The USA and Dictatorship – Gödel’s Loophole

Opinion by Daud Khan (rome)Wednesday, September 09, 2026Inter Press Service ROME, September 9 (IPS) - Observing some of the changes over the last year and a half in the Government of the USA, one question that comes to mind is whether the greatest democracy in the world turning into a dictatorship? And, if so, how is this possible in a country with one of the most articulate and thoughtful constitutions ever written –a constitution which clearly sets out checks and balances precisely to avoid undue concentration of power. Daud KhanSo why is the Constitution of the USA not functioning as it should – as a bulwark against dictatorship and fascism? First an amusing anecdote from the past on the topic on the US Constitution. Kurt Friedrich Gödel – mathematician, cosmologist, and philosopher – was one of the greatest minds of the last century. After the takeover of Austria by Hitler, Gödel, who was an Austrian national, was targeted by the Nazis. In 1939 he moved to the USA and ended up at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton where his good friend, Einstein, was based. After the war, in 1947, Gödel decided to apply for US citizenship. This involved, inter alia, an examination o...