Supporters of former US President Donald Trump clash with police and security forces when they stormed the US Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021. PHOTO | AFP
On January 3, the new United States Congress convened. The US prides itself in being a paragon of democracy. This boast is not without substance. The presidency, the Supreme Court and Congress are co-equal institutions, each with substantial powers to check the other. There is the Bill of Rights that guarantees individual rights and freedoms.
These institutional, constitutional and statuary safeguards make the country relatively safe for democracy. And yet a growing ideological extremism at both political and society levels is threatening American democracy. In the past two decades, American society has become cripplingly polarised.
