Democracy in the United States has become dysfunctional. This is a dangerous time in American political history that risks a slide into authoritarianism. This Festival Center course will be an attempt to understand where we are, how we got here, and how we might prepare for the future.

“Majority rule” is not enough. A liberal democracy requires a commitment to the rule of law and fair legal procedures, free and fair elections, the right to assemble, and the freedoms of speech, the press, and of religion. As a Christian, we are often deeply committed to liberal democracy because it gives a country the best opportunity to organize itself according to the principles of universal love and justice. But there is no guarantee. While democracy gives a state the best chance of creating a just society, America’s history of slavery and the oppression of people of color make clear that democracy gives only the framework — the opportunity — for structures that promote love and justice.

This course will primarily be history. We will seek to understand the formal structure of our democracy, its written foundations as well as its unwritten norms. We will review its historical successes but also its dependence upon racial oppression to maintain the comity that sustained the norms. What has happened over the last 45 years to precipitate the threat of right-wing populism? And what happened in some other Western democracies to precipitate their slide from democracy into authoritarianism? Where are we now? What are the dangers?

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