Now Western democracy is in danger
Bill Clinton's defense minister, William Cohen, recently told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that the rule of law is what separates democracy from dictatorship. The interview concerned both the preparations for Donald Trump's upcoming presidency and Joe Biden's last days in the White House.
Despite President Biden´s promise not to pardon his son Hunter, he did it anyway. Hunter Biden has been found guilty of tax evasion and illegal possession of weapons and is awaiting sentencing. The US Constitution gives the president the power to pardon and thus change a court decision. This is intended as a safety valve against arbitrary and unreasonable court decisions, not as an opportunity for family members to avoid legally imposed punishment.
Biden believes that his son has been subjected to a political witch hunt by people who wanted to harm the president. Critics in his own party say that, with his pardon, Biden is giving arguments to Republicans who believe that the judiciary has been politicized by Democrats.
There is little doubt that the US judiciary and Justice Department will be used politically by the incoming president. Pam Bondi, who has been designated as Attorney General, was one of the lawyers who defended Trump during his first impeachment trial. Trump was charged with pressuring President Zelenskyj to launch an investigation into the Biden family's business activities in Ukraine. At the same time, Trump withheld military support for the country. Bondi accused Joe and Hunter Biden of corruption in Ukraine in connection with Hunter Biden's role as a board member of Burisma Holding, a Ukrainian energy company. While Bondi was Attorney General of Florida, and also afterward, she had several meetings with Lev Parnas, an American businessman, born in Ukraine, who was later indicted for illegally transferring money from Ukraine and Russia to Republican politicians, especially in Florida. She still believes that the election victory in 2020 was stolen by the Democrats.
Kash Patel, who has been appointed to lead the federal police FBI, has made it clear that he will comply with Trump's request for investigations of politicians and journalists who were involved in the cleanup after the attack on the Congress building on January 6, 2021.
Loyalty to Trump is a common feature of those nominated for positions in the incoming administration. The chosen ones will probably carry out Trump's wishes, even if they are illegal. An example is Pete Hegseth whom Trump wants as defense minister. Trump has said he might use US troops for the job of arresting as many as possible of the estimated 11 million people staying in the US illegally, rounding them up in camps and then shipping them out of the country. This is illegal, but with a Republican majority in Congress and a solid conservative majority in the Supreme Court, the risk is probably small that someone will problematize such a policy.
A picture emerges here of a practice that has so far been used by dictatorships such as Russia, China, and North Korea, to name the most important. The West, under the leadership of the United States, has stood for a completely different policy, characterized by a different set of values.
If the American authorities now adopt the same methods as the dictatorships, it is primarily democracy as a social system that will suffer. It is not enough to hold free elections. If democracy is to work, the losers must accept the election result and focus on doing better next time. To send the mob against the National Assembly in an attempt to stop the ratification of the election results is to damage the democratic social system. If you then win the next election legally but use the state apparatus to take revenge on political opponents, you give democracy a fatal wound.
Ronald Reagan used the metaphor "a shining city upon a hill" as an image that the USA as a nation and society is and must be a role model and a hope for the world. He also used the metaphor as the center of his political career. Reagan took the quote from a speech given by John Winthrop in 1630. Winthrop was a lawyer and leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In the speech, Winthrop quoted Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a candle and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven!" Matthew 5:14-16.
American "deeds" throughout history have been both good and bad, but there is no doubt that the USA so far has been a shining example of democracy in action. That time may now be coming to an end, with incalculable consequences for the world. Will we in Europe be able to take over the place as the city on the hill? I don't know.
The article was first published in the Norwegian Daily Dagen, on Dec 6th 2
