Fix US Democracy or China Wins

The conservatives chucking wrenches into the works of American democracy have apparently failed to notice that there's a rival superpower out there again, warns Harold Meyerson. The Senate's efforts to thwart majority rule, and the Supreme Court's decision to allow corporations to make unlimited election donations are fueling Chinese arguments that democracy is inefficient and controlled by big money, Meyerson argues in the Washington Post.

During the Cold War, America showed the world it could live up to its ideals and expanded equality and prosperity, Meyerson writes. To prevent China from winning over much of the developing world, "our first task is to demonstrate that democracy works," Meyerson writes. "When we don't do so—and John Roberts and Mitch McConnell, I'm talking to you and your fellow conservatives—China wins." (More Harold Meyerson stories.)