Democracy is under threat from elitocracy

IT'S NOT A COINCIDENCE THAT MANY COUNTRIES ARE WITNESSING A SURGE IN TENDENCIES THAT ARE NOT CONDUCIVE TO DEMOCRATIC VALUES. MANY COUNTRIES IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT ARE AFFECTED BY THIS TREND

- Shashi Shekhar

Here's an edited excerpt of a conversation between a United States (US) member of Congress and a British journalist:

Journalist: "Should the defence secretary..." Marjorie Taylor Greene: "Wait, what country are you from?"

Journalist: "From the UK."

Greene: "OK, we don't give a crap about your opinion and your reporting. Why don't you go back to your country where you have a major migrant problem. You should care about your own borders."

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican representative from Georgia, was speaking with a journalist from the United Kingdom (UK), a nation that's been America's most trusted and oldest ally. Welcome to the new America of Donald Trump and his confidantes, who don't care about age-old established diplomatic, political, and social norms and conventions.

The actions of Trump and colleagues are creating upheavals not only in the geopolitical arena but also trying to impose their will within their country. For instance, Trump's threat to impeach judges. Their crime? They dared to rule against his executive orders.

This is perhaps why Nobel Laureate economist, Joseph Stiglitz, says the US is now an exclusive elitocracy. Instead of becoming fully democratic, the world seems to be moving in the opposite direction. The biggest example of a decline in democratic values across the US, according to Stiglitz, is the intense push in State school systems to remove references to the climate crisis from science textbooks. A debate is also raging about abridging the chapters related to racial persecution.