Democracy

January 6, 2021, shocked and sickened many of us. It was a terrible, shameful day for the American Republic—truly yet another day of infamy in America’s bruised and bloodied history.

Chinese Communist Party propagandists are mocking the American election and deriding it as inferior to the Chinese system. They’re wrong.

While a transition to a democratic federal government would not serve as a remedy for all of Lebanon’s woes, by using Nigeria as a template, policymakers may find that the federal model presents the best possible solution to limit Hezbollah’s influence and ease ethnic and religious divides.

With Myanmar’s military still controlling 25 percent of its parliament and a history of brutal crackdowns—not to mention the recent Rohingya crisis—COVID-19 is exacerbating the precarious balance between the military and civilians in power.

Do not be too hard on politicians who struggle with and differ on their answers to these questions about the COVID-19 and the lockdowns. These are very hard things, and there is no indisputable right answer.

Of course America will survive the coronavirus. We’ve many times survived far worse.

Some argue that government restrictions on larger church gatherings are a violation of religious freedom. Others argue they are responsible and legitimate. Paul Marshall believes both positions are, or can be, correct.

Formal religious adherence is declining, but America’s longtime religious self-identity as a lodestar of democratic responsibility in the world continues unabashed.

The real 2020 questions about the US-China contest lie in how they influence the context for global trade, technology standards, military tools, and power projection.