The Exposed Faultlines of Established Democracies and the Takedown of New, Fragile Ones is Becoming a Global Phenomena

No doubt Trump's shenanigans have shown up the system to have many deficits and shortcomings. However,  the major vulnerability of the world's oldest democracy has been shielded and papered over by individuals so far who have demonstrated integrity, spine, ethics and principles. Ultimately, any system is only as good as the people who maintain & uphold it - or not as the case may be - and, in this regard, the crumbling of India's institutions, pillars necessary for reinforcing democracy and systems  necessary for its maintenance have not only shown up the utter fragility and instability of India's democratic infrastructure but also the utter lack of spine, honesty, integrity & ethics of the people who populate the system and are meant to maintain & uphold it during times good and bad. 

In Key States, Republicans were Critical in Resisting Trump's Election Narratives -NYT

Select Excerpts from the piece, below:
"The telephone call would have been laugh-out-loud ridiculous if it had not been so serious. When Tina Barton picked up, she found someone from President Trump’s campaign asking her to sign a letter raising doubts about the results of the election.
The election that Ms. Barton as the Republican clerk of the small Michigan city ofThey refuted conspiracy theories, certified results, dismissed lawsuits and repudiated a president of their own party, leaving him to thunder about a supposed plot that would have had to include people who had voted for him, donated to him or even been appointed by him. The desperate effort to hang onto office over the will of the people effectively ended when his own director of the General Services Administration determined that Joseph R. Biden Jr. is the president-elect and a judge Mr. Trump put on the bench chastised him for ludicrous litigation. Rochester Hills had helped oversee. The election that she knew to be fair and accurate because she had helped make it so. The election that she had publicly defended amid threats that made her upgrade her home security system.
“Do you know who you’re talking to right now?” she asked the campaign official.
Evidently not.
The three weeks that followed tested American democracy and demonstrated that the two-century-old system is far more vulnerable to subversion than many had imagined even though the incumbent president lost by six million votes nationwide. But in the end, the system stood firm against the most intense assault from an aggrieved president in the nation’s history because of a Republican city clerk in Michigan, a Republican secretary of state in Georgia, a Republican county supervisor in Arizona and Republican-appointed judges in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
They refuted conspiracy theories, certified results, dismissed lawsuits and repudiated a president of their own party, leaving him to thunder about a supposed plot that would have had to include people who had voted for him, donated to him or even been appointed by him. The desperate effort to hang onto office over the will of the people effectively ended when his own director of the General Services Administration determined that Joseph R. Biden Jr. is the president-elect and a judge Mr. Trump put on the bench chastised him for ludicrous litigation."

It can be argued that the system has been systematically corrupted & brought down by individuals elected or appointed to the highest offices in the land who, in turn, have pushed in bureaucrats & officials who have consistently demonstrated their unblinking loyalty to certain individuals who now hold the levers of power. That this undermining of and total corruption of the system has happened so quickly & seamlessly only demonstrates how deep the rot runs in the society itself from which these people have emerged.

Quite a few third world countries & banana republics have more than their fair share of politicians, officials and people who have no principles & ethics, are steeped in corruption of all kinds and hence demonstrate a lack of integrity & spine. India, over the years, has far too many of such folks. With the fascist rulebook currently in play and the systematic unravelling of its democratic core, the country is slithering down a treacherous slippery slope to a dark, dangerous pit. Chances of a quick turnaround and pullback are virtually non-existent at this point of time and quite a bit of the damage inflicted already could be fairly long lasting.

Heartened by such developments across countries professing their adherence to democratic underpinnings and modes of functioning, countries which were never democracies in any true sense of the term have witnessed the consolidation of power in the hands of individuals. Xi Jinping of China & Vladimir Putin of Russia are just two of the most prominent examples of leaders who have chosen to anoint themselves as lifelong Heads of State. Several others are engaged in doing so through the backdoor or through shambolic elections with predetermined outcomes.

Monarchies, of the 21st century variety, are becoming the vogue in major countries & economies across the world. Hardly any of them have benevolent, people-oriented authoritarians wielding all the levers of power.

-- Raja Mitra