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Professor Rena Steinzor offers a thought-provoking analysis of challenges confronting the democratic system i.e. not just a form of government but also a way of life in the United States of America.Such trends are prevalent in other democracies too. Unfortunately, there seems to be a wave of authoritarianism sweeping across the democratic world. Long back, Aristotle characterised 'degenerated' form of democracy as 'mobocracy'. Rationality and sanity are relegated in order to procure popularity and secure electoral majorities. Populism and demagoguery are rampant and have devastating consequences on the fabric of a pragmatic and egalitarian society. Lobbyists, influence of money power on election campaigns and government policies, paid-cum-sponsored polls, biased media reporting, superficial research, racism, primordial considerations etc. are among the most serious difficulties. Polarisation of electorate is a 'systemic requirement' for political parties to win elections. These ailments are so debilitating that Socrates (an exceptional minority) had preferred to drink hemlock and die, instead of making adjustments and compromises with peculiarities of the majority-based democratic system. As a possible solution to endemic problems of democracy, Plato in his 'Republic' wrote that either king should become a philosopher or philosopher should become a king. Let us wait and watch how do the champions of democracy react to untoward events after the 2024 US presidential elections.

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