Democracy battles against latest technology

This post originally appeared in the Feb. 29, 2020 edition of the Wilson Times.

Starting in 507 B.C.E. ancient Athenians created democracy, putting government in the hands of the people (demos in Greek). Democratic principles that began 2,500 years ago now are being ravaged by new technology that raises doubts about elections, the basis of democracy.

A generation after Ronald Reagan declared that democracy was ascendant and that autocrats’ authoritarian rule would be consigned to “the dust bin of history,” it looks like the autocrats are winning again. China, shrouded in the Communist Party’s absolute rule, has become the world’s second largest economy. Russia has recovered from its post-Soviet collapse and is reclaiming territory the czars had ruled. Authoritarian regimes only have to raise doubts about elections to delegitimize democracies.

One has to wonder: Can democracy survive in a world of social media, computer hacking, viral videos (sometimes faked), robotic social media posts, disinformation and unchallenged falsehoods?

When American democracy began in the 18^th century, it guaranteed freedom of speech and of the press. Voters kept up with public issues and candidates through newspapers and personal contacts. The Athenians’ democracy was direct — each citizen could present proposals and vote on them. The former British colonists of America created a representative democracy, a republic, through which the people chose others to lead the government and make decisions.

The internet and social media have made it possible for citizens to access nearly limitless information to help them make decisions, but not all information is accurate or true. Unscrupulous people and organizations have been quick to take advantage of the gaps in digital communications and spew misinformation, disinformation and lies to gullible people whose votes decide which candidates shall run the government.

U.S. Intelligence officials have concluded the Russian government used Facebook and other new media to help sway the 2016 presidential race. Intelligence now says the Russians are meddling in the 2020 presidential race, and other foreign powers may also be finagling with our democracy.

Some domestic parties have decided to adopt the disinformation campaigns of foreign enemies to aid candidates in elections. In the March issue of The Atlantic, McKay Coppins documents efforts by the Trump reelection campaign to mislead and misinform voters in order to sway their votes or to so confuse them that they don’t vote. It seems increasingly likely that both major parties will adopt disinformation campaigns using sophisticated data collections to aid their candidates. Falsehoods and misleading assertions will be part of these campaigns. Newspapers, which had tried to keep politicians honest by fact-checking their statements and revealing unethical tactics, are so weakened and the digital universe is so vast that news organizations cannot keep up. The media and reporters are also being targeted in campaigns aimed at sowing distrust of news media.

Meanwhile, election officials are worried that the voting process itself might be compromised. Touch-screen voting terminals are considered vulnerable to hackers and are being replaced by machines that produce a paper copy of votes, but even that might not be sufficient to stop a determined hacker.

If dishonest posts on social media and potential foreign computer hacking were not enough, our democracy also must deal with protracted primary campaigns with as many as two-dozen candidates on one debate stage — another gift of recent technology. Candidates abandon debate to viciously attack the integrity, morals and qualifications of other candidates, offering little information about candidates’ policies and abilities.

In the 2016 GOP debates, Donald Trump insulted and belittled other candidates, violating unwritten rules of decorum and decency. The party did nothing to stop his tirades, which were adopted by other candidates. It appears the Democrats are tolerating the same suicidal tactics this year.