America is a liberal democracy. Its greatest blessing is freedom, the right to live and act in accordance with one’s conscience.
This freedom unleashes boundless energy and creativity. Along with other Western nations, liberal democracies have advanced at an astonishing pace, far surpassing autocratic and theocratic nations in every measure, especially in quality of life.
Despite its advantages, democracy is not universally accepted. Monarchs, autocrats, theocrats and oligarchs, who have a stake in preserving the societal structures that protected their wealth and power, continue to repress freedom. They deceive their citizenry using misinformation and disinformation to disparage the liberty of the Western world. And they crush the opposition with iron-fisted police and kangaroo courts. Dissidents like Alexie Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza are imprisoned and often murdered.
Their propaganda has infected Western democracies. The United States, Germany, France and Italy have all shifted to the right. People are losing faith in the most successful form of government ever devised.
A study by The Economist concluded that, along with Greece, Israel, Poland and Brazil, America is now one of the “flawed democracies.” Worse yet, the stage is set for its ruin. Donald Trump, who has admired autocratic leaders and aspires to be one, has surrounded himself with oligarchs; he heads a political party that advocates the overthrow of democracy, and they are following the Project 2025 playbook.
The loss of liberal democracy would be tragic for humanity and the planet. After 4,000 years, there is no reason to think that religions will ever bring peace and tranquility. The only real hope for humanity is humankind’s reasoning ability, and liberal democracies are the only form of government truly grounded in reason.
Why is American democracy failing?
Politics & Money
Politics in America has become a rich man’s game. In 2011, the average net worth of a senator was $14 million, while a House member’s was $7 million. Today, those numbers would be 50% greater. And $15.9 billion was spent in the 2024 election. It is naïve to think that politics is not profitable or that politicians are not beholden to benefactors.
To win public office, one usually needs the support of corporations and wealthy donors. And, when elected, officials spend half of their time raising money, which should be spent working for their constituents. Money has corrupted the system. In the Sons of Wichita, Daniel Schulman reveals that one of Charles [Koch’s] advisers said, “Politicians are [paid] stage actors working off a script produced by the nation’s intellectual class.”
A significant reason for this disgraceful circumstance is the 2010 Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which ruled that free speech under the First Amendment bars the government from restricting campaign expenditures by corporations and nonprofits. Dark money contributions are unlimited, and Congress cannot write laws to stop them. Nonprofits are especially disturbing. In the last election, one shell corporation steered nearly $2.6 million to half a dozen Republican political committees, though the company existed only on paper and had been incorporated for only three months.
Since 2010, the income of the top 1% has risen by 250%, while the income of the bottom 20% has risen by only 24%. The wealthy get what they pay for. Elon Musk has shown that lodging at Mar-a-Lago and donating a quarter of a billion to a campaign can buy a controlling seat at the president’s table. No wonder Americans have lost faith in the system.
To be fair, many politicians recognize the problem and want to address it. Thirty-two senators have supported a constitutional amendment that would overturn Citizens United. But for now, the only safeguard preventing the complete corruption of our political system is our democracy. Not one Republican appears on that list of 32, implying that the party consents to this compromise of democracy.
Divisiveness
Senseless “culture wars” also threaten our democracy. To say “culture” is misleading. These are not culture wars; they are freedom wars, wars over America’s greatest blessing.
Abortion is a key issue. Roe v. Wade ruled that until viability, the Constitution granted women the right to abort a pregnancy. In essence, the court said that personhood begins with viability. But Christian fundamentalists insisted, without evidence, that personhood begins earlier, though they could not show when. Nonetheless, they fought to deny women their freedom. After 50 years, conservative Christian Justice Samuel Alito, writing the Dobb’s decision, concocted a ruling that turned the issue to the states, where subjective popular opinion could override established legal precedent and a constitutional right.
The LGBT controversies are also a matter of freedom. The freedom to choose how we live belongs to everyone, including members of the LGBT community. However, the Christian bible recognizes only two genders, and fundamentalists view any variation as a violation of God’s work. They believe their God wants this freedom to be denied to gay, lesbian and transgender people.
Because the majority of Americans do not agree with their delusional views, Christian fundamentalists see democracy as an obstacle they must overcome. And so, two influential groups—the affluent and the fundamentalists—think it is in their interest to abandon democracy.
Their home is the theocratic Republican party, which has worked diligently to subvert our election process. Theocratic parties are incompatible with American democracy. For religious extremists, serving God is more important than serving the common good. And their primary allegiance is to the bible, not the Constitution. For extremists, these conflicts are irreconcilable.
The First Amendment forbids establishing a national church. There has never been a theocratic party of any consequence, so the separation of church and state was never an issue. But it has become one. Sixty-two percent of the Republican party wants America to become a Christian nation, knowing it would violate the Constitution. And Republican theocrats prioritize Christian ideology. The divisiveness generated by this Republican mixing of religion and politics has torn our nation apart and may bring an end to democracy. That will be tragic for everyone; a theocracy is just one form of autocracy.
History proves that democracy is far superior to autocratic or theocratic government. Do we have the wherewithal to reject the religious extremism that has infected the Grand Old Party? Can we restore our democracy so that the government reflects the people’s will and is dedicated to the common good? That is up to we the people.
Bob Topper, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a retired engineer.
