James Bowden's Blog

Peaceful transitions of power between governments form the bedrock upon which the edifice of liberal-democratic self-government rests. Since the elections in 2000 and Al Gore’s concession speech, I have witnessed many American politicians deliver cloying speeches about peaceful transitions of power, which seemed both shamelessly self-congratulatory – as if no other democratic country in the world had ever performed such a feat – as well as manifestly redundant. These speeches seemed so nauseating and sentimental precisely because we all took for granted these peaceful transitions of power guided by the rule of law, conducted under the provisions of the US Constitution, and buttressed by unassailable democratic norms. Until recently, any other possibility remained the preserve of dictatorships abroad and utterly unthinkable in the United States of America. But it seems that Americans need to make a ritual of congratulating themselves upon such things when they happen properly, because Trump’s presidency, like a corrosive brine, has rusted out these once ironclad traditions and ground them into dust.

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