I read an article in the NY Times Magazine of 12 January about Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates. It reports: “Foreign diplomats have occssionally confronted MBZ (sc., Mohammed bin Zayed) about his country’s lack of democracy, and he has responded by saying something along the lines of ‘This isn’t California’: Lack of education and the prevalence of backward religious attitudes make autocracy necessary, he says.”

Lack of education and prevalence of backward religious attitudes in the U.S. led to the election of Donald Trump. It may be that the U.S. has regressed to the point that democracy has become unworkable.