Yesterday I learned that Canada is the fourth oldest ongoing democracy, measured as beginning in 1867.
I think given our short lifespans, anything that our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents enjoyed is really easy to perceive as a steady state. Something to take for granted as being invariant. But it’s really not.
While it’s possible to debate the specifics and semantics, this really brought into focus, for me, just how young modern democracy is with a rather unproven durability.
It's even younger than that; women couldn't nationally until 1920 in the US. And in practice, many black people couldn't vote until the voting acts right of 1965.
I think given our short lifespans, anything that our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents enjoyed is really easy to perceive as a steady state. Something to take for granted as being invariant. But it’s really not.
While it’s possible to debate the specifics and semantics, this really brought into focus, for me, just how young modern democracy is with a rather unproven durability.