Democracy was always a contested notion. The was no real democracy in ancient Greece for women or slaves. The self-proclaimed ‘mother of democracies’ is under a third term of Modi’s ultranationalist regime, which has made life miserable for the country’s sizeable religious minorities. The democratic notions proudly upheld by the US are hardly in good shape either.

Thoman Jefferson, who penned the famous words declaring all ‘men’ to be entitled to the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, was himself a slave owner. However, by the dint of its hegemonic power, the US has created an image for itself as “that shining city on a hill” that can serve as a model for the rest of the world for adopting representative and responsive governance. Increasingly, however, America’s image as an upholder of democratic ideals has taken a major battering.

Despite the pomp and spectacle, the ongoing presidential race in the US has demonstrated with increasing clarity how unstable and scary its domestic politics has become. The Democrats have been........

© The Express Tribune