The Fight for Democracy

American democracy has lasted 220 years. 

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The first peaceful transfer of power occurred when Thomas Jefferson took office on February 17, 1801.
Unfortunately, on January 6, 2021, the United States capitol was under siege. Supporters of the former president, Donald Trump, stormed the capitol on this day. Their goals were to disrupt the democratic process because they disagreed with the outcome of our electoral college system. This system allows all Americans to have a voice in our government because it provides them the opportunity to elect officials in our representative government. This simple process is the core of American democracy.

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81 million Americans voted for Joe Biden to be president. Those 81 million votes were enough to win enough states to win the electoral college. However, supporters of the former president, Donald Trump disagreed with the outcome. Unlike any other president, Donald Trump did not give a concession speech. This speech ensures a smooth transfer of power. Since he did not concede the election, this made his supporters believe that he did not lose because he claimed the election was ¨rigged.¨ Furthermore, this influenced these American citizens to storm the capitol as they believe they can overturn the election results. If they succeeded in overturning the election, American democracy would no longer exist.

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Instead, because Donald Trump would get to decide on what occurs. The votes of the 81 million Americans who voted for Joe Biden would not matter. This incident incited many political actions, including the second impeachment of Donald Trump for the ¨incitement of an insurrection.¨ The capitol insurrection did not stop Joe Biden from becoming president. The electors gave their electoral votes, ensuring President Joe Biden´s victory. Even though the storming of the Capitol was the darkest day in American history, it displayed America´s strength. 
Amanda Gorman, the poet at Joe Biden's inauguration recites: ¨Democracy can be periodically delayed, but never permanently defeated.¨ 

Even though democracy succeeded, this horrendous event may lead to some future issues in both domestic and foreign policy. This event affects the domestic policy of the United States because it set the precedent that this behavior is acceptable. On February 14, the Senate acquitted Donald Trump and stopped him from being impeached. Theoretically speaking, this implies that a president can do whatever he or she wishes in their last weeks in office without consequence. Therefore, this sets a dangerous situation for the domestic policy of our country. America´s foreign reputation was dismantled as well. Previously, other countries viewed the United States as a powerful and successful country due to our economy and representative government. However, this reputation was destroyed due to the capital riot because it displayed America’s weakness. Now, we are seen as the laughing stock of the world because democracy does not operate this way. 

President Joe Biden understands the damage that was done to America´s reputation. Thus, he sent a powerful message to the American people stating, ¨We do not lead by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.¨ This means that we do not perpetuate our power to the world; rather, our country must set a good example to the rest of the world because our example is powerful.