L'affaire Minnesota

As ICE enforcement intensifies, America grapples with legal norms, public opinion, and social inequality nationwide.

- Wajahat Qazi

With slanted coverage and an almost complete occlusion of alternate points of view, even in news, by the 'mainstream media' in the US, a neutral observer might be forgiven for believing that democracy is dead in the country.

Be it the protests over ICE raids, the ruckus over deportation, or other related issues, the media's slant and bias suggest it is all over.

In this 'melee,' Minnesota appears to be the state where it is all playing out.

The question is: is democracy dead in the US? Is Minnesota emblematic of the deep polarization in the country and a bellwether for developments there?

If not, what is the real issue, and what is at stake?

First, democracy is not dead in the US.

This assertion may best be validated by the freedom of the media in the country. The media, the fourth estate, has not been gagged. Perhaps in any other country than the US, given the level, intensity, and copiousness of negative coverage of the Trump administration, most of which borders on vituperative scurrilousness, there would have been a media blackout.

If the media is free in the US, is that the only yardstick to measure democracy and freedom? No.

Consider elections then.

The 47th president of the US assumed the highest office of the country in free and fair elections. While conflating elections with democracy is somewhat reductive and a baseline definition of the same, many political scientists hold it to be so.

What about deportations and arrests in the US? Are these an infringement on freedom and liberty?