What if American are for democracy and our government only says it is? Response to Francis Fukuyama

Comment published on New York Times blog, in response to opinion essay by Francis Fukuyama, “The impact of Jan. 6 is still rippling throughout the world,” January 5, 2022:

The United States historically has stood for democracy and liberty, including internationally. Its people have shared these values even more consistently than its government. Yet internationally, and more recently domestically, there has been a turn away from democracy and liberty. Our government has long conducted massive surveillance of citizens, and harasses dissidents and the disaffected, particularly those on the left.

I am a victim of undercover police harassment targeting me for my (left-wing) political views, and I was threatened with long-term imprisonment on false medical grounds. The party in the White House makes no difference in such matters.

Our state is "terrorist" in a literal sense, using military and police forces to keep people in terror. Violent reactions they can easily use. Revolts they have the will to suppress are of a very different kind.

The role of the United States government in the world and the dispositions of the American people are contradictory in a way that is ultimately very hopeful. For Americans overwhelmingly have democratic, republican, liberal values. Yet internationally our forces have done more harm than good. They have been a huge part of the problem.

The global capitalist elite has turned away from democracy and once again, as in the 1930s, or in its interventions in the Third World during the Cold War, embraced authoritarianism. In this context, the decline of American power that Fukuyama fears might not be so horrible. Consistent support for democracy even in the face of capital would be better.