In recent years, America has seen two divisive presidents impeached for breaking the law but not removed from office. Something is seriously wrong.
"It's a Republic, if you can keep it," Benjamin Franklin famously quipped about the new nation he helped establish. Franklin meant that the framers created a government designed to have just enough centralized power to make government effective, without putting too much power in any one place. It's a delicate balance: too little power, and chaos reigns; too much, and rulers tend to get autocratic.
Democratic norms include mutual respect among political rivals and self-restraint of those in power. In a healthy, free republic, political adversaries compete without threatening one another. They respect one another's right to participate in the political arena. They accept their rival's leadership when their side loses. They do not aim to strip their adversary of power when they are in charge. These norms are critical to making the institutions of democracy work.
But how did things get this way? From the 1970s to 1990s, the American electorate sorted into liberal and conservative parties, particularly on issues of racial justice, causing polarization to germinate. A diversified media environment and convoluted campaign finance system, stemming from relaxed regulations and technological advances, fed this extremism. And throughout the beginning of the 21st century, deepening polarization created the perfect conditions for democratic norms to be violated.
Once could be a fluke. But now it has happened twice, and we can be certain that institutional checks and balances cannot withstand the force of modern partisanship. The way to reign in norm violators is to impose sanctions against those who break them. Today, there appears to be little willingness for partisans to restrain or punish their colleagues who take things too far.
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