Ian Bassin onHow To Fix Democracy

American democracy is in danger. That’s not just my opinion; it’s the opinion of Protect Democracy, one of America’s leading nonprofit observers of the functioning of American democracy. Ian Bassin is the Cofounder and Executive Director of Protect Democracy as well as a former high-level person in the Obama White House. And he’s the latest guest in our How To Fix Democracy series of interviews about solving the contemporary crisis of democracy. Watch the interview here — or read below…

Andrew Keen: Ian, why is our democracy, your democracy, American democracy in danger?

Ian Bassin: Fundamentally because the American people, like many people around the world, are losing faith in the Churchillian notion that democracy is the worst form of government except for all of the rest. We’ve been witnessing an erosion in support for the very concept of liberal democracy for many years now. I think for a lot of us, prior to the election of Donald Trump, that was happening somewhat invisibly. And then of course, on November 9, 2016 it became very visible. Just to underscore the severity of the challenge that we face, according to some research, 30 years ago, one in sixteen Americans said they would be comfortable with the idea of Military Rule in this country. Today that number is one in six. And the bulk of that shift are younger Americans. For older Americans, those…