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UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

John Taschner

Abstract

America is in the business of selling and maintaining democracy around the world. Through aid, provision, humanitarian relief, guidance, and forcible action if need be, the United States stands for democracy. At the birth of the country, the biggest threat to the founding fathers was someone assuming the highest position of leadership in the country and, thereafter, becoming unwilling to transition power. In the aftermath of the 2020 Presidential Election, this exact worst-case-scenario from more than two hundred years had played out amidst numerous lawsuits and demands for recounted votes in order to have only the “legal” votes counted towards the final result. COVID-19’s presence as the driver of this historic election only elevated the stakes, as over the death toll approached half a million and continued to set new records.² Biden’s promise to have 100 million coronavirus s given in the first 100 days was also criticized for being too low. Later, he announced aims to acquire an additional 200 million doses of vaccines, increasing the overall total doses to 600 million and pushing towards the goal of inoculating most Americans by summer 2021.⁴ Rather than giving hyper focus to the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States is divided across political, public health, and social lines that challenge the sanctity of American democracy; this in turn has led to serious questions on the ability of the country to maintain its position as a global leader who defends authoritarianism and champions authentic democracy by the people, for the people.

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