American democracy at risk.

There can be no question that American democracy is at risk. Two years ago, thousands of insurrectionists stormed and occupied the Capitol building in a failed attempt to overthrow the 2020 election results. They were supported by the majority of Republican members of Congress who falsely claimed the election outcome was fraudulent. Additional disturbing signs are evident across the country: Angry parents storm school board and city council meetings, demanding that books be banned and teachers be fired. Election officials count votes while armed protesters gather threateningly outside. Republican-led state legislatures pass laws restricting voting rights. Hate crimes and mass shootings continue to rise. Students from both the right and left shout down invited speakers with whom they disagree. Universities feel pressure to fire professors or ban groups that challenge conventional viewpoints. And, as the recent Speaker's election debacle exhibited, our politics are so polarised by hyper-partisanship that our legislature is now alternately paralysed or dysfunctional.

Against this dire backdrop, we should debunk that oft-made claim that 'free and fair elections are the essence of a democracy.' While important, elections are just one of the characteristics of a democracy, not its essence. More important are the values that must be cultivated and protected to preserve a true democratic order. Central among these is that loser must respect election outcomes, and winners must show respect for the rights of losers. The rights of those whose views diverge from the majority must be protected, and winners and losers, the majority and minority, must engage in constructive dialogue to find compromise solutions to problems facing society as a whole. This is the essence of democracy.

A true democracy is never a zero-sum game where winners use their positions of power to silence, cancel, or demonstrate intolerance for the views of those they've defeated in free and fair elections. The authoritarian impulse to squash or punish those who represent divergent viewpoints is anti-democratic. Maintaining vigilance in cultivating such a democratic culture is important because without it a democracy can wither and die.

Respecting minority rights and views is important in a society with one clearly dominant group, and even more critical in evenly divided societies. Many Egyptians recoiled from rule by the Muslim Brotherhood because of their heavy-handed abuse of...