Tag: Rule of Law

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The Founders Would Have Been on the Front Lines of No Kings Day

The Fulcrum, Oct. 19, 2025 — by Ronald L. Hirsch

Hirsch effectively argues that No Kings Day stands firmly in the American tradition of resisting concentrated, unaccountable power. He revisits the Declaration of Independence’s bill of particulars against King George—dissolving representative bodies, subordinating courts, swelling patronage and enforcement—and maps those warnings onto today’s executive overreach and contempt for checks and balances. Despite attempts to smear the protests as extremist, the piece frames them as a civic duty: a peaceful defense of constitutional balance through participation, not violence. The takeaway: opposing would-be monarchy isn’t anti-American—it’s the point of the American experiment.

➜ Read the full story at The Fulcrum

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American Democracy Might Be Stronger Than Donald Trump


POLITICO Magazine, Sept. 19, 2025 — by Jonathan Schlefer

Schlefer argues that while Trump threatens democratic norms, the U.S. has unusual sources of resilience compared with countries that slid into autocracy. Rich, long-lived democracies rarely die; the U.S. presidential system’s checks and balances make wholesale court-packing and constitutional rewrites harder than in parliamentary systems; and Trump’s popularity is far below the sky-high approval that enabled figures like Fujimori and Bukele to crush checks. A robust legal profession and civil society can resist overreach, and the Supreme Court—even with conservative justices—has limits and incentives that don’t align with blind Trumpism. Risks remain (inequality, polarization, episodic lawlessness, rising political violence), but large, nonviolent protest—including movements approaching the 1–3.5% participation range—signals broad opposition and can deter authoritarian consolidation. Bottom line: U.S. democracy is wounded, not doomed.

Read the full story → https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/09/19/american-democracy-resilience-00548910

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A Region Reordered by Autocracy and Democracy

Freedom House’s latest Nations in Transit report shows democracy across Central Europe to Central Asia has declined for the 20th year in a row. Autocrats are cracking down harder, coordinating with each other to dodge sanctions, silence opposition, and normalize aggression like Russia’s war on Ukraine and Azerbaijan’s seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh.

At the same time, democratic resilience still shows up where people mobilize in large numbers. Poland offers a clear example: despite the ruling party’s electoral manipulation, voter turnout hit record levels and handed victory to a pro-democracy coalition, opening the door to repair years of damage to institutions and the rule of law. Ukraine is the only “hybrid” regime moving in a democratic direction, while others are sliding back or stuck in partisan deadlock.

The report warns that democracies cannot just rely on elections and trade deals—they need to invest more in military readiness and back Ukraine decisively. If not, authoritarian expansion will continue, raising costs not only in Europe but for democracies worldwide, including the United States.

Key flashpoints:

  • Poland – Despite electoral manipulation, record turnout flipped power to a pro-democracy coalition, showing mass mobilization can still reverse backsliding.
  • Ukraine – The only hybrid state improving, even while under Russian attack.
  • Azerbaijan – Conquest and ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh exposed how unchecked autocracies export violence.
  • U.S. reliability in question – Political shifts in Washington have left European allies doubting America’s long-term commitment as a security guarantor, pressuring democracies to build stronger independent defense and solidarity networks.

The takeaway: elections and institutions aren’t enough. Democracies must expand support for civic rights, strengthen military preparedness, and decisively back Ukraine—or risk letting authoritarian expansion harden into a permanent new order.

→ Read more at Freedom House