The Troubling Decline In Institutional Trust And Social Norms
On July 4th of this year, voters in the United Kingdom voted the Labor Party into office after 14 years of Conservative rule. Early the next morning, “before Labor had officially secured a majority,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conceded defeat and congratulated his opponent, Keir Starmer. A few days later, on July 7th, the French Legislative Elections wrapped up with no clear winner.
Despite the parties in the center and on the left cooperating to prevent a victory of the right-wing National Rally party, the French parliamentarians met later that month to begin selecting a new Prime Minister. In both instances, despite the winning parties failing to gain the support of the majority of voters, few, if any, attempted to contest the validity of the results and the UK and French democracies and institutions continued as designed.
Contrast this with the Venezuelan elections that took place on the 28th of July, in which Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claimed an unexpected victory in Sunday's election. The election was “unexpected” as polls showed Maduro’s opponent, Edmundo González, headed for a landslide victory. The problem is not with the surprise results but rather with the practices of the ruling party and the institutions overseeing the election.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) which announced that Maduro had won 51.2% of the vote is controlled by the government and some argue staffed with Maduro loyalists. The results have been contested by the opposition party which has released its own results claiming it received 69.4% of the votes. The nature of the election itself is also called into question as Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela has a history of disqualifying opposition candidates and voters.
The contrasting behaviors between the two European elections and the Venezuelan one come down, in part, to a trust in institutions and political norms. When politicians value power over democracy and citizens cannot or will not trust their institutions to deliver fair and accurate results, democracy breaks down. There is an important lesson for American and Canadian voters as both countries have seen a disturbing trend in political corruption and a decline in institutional trust.
In Canada, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) submitted its Special Report on Foreign Interference in Canada’s Democratic Processes and Institutions to the Prime Minister alleging that unnamed MPs have covertly worked with foreign governments, a situation that the Liberal government has been aware of for 7 years. Despite these allegations, the government refuses to take any meaningful action or to name the MPs alleged to be working for foreign governments. What actions it has taken verge on the absurd.
Elections Canada has provided suggestions “to shield nomination contests from meddling” which include prohibiting intimidation, bribery, and voting more than once. Most recently, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced that the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force (SITE) will begin monitoring more elections for “for signs of meddling.” How providing the federal government with more data to ignore will help was left unsaid. The important question here is not will any of these actions help but rather when did Canada become a banana republic?
As bad as things are in Canada an argument can be made that they are worse in the US. The Democratic party which claims that this election is about saving democracy has, until very recently, hidden the health problems of the President from the public. When that strategy became impossible, it replaced him as their presidential candidate with Kamala Harris who did not receive one vote in either the 2020 or 2024 Democratic Primaries. These actions raise questions not only about the honesty of the Democratic party but of the press as well; a press which is suddenly falling all over itself to declare Harris the second coming of JFK while busying itself deleting or denying any old stories which might compromise this narrative.
The Republicans and Trump are not without their political sins. Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election was a tactic taken out of the standard authoritarian handbook the ex-President has perfected, the strategy of the personal attack while making dangerous comments that many take to imply, he wishes to be a dictator. Regardless of whether or not you believe these statements, the responsibility lies with Trump to make his message clear.
Given the games being played on both sides and in the media is there any wonder why public confidence in US institutions hovers at a 30-year low? Or that only small businesses, the military, and the police show confidence rates above 50%?
Should it concern voters that confidence in The US Supreme Court, the presidency, and Congress are all underwater? Equally concerning is the level of confidence the public places in the media, the institution meant to keep the public informed and “speak truth to power.” Over half the public has little or no confidence in TV news and newspapers.
Despite this, citizens seem disturbingly indifferent to the problem. Heading into the 2024 US Presidential election and the 2025 Canadian Federal election, citizens in both countries have a lot of concerns and the priorities of both groups are similar in many ways (ex. inflation, jobs, healthcare). Noticeably absent however is a concern regarding the decline in trust in our institutions.
Social norms seem to be changing for the worse as well. The partisan double standard, which condones anything my side does while condemning anything the other side does, isn’t helping. Allowing parties to frame their opponents as a threat to democracy increases the likelihood that voters will discount undemocratic actions by their own parties as necessary to preserve democracy (sound familiar?).
Institutional decay and the decline of social norms are long-term issues. The next election won’t be the end of democracy in either Canada or the US. Nor will the one after that. Still, these trends should be cause for worry and cannot be corrected without the participation of both major parties and the voting public.
I understand that the most immediate issues are of greater concern to the average voter. It makes sense to prioritize groceries, rent, and crime over the decline in democratic institutions that do not (yet) adversely affect our daily lives. I worry though that while we are focused on the cost of bread and distracted by political circuses, the powers that be manipulate us to their own undemocratic ends which, if allowed to continue, will inevitably transform Western democracy into a sad reflection of the Venezuelan one.
Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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The problem is that even though normies are justly losing trust, or maybe because of that, the decision makers will just double down on the same alienating behaviours. I don’t see any resolution coming soon, the tribalism will keep it in motion.
Interesting how you compare the difference between the European elections from the reaction of the Venezuelan election. When you see the same outrage in the U.S. 2020 election that Venezuela had, but not European countries your take is totally different.