Gloucester Lyceum continues civic tradition with democracy forum featuring Steven Levitsky

Gloucester’s City Hall opened its doors to a crowd of 300 people on Saturday, all gathered to hear Professor and renowned New York Times best-selling author, Steven Levitsky, argue his case. America is no longer a Democracy; it’s under a competitive authoritarian rule. 

Hosted by Gloucester’s Lyceum committee, Steven Levitsky came to argue the same point that he made in his books “How Democracies Die” and “The Great Abdication.” Since the Trump administration took office, and perhaps long before, American Democracy has been in danger.

Callie Crossley acompanied Levitsky to the event. Crossley is the host of “Under The Radar” on GBH and cultural commentator on radio, TV, and podcasts. Crossley is also a former member of the Institute of Politics at Harvard and now serves on the Wellesley College Board of Trustees.

Mayor Lundberg opened the event’s ceremony, acknowledging the Lyceum committee’s contributions to Gloucester over the years. Since its founding in 1860, the Lyceum Committee has provided a space for the people of Gloucester to discuss and be informed on the current political and economic state of the country.

In his lecture, Levitsky backed up his claim that America, as we now know it, no longer operates under a democratic system, but a competitive authoritarianism. This means that while the government still operates under a technically democratic system, the elected leader goes through great effort to erode the very system that put them there. 

Levitsky said that competitive authoritarian governments use 3 ways to remain in control. They “punish critics, co-opt the media, and shield themselves from accountability”. Levitsky said that all 3 of these antidemocratic methods had been utilized by the government this past year.

Another feature of a non democratic government, Levitsky claimed, is “how costly it is to oppose the government?” Under authoritarianism, opposition comes with a price.” Levitsky cited the numerous protesters and U.S. citizens who’ve been harmed for criticizing the government as evidence of the government’s authoritarian status.

After Levitsky’s speech, Crossley asked the audience for questions. I asked Levitsky “why do young people feel like their voices aren’t heard? Why do they feel that participating in elections and American democracy has no effect?”

“We, the older generation, associate protest with success,” Levitsky said. “Young people haven’t seen successful protests, so they feel like no one listens.”

He noted within the past 30 years, nothing has really come from young people’s protests. While gaining widespread news coverage, things like anti-ICE, rights for Palestine, and no-kings protest have had no real success. 

A couple of other questions were asked by audience members, ranging from “What effect does misogyny have in our current government?” to “I’m a republican, republicans aren’t represented in this room. This is unfair. Would you debate me, since I’m a republican?” All of which were answered with honesty from Levitsky, and a bit of laughter from the audience. He said he didn’t address misogyny in his book as much as the topic of racism, and that he doesn’t choose his audience. 

As the questions subsided and the event concluded, many members of the audience sought me out and wished to discuss my question further. One Gloucester citizen, Tracey Schoonmaker, expressed how distressed the current administration made her and empathized with the younger generation for feeling powerless.

“It wasn’t always this way.” said Schoonmaker. “It wasn’t always this crazy. Now the government can just lie and get away with whatever; it’s ridiculous.” 

Laura Harrington, a member of the Lyceum committee, referred me to resources on how to register students and young people to vote. They can go to the Civics Center on the Lyceum committees website, and also contact them at 978-879-9701 for further information.