Velshi: The threats to U.S. democracy are coming from within. But we can fix this.

The term “democracy” quite literally means “rule by the people”. It’s a system of government determined by the people and for the people. While it has never quite perfected it, the United States of America was a hallmark of democracy since the ink dried on the Constitution. But last week, for the first time ever, a European think tank called the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, placed the United States on its list of “backsliding democracies”. The fact that the U.S. has always been a “bastion” of democracy is validly disputed by those who have been gravely marginalized throughout history. But we could, until recently, generally agree that we were on the right side of things. What makes the threat to America’s crumbling democratic infrastructure so urgent is that it comes almost entirely from within. But just because a democracy is backsliding does not mean it must fall. This problem is entirely fixable.Nov. 28, 2021