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AMERICAN DEMOCRACY and the valued institutions that uphold it are under attack. That is the pessimistic conventional wisdom of progressives and scholars alike.

For many, Trump poses a unique threat to America itself. At the core of their fear is the realization that American democracy and its norms and institutions are fragile, strong only until the first authoritarian gives them a solid push.

For the pessimists, a confluence of factors has weakened our institutions: an increasingly reactionary Republican Party shielded from public opinion by structural political advantages such as gerrymandered districts and the Electoral College; a polarized political atmosphere with citizens split into echo chambers; and a corporate media that cares more about clicks than truth.

Put these together and you have a uniquely American recipe for the next democracy to backslide into illiberalism, as has occurred in Turkey or Venezuela.

Forgive me my optimism in difficult times, but allow me to dissent. Rather than suddenly discovering that our democratic institutions are deceptively weak, I suspect we are in the process of learning precisely the opposite: American democracy can take a punch.

As someone who teaches comparative politics, I understand my students concerns. The threat is real. But here are four reasons not to bet against American democracy just yet.

Democracy works. Theres an internal logic to its success. Democracy contains an imperfect but self-regulating mechanism: Good governance leads to re-election; poor governance leads to losses. Yes, the self-regulation is incomplete, frustrating, delayed and at times uneven. But in general it works. It is tempting to witness the well-documented dysfunction of the American political system and assume the worst. But we have seen instances of the process regulating against extremism.

The best example is Trumpcare, which died an early, humiliating death. Our judicial system forced a rewrite of Trumps draconian immigration executive order. All the gerrymandering and voting rights setbacks in the world will not save the Republican Party from large losses if the Trump administration continues down its self-destructive path.

Modern Republican principles and platform remain, for the most part, unpopular, appealing largely to a demographically shrinking constituency. The GOPs most important and consistent goal in the past few decades has been to lower the tax burden on the wealthy. This goal fervently believed and advocated polls terribly. Yet it remains at the top of the partys to-do list. Combine this substantive unpopularity with a flailing administration, and a very real correction at the polls becomes increasingly likely.

Trumps administration is completely incompetent. These are the Keystone Kops of budding authoritarians. This should not be surprising, nor expected to improve any more than Trump himself, who seems incapable of restraint or effective management. He has surrounded himself with people inexperienced in public policy and has left hundreds of key executive spots unfilled. The administration continues to leak like the Titanic. His presidency has suffered as a result. What should have been a honeymoon for Trump and the GOP looks more like the morning after an inebriated Vegas marriage.

Trumps scandals are only going to grow. Trumps conflict of interests, combined with his complete indifference toward them, suggest that he will soon unseat Andrew Jackson, the man who gave us the Spoils System, as the most corrupt president ever. Additionally, the Russian scandal is almost certain to expand. What was at first treated by journalists as an evidence-thin distraction has become a full-blown, legitimate story that threatens to drain this administrations legitimacy, if not bring it down in full.

Trump represents a real danger to our democratic institutions. But the United States isnt Venezuela. Its a fully developed democracy, which will prove to be more valuable than current conventional wisdom assumes. In a battle between Donald Trump and democracy, my moneys on America.

Matthew Hall

is an assistant professor in political science and geography at Old Dominion University.

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Matthew Hall: Don't bet against democracy | Guest Columnist ... - Virginian-Pilot

Tunis - The Tunisian branch of the radical Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir movement, which calls for Islamic law and wants to unify Muslims into a caliphate, said on Saturday it was time to "bury" democracy.

"Democracy no longer attracts anyone," the movement's politburo chief Abderraouf Amri told its annual conference.

"It is time to announce its death and work to bury it."

Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in several countries and Tunisian authorities regularly accuse it of "disturbing public order".

Hundreds of party members took part in the congress near Tunis, praising "the caliphate, saviour of humanity" and denouncing "persecution" by the democratic system.

It said it was the victim of "attempts to prohibit and hinder" its activities.

Mehdi Ben Gharbia, a minister overseeing relations with civil society, said he had filed a request earlier this month for a one-month suspension of the group's activities over its "attacks against Tunisia's republican system".

Tunisia's government in September asked a military court to outlaw the movement, created in the 1980s but only legalised in 2012 following the overthrow the previous year of longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Interior Minister Hedi Majdoub has called the group "a party that does not recognise the civilian character of the state".

Hizb ut-Tahrir's 2016 Tunisian conference was banned for "security reasons".

Tunisia has been in a state of emergency since a deadly 2015 jihadist attack against presidential guards.

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Tunisian Islamist party says time to 'bury' democracy - News24

BGA President & CEO Andy Shaw talks about civic disengagement and recent suburban elections in his bi-weekly column for Crain's Chicago Business.

We had an election in the Chicago suburbs on April 4.

Thats not breaking news, except perhaps to 80-plus percent of the registered voters in Cook and the Collar Counties who didnt bother to cast a ballot.

Thats four out of five potential voters who, intentionally or inadvertently, contributed to our national epidemic of civic disengagement and the weakening of an American democracy that depends on informed citizens electing good leaders.

Ladies and gentlemen: Thats a big deal.

So whats going on?

Well, maybe some of the no-shows are simply satisfied with the way their local officials spend their tax dollars.

Perhaps theyre affluent enough to ignore or even accept the waste, inefficiency and occasional corruption in their towns and villages.

Whatever.

Other non-participants may think one vote wont change anythingincumbent Tweedle Dee is no worse than challenger Tweedle Dumso why bother going to a polling place?

A cynical reality.

In extreme cases, theyre so fed up with local government or so disgusted by our increasingly coarse, polarized politics that theyve thrown in the towel.

Sad, but totally understandable.

And finally, the elections themselves, which were characterized by a woeful lack of competition.

In Cook County, 67 percent of the races, or two out of three, were uncontestedthey had only one candidateand 20 races didnt have anyone on the ballot, according to election officials.

A Daily Herald analysis that added in the Collar Counties found only 30 percent of the races had more than one candidate, down from 45 percent eight years ago.

Former Chicago alderman and veteran UIC political scientist Dick Simpsons take: By any statistical measure were a worse democracy today than 40 or even 20 years ago.

Spot on.

Some of the disengagement reflects personal feelings developed over time, and theres no easy way to change that.

But other disincentives to civic participation are bi-products of our rigged election system.

Its still too difficult for hard-working, time-challenged citizens to register, vote, get and stay on the ballot, or even contemplate running for office, and those impediments protect incumbents from challengers.

By gerrymandering the boundaries of electoral districts, letting municipal officials control their local election boards, maintaining obstacles to voter registration and voting itself, and permitting an unregulated deluge of moneymuch of it untraceableto influence election outcomes, political leaders make it harder for potential challengers to run and easier for registered voters not to mark a ballot.

Fortunately there are legislative remedies designed to encourage competition and voter turnout by leveling the playing field.

Reforms worth considering include automatic voter registration, an expansion of early voting, redistricting reform, open instead of party-specific primaries in a month warmer than March, elections on weekends, more campaign finance disclosure, and a mix of public dollars and small donor matching funds to encourage people without deep pockets or special interest backing to run for office.

Those reforms threaten incumbents, including the political ruling class that controls government, so they continue to resist fundamental change.

But our democracy is at stake, and if enough regular citizens fed up with the status quo and committed to fairer elections and better government join the fight for responsible reforms we can get it done.

Americans rose up to evict the British; end slavery, sweatshops and child labor; empower women; and enact civil and gay rights.

I view the challenges and opportunities Ive laid out in this column as a new battleground, and one of this generations most important ones.

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Andy Shaw: Empty Voting Booths A Symbol Of Our Ailing Democracy - Better Government Association

IT WAS NEW YEARS EVE, AND EVERYTHING WAS SUPPOSED TO CHANGE.A number oflocal friendscame over to my apartment in Istanbul, where we toasted the end of 2016the bloodiest year in Turkeys recent history. At midnight, a woman named Ozum screamed with joy: Thank God it's over. Moments later, my WhatsApp erupted with panicked messages from acquaintances who were barhopping that night. A deadly attack had taken place at anightclub called Reina, a short drive away.I rushed to the scene to report on the terror incidentforUSA Today.

I remember the rotating drum of red lights from the ambulance parked outside, along with a man weeping so stiffly he choked. But what lingersmost strongly may be two women in their 20s lurching out of Reina, the first carryingherwounded friend usingone arm;she used the other to support her own injured knee. Together, the two limpedurgently get out of the frenzy. I hurriedto help themand pressed a water bottle to the injured womans mouthso she could drink. She smiled and said Tashakula(thank you).

Once one of the worlds greatempires, Turkeywhich shares its largest borderwithSyriais a member of NATO, and onlyfour years agowas hailed as amodel of democracyby the European Commission, which extended an invitation to join the European Union.

Since then, internal politics and regional meddling by Turkeys sitting party have caused the EU to reconsider its democratic values,freezing its membership process. The nations then-Prime Minister, now President Recep TayyipErdogan, has beenconsolidating powerfor himself, makingnew alliances only to abandonthem, working to instill fear and alack of trust within hisnation so severe that even anattempted military couplast July hasntstopped him.

On Sunday, April 16, Turkey will hold one of the most important votesin itshistory:whether or not to relinquish a parliamentary democracy in favor of an executive presidency (essentially a dictatorship). If thepolls are to be trusted, those in favor of democracy are losing, and the predicted outcome will set a precedent for authoritarian rule that may irreparably disrupt the Middle East and possibly much of the West, as well.

Since he was elected in 2014, Erdogan hasveered down a dangerously tyrannical path, hunting down so-calledterroristsagainst the state, arresting and imprisoning tens of thousands of journalists, human rights activists, lawyers, and security officials, paralyzing national institutions and throwing nearly everyonewhether they support Erdoganor oppose himinto a near-constant state of panic.

Turkish citizens are alert at all times, suspicious of what might lurk around the corner, overly grateful whenever a stretch of time passes and nothing has gone wrong. Each time I see him, my grocer says thingslike this to me: Thank God you were not hurt at Reina. A few weeks later, after a car bomb goes off at a courthouse:Thank God you were not inIzmir. The following month, after a suicide bombing at police headquarters: Thank God you were not inGaziantep. Then we nod at each other, rather than acknowledge our shock that were both still alive aloud.

There is something about living in fear that I dont trust, says my good friend and psychologist Pinar Din, who at 41 has so far been successful in keeping her 2017 resolutionto practice making scrambled eggs and learn how to swim.Ordinary life is her resistance.There is something wrong with silently fearing something. I think we should speak out every time we dont trust something we are told. Pinar often comes by my apartment to seek a couch from which she can furiously typenotes to friends, nudging them to participate in a protest. We must ask, Who is a terrorist? Why cant the government protect us from them? Why are so many people in prison? she writes. We should ask until we find clarity.

Elif Kaya, a 36-year-old who runs a coffee shop in the hip Istanbul neighborhood of Cihangir,is also suspicious of her government for not prioritizing the safety of its citizens. Erdogan is not doing anything for his country. He just wants to draw power for himself, she says. Even if there are terrorists who hurt us, it is the governments job to protect us.

What I saw at that massacre taught me a lot about whats at stake for the Turkish government, its people, and for democratic countries with populist leanings, including France,Britain,and theUnited States. Ozum later told me she wasstunned that the new year didnt bring new tides as shed expected, insteadsnatchingaway any reassurance she hadthat instability would be over soon.For me, what has remained istheperson who rememberedto saythank youin a crisis. Even in daunting times, when our long-standing democratic protections do not hold, theresplenty of reason to keep faith in ourpower to resist.

As Sundays voteapproaches, people rush to ferry boats as if the fear of crowds has completely vanished from their minds. Theres an old saying here in Istanbul,a city of 15 million tobacco-chewing artistsand builders who cross itshistoric bridges over the Bosphorus Strait every day; parents take their childrentograffiti-dottedplaygrounds, and pedestrianshop intotaxicabs during rush hour to race to work,and fishermentoil beneath them just before dawn:We are the bridge people, and for some reason everyone knows that everybody will pass through.

My journalist and writer friend, 43-year-old Ece Temelkuran, puts it more simply:There is a wisdom in this country, to wait for things to be over. I fear that if those who want to resist Erdogan do not come out to vote, waiting for things to pass could be their only option.

Of course, being patient is, in its way, a form of resistance, or at least resilience. It remindsmeofchewed tobaccowretched and somehow beautiful, too. Having spent more two years in and out of Turkey, traveling through its oft-forgotten Kurdish towns along the border, witnessing the flux of refugees from Syria and elsewhere, I can say that the country offers a case study about what can happen when we allow those in power to increase their strength too quickly. But, depending on what happens on Sunday, it may also reveal whats possible when citizens fight back.

Top image:Turkish anti-coup rally in Istanbul via Wikimedia Commons.

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A Massacre For Democracy - GOOD Magazine

New York Times

Turkey's Erdogan: Democracy's Savior or Saboteur? New York Times A billboard in Malatya, Turkey, featuring the nation's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for the Evet (Yes) campaign to expand the constitutional powers of the president. Turkey will vote in a referendum on Sunday. Credit Chris McGrath/Getty Images.

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Turkey's Erdogan: Democracy's Savior or Saboteur? - New York Times