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Despite mounting problems at home, the US continued to behave with a sense of superiority, point fingers at others, usurp the role of a “lecturer of democracy”, and concoct and play up the false narrative of “democracy versus authoritarianism”. The US acted to split the world into two camps of what it defined as “democracies and non-democracies”, and organized another edition of the so-called “Summit for Democracy” to check how various countries had performed on meeting US standards for democracy and to issue new orders.

Americans’ pride in their democracy has dropped sharply, from 90 percent in 2002 to 54 percent in 2022, according to a joint Washington Post-University of Maryland survey. A poll by the Public Policy Institute of California shows that Californian voters have widespread concern that American democracy is going off track, with 62 percent saying the country is headed in the wrong direction, 46 percent pessimistic about the prospect of Americans with different political views working together to resolve differences, and 52 percent dissatisfied with the current way American democracy works.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll, 67 percent of respondents believe that American democracy is in danger of collapse, and 48 percent think there could be another Capitol riot in the United States. According to a Pew Center poll, 65 percent of Americans believe that the American democratic system needs major reforms, while 57 percent of respondents believe the United States is no longer a model of democracy.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently released a report entitled, “The State of Democracy in the United States: 2022”. The report collects a multitude of facts, media comments and expert opinions to present a complete and real picture of American democracy over the year. What they reveal is an American democracy in chaos at home and a trail of havoc and disasters left behind as the US peddled and imposed its democracy around the globe. It helps remove the facade of American democracy for more people worldwide.

In 2022, the maladies afflicting American democracy deeply infected the cells of US politics and society, and further revealed US governance failure and institutional defects. This has aroused concerns among the general public. The Brookings Institution concludes in a 2022 report that the once proud American democracy is facing a systemic crisis and is accelerating its decline. The impact is spreading to all fronts in domestic politics, the economy and society, posing a mortal threat to the legitimacy and health of capitalism. 

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace warns in a report that American democracy is at a dangerous inflection point, declining faster as the inherent ills of American capitalism worsen. Multiple challenges such as voting restrictions, election fraud, and loss of trust in government are accelerating the disintegration of American democracy.

Democracy is a common value of humanity and must not be used as a tool to advance geopolitical agenda or counter human development and progress. However, in order to maintain its hegemony, the US has long been monopolizing the definition of “democracy”, instigating division and confrontation in the name of democracy, and undermining the UN-centered international system and the international order underpinned by international law.

The international community is seeing the US approach more and more clearly. Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, wrote that the US, as a self-proclaimed “high priest”, has wreaked havoc around the world under the disguise of “true democracy”, and used money, allies and high-end weapons to crudely impose its will.

In 2021, the US held the first “Summit for Democracy”, attempting to divide the international community into so-called ‘democratic and undemocratic camps’ by openly drawing an ideological line. The move drew questions extensively, including from within the US. Both Foreign Affairs and The Diplomat carried articles criticizing the summit as chasing the wrong goal, not only failing to achieve unity among democratic countries, but also drawing criticism for the representation issue. The US has long lacked a set goal in its promotion of democracy around the world, and has been slow in following up its rhetoric. When democracy in the US is in such a mess, holding a democracy summit cannot boost democracy around the world, but more likely create a greater geopolitical crisis.

To brand oneself as democracy while others as autocracies is in itself an act contrary to democracy. The so-called “democracy versus authoritarianism” narrative does not reflect the realities of today’s world, nor is it in line with the trend of the times. Singapore’s Straits Times carried a column that said the US must realize that American democracy has lost its former luster, and is no longer the gold standard. There is no fixed model of democracy, and the US no longer has an absolute say over what democracy means. That is the truth. The US should pragmatically reassess its diplomatic methods and focus on cooperation instead of confrontation.

Despite unprecedentedly low ratings of US democracy at home and abroad, the country’s hysteria to export US-style democracy and values continues unabated. Al Jazeera observed that the US insistence on holding a democracy summit and acting as a global democratic leader even when trust in its own democratic system is declining has raised widespread suspicion.

Democracy is humanity’s common value; however, there is no single model of political system that is applicable to all countries in the world. Human civilization, if compared to a garden, should be a diverse place in which democracy in different countries blooms like a hundred flowers. The US has American-style democracy, China has Chinese-style democracy, and other countries have their own unique models of democracy that suit their respective national conditions. It should be up to the people of a country to judge whether the country is democratic or not and how to better promote democracy in their country. The few self-righteous countries have no right to point fingers.