How many Americans are aware that ‘Democratic’ appears in the official name of several countries who are far from being models of democracy? The official name of North Korea is Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and yet there is probably no one on the planet with the exception of Kim Jong Un himself and his increasingly powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, who would be so bold as to characterize North Korea as ‘democratic’. It is a dark, secretive, authoritarian regime where people are executed for trying to flee and are often whisked away to prison camps.
In Africa, there is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has a long history of political instability, civil conflict, and violence. There is the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria which has also suffered from authoritarianism over the decades since independence from the French. The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka faced years of civil war and ethnic strife. The point is, just because you call yourself a democracy, doesn’t necessarily make it so.
The United States of America was once held as the beacon of democracy and the world leader in the ‘great experiment’ of a democratic government. In the Gettysburg address, Abraham Lincoln said, referring to the United States, “A government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” However, noble that statement was at the time, it appears Trump and the Republican Party are doing everything in their power to see that democracy in America does, in fact, perish from this earth.
At Trump’s urging, Governor Abbott and the Texas state legislature are trying to push through an extremely gerrymandered, redistricting map that will lock up 5 more Republican seats in the House of Representatives. This is about as undemocratic as you can get. It is not a government ‘by the people, for the people.’ It is a government for an unpopular minority led by Trump in a desperate attempt to rig the 2026 elections so they can stay in power regardless of what the voters want.
Not only is this going on in Texas, but Trump is urging all Republican controlled states to undertake similar measures to lock in power and negate the will of ‘we the people.’ One of the hallmarks of a strong democracy is the existence of free and fair elections. The outlandish gerrymandering that is now occurring coupled with a slew of voter suppression laws passed in Republican controlled states under the guise of ‘election integrity’ are undermining the very government by the people and for the people that Lincoln spoke of.
Even though Trump and the Republicans like to beat the drum about patriotism and ‘making America great again,’ the fact is, America is becoming less democratic by the day due to their actions. The United States is no longer the beacon of democracy it once was. It is now a symbol of how a democracy can slip away when people get drunk on power and greed and people who could have changed the course of this downward spiral chose to do nothing.
At the rate we are going, we will soon be known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Trump (which would no doubt please Donald immensely). And just like in the case of North Korea, the word ‘Democratic’ will just be meaningless window dressing.
