It was the year 2000 when America held one of the most eccentric election outcomes in the history of American elections. It was the “hanging chads’’ election where the winner was selected by the count of the little cardboard bits hanging from improperly punched ballots in Florida. After 35 days of waiting, the U.S.
The Supreme Court declared the winner George W. Bush, although Al Gore won in the popular vote. Further came the year 2020, when America witnessed another electrical eccentricity when Donald Trump denied his loss, summoning a force of makeshift practical paramilitary to Washington D.C. to keep Congress from the constitutional duty of certifying Joe Biden as the winner. Then comes 2024, which will also be etched in America’s history of astonishing election incidents.
Based on the 14th Amendment, there are probabilities for a protracted legal battle regarding whether Trump will be eligible to appear for the ballots in the upcoming year, laying aside his chances of serving as the president. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states that no individual who has pledged the oath to support the Constitution and is involved in or is giving aid or comfort instructions has the eligibility to serve any office in the federal or the state.
Multiple federal and state courts are planning on filing lawsuits about the same, reflecting the probability of it reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. However, a crucial aspect here is whether Section 3 is self-executing, whether it is viable even when the aspiring officeholder is not a convict for participating in insurrection.
Added to it is an issue of defining “insurrection.” The defense team Trump states that he did not participate in the attack on the Capitol. However, a former federal judge and one of the most renowned conservative jurists in America, J. Michael Luttig, states that Section 3 denies insurrection against the Constitution, not the United States. For the incident of Trump, it was his efforts to violate the Constitution by staying in office even after losing the legitimate election, as stated by Luttig.
The grand exclusion?
Although the consequence of the 14th Amendment on Trump has gained considerable attention, it has shaken a more significant question. It might prevent the other public officials from office when they have had anything to do with interactions after pledging allegiance to the Constitution.
Losing the two-party system
It is because Trump turned the GOP into a personality cult based on a grievance that the U.S. no longer has the conventional two-party system, as explained by The Bulwark’s Jonathan Last. More than 60 percent of Americans think that a third party is needed, so there is no scarcity of minor political parties. There were 54 third parties after the 2020 elections. However, none of the third-party candidates has even won the residual effects, and only a few have won any electoral votes. However, organizations like No Label are witnessing an efficient rise and have posed considerable worry that they can become the “spoiler” in 2024.
No trust in the system
Voters have lost their belief and reliability in the Electoral College. Recently, it has offered the presidency to the candidates who lost the popular vote, and that too, twice. And this is how Trump won against Hillary Clinton in 2016. Sixty-five percent of the American population are deaf in their popular vote. The single near-term solution is the National Popular Vote Interstate Co,apct. It is an agreement involving each state offering all its electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote.
Voter cowing
It is not probable that under the strict scrutiny of the electoral process, anyone would install any efforts to repair what Trump did by creating fake electors or manipulating votes. Altitude, the candidates will not have to do so. It is because the Supreme Court eviscerated the Right Act about ten years ago, and a minimum of 29 states have passed about 94 voter suppression laws. As per the New York Times, a network of advocacy groups that backed billionaires is installing efforts to support voting. However, it is not as evident as where the states in 2021 responded to the claims of a stolen election by Trump. As the paper states, these efforts have made softs to increment instead of radical changes.
Losing trust in democracy
A little more than 60 percent of Americans have reported having little confidence in the future of the American political system. 77 percent of Americans think that their country is treading on the wrong path, and 52 percent of Americans agree that the best of America is behind them. A shocking 9 percent of Americans think that democracy is no longer appropriate functioning, and only 16 percent of Americans believe that whatever the government will do will be correct. So, to conclude with these numbers and opinions, it is clear that democracy is genuinely dying in America.