Lots of institutions in our constitution (written and unwritten) that were supposed to protect democracy have failed us over the last few years:
* The impeachment power
* The emoluments clause
* The 14th Amendment insurrection clause
* The 25th Amendment (relating to Presidential disablity)
* The criminal justice system (to punish bad actors before they gain political power)
* The Voting Rights Act
* The War Powers Act
* Contempt of court powers
* Independent agencies (including the U.S. Postal Service and most regulatory agencies)
* The Civil Service system
* The "Deep State"
* International treaties and international law
* The U.S. Supreme Court (which is the reason most of the other tools above didn't work, our system is too dependent upon it working well)
* Congress
* The 2nd Amendment (and armed resistance more generally)
* Political and legal norms
* Shame and civility norms
* Big law firms
Some American institutions (and countries) have actively hurt democracy in the United States, or put it in peril:
* The pardon power
* Presidential immunity from criminal prosecutions (newly invented)
* The limited scope of Bivens actions for illegal actions by federal officials compared to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 which creates a private civil action (however imperfect) for actions violating federal rights by state and local officials
* Standing law
* The Unitary Executive theory
* Far right legal scholars and far right judges (especially federal judges)
* The Federalist Society
* The Heritage Foundation and Project 2025
* Law by executive order
* Trump's Department of Justice
* The Insurrection Act
* ICE and its collaborators
* Private prisons and detention centers
* Federal anti-terrorism laws
* The demise of the legislative veto (old but material)
* Archaic legislature centered election administration laws
* The oil and gas industry
* The coal industry
* Cryptocurrencies
* Flock (the surveillance network company)
* AI
* The tech industry
* The billionaire class and its capacity to corrupt elected officials (especially Elon Musk)
* Child sex traffickers and lenient treatment of sex offenders
* Most Republicans in state and local government
* DINOs (Democrats in name only) in the U.S. Senate
* White Evangelical Christians
* Ecuador
* Argentina
* Russia
* Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE
Other institutions have been (sometimes surprisingly) fairly effective at defending democracy in the United States:
* Federalism (both state governments and local governments)
* State and local district attorneys and attorneys' general
* Immigration lawyers (who have been remarkably competent)
* Native American tribes
* Federal grand juries.
* Birthright citizenship
* The one man, one vote rule of constitutional law
* The U.S. District Courts
* The U.S. Courts of Appeal
* Republican election administration officials who weren't corrupt
* State attorney regulation systems
* The financial markets
* The news media
* Late night comedy shows
* The entertainment industry (with a small number of notable exceptions)
* Civic organizations devoted to protecting legal rights and helping people
* Protests and protesters
* Tow truck drivers
* K-12 school administrators, teachers, and bus drivers
* Strong mutually supportive local communities and grass roots activists, especially in places like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon.
* The Catholic church (mostly) and the Pope (an American)
* Mail order abortion pills
* Hospitals
* Ukraine (not least, by destroying Russian data centers)
* Iran (despite itself, by winning victories in its war with the U.S. that drove up gas prices that soured MAGA on the GOP)
* Greenland and Denmark
* The British monarchy (especially for its Epstein class enforcement)
* Pre-MAGA Republican politicians who don't need to be re-elected
Other institutions, tools, and countries, which might have been expected to play stronger roles for good or ill, but ended up being more or less neutral bystanders or not very important include:
* The national guard (which attempts were made to use for ill, but which weren't very successful)
* The U.S. military
* Congressional Democrats (the minority party in both houses of Congress)
* Congressional Republicans (the majority party in both houses of Congress but with thin majorities and lots of infighting)
* Gerrymandering
* Political assassinations and political violence
* Most big businesses
* The Fed
* Unions
* Colleges and universities
* Black churches
* China
* India
Countries that have been mostly good role models (often by resisting or overthrowing authoritarian regimes), while having only modest direct influence on the U.S.:
* South Korea
* Indonesia
* Bangladesh
* Nepal
* Poland
* Serbia
* Hungary
* Spain
* France
* Ireland
* Brazil
* Paraguay
* Mexico
* Canada
* NATO
Institutions that have simultaneously done great good (or prevented great harm) and have done great harm:
* The Internet
* The SpaceX satellite telephone network
* Social media
* Local churches
* Incompetent Trump appointees
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