When American democracy has worked, it has relied upon two norms that we often take for granted—mutual tolerance and institutional forbearance. Treating rivals as legitimate contenders for power and underutilizing one’s institutional prerogatives in the spirit of fair play are not written into the American Constitution. Yet without them, our constitutional checks and balances will not operate as we expect them to.
Mutual tolerance seems to be out the window in America today, so it will be interesting to see what effect that has on its democracy. It does seem to be breaking down to some degree, though.
