasonably accurate and important stories about what’s going on in our community, our country, and the world? The internet? Where global editor-bots decide what’s news? Where politicians can lie with impunity? Where fake news outsells real news? The short answer is yes. The longer and more encouraging answer is in the Spring edition of C2C Journal, which launches today with editor Paul Bunner’s lead editorial and career newspaperman Paul Stanway’s lament for the ink-stained wretches of yesterday’s news.

Share This Story

Donate

Subscribe to the C2C Weekly
It's Free!

* indicates required
Interests
By providing your email you consent to receive news and updates from C2C Journal. You may unsubscribe at any time.