The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

Threats to Democracy

11/08/23 Threats to Democracy - I

The biggest threat to our democracy is the people who utilize the phrase “A threat to our Democracy”. Democracy is all about a cacophony of opinions freely expressed and freely debated. The phrase “A threat to our Democracy” is often used by Progressives/Leftists and Democrat Party Leaders as an attempt to intimidate into silence those that disagree with them. In some cases, it is an excuse to persecute and sometimes prosecute those who disagree with them.

The true threat to democracy is the issues I have discussed in my collected Chirps on "The Decline of Free Speech in America", "Despotism in America", "The Weaponization of Government", and my Chirps on "07/28/19 Executive Orders",  and "03/08/21 Rule by Regulation and Executive Orders". Lying to Congress and the American people with no consequences when discovered is another true threat to democracy, as I have Chirped on "06/04/21 Why They Lie and Why They Get Away with Lying". Stonewalling Congressional Investigations for the purposes of political cover-ups also plays a role in the true threats to democracy. When the people in power, whether elected, appointed, or bureaucratic, have no accountability for their words or deeds, then democracy is threatened. The big lies and deplorable actions of these people in power over the last few years about the Steele Dossier, Russian Collusion, Wuhan Lab COVID-19 origination and the virus lockdowns, and the Hunter Biden Laptop directly impacted democratic elections and are a threat to democracy.

Another big lie being perpetuated that threatens democracy is Climate Change, as I have written in my collected Chirps on "Climate Change" and my science article on “Climate Change”. Prior to the Climate Change lies, we have seen other big lies, as I have written in my article "The Biggest Falsehoods in America".

In almost all cases, these big lies have come from Democrat Party Leaders and Progressives/Leftists, with assistance from Big Tech, Mainstream Media, Mainstream Cultural Media, Modern Big Business, Modern Education, and Social Media. The tactics of Political Correctness, Activists and Activism, Adjective Justice, Virtue Signaling, Cancel Culture, Conspiracy Theory,  Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Doxing, Hate Speech, Identity Politics, LGBTQIA+, Modern Feminism, Racist, and Wokeness also constitute a threat to democracy.

Consequently, the true threats to our Democracy are from the false words and nefarious deeds of Democrat Party Leaders and Progressives/Leftists, as I have examined in my collected Chirps on "Progressivism and Progressives". For more on the threats to our democracy, I would recommend that you watch the video “Victor Davis Hanson: Threats to Our Democracy w/ Dr. Scott Atlas”. His words of wisdom on this topic are a warning to Americans that we can ill afford to ignore.

03/03/24 Threats to Democracy - II

In my Chirp on "11/08/23 Threats to Democracy", I discussed the biggest threat to democracy in modern America is the people who utilize the phrase “A threat to our Democracy”. Democracy is all about a cacophony of opinions freely expressed and freely debated. The phrase “A threat to our Democracy” is often used by Progressives/Leftists and Democrat Party Leaders as an attempt to intimidate into silence those that disagree with them. In some cases, it is an excuse to persecute and sometimes prosecute those who disagree with them.

In the book Four Threats by Suzanne Mettler and Robert Liberman, the authors examine the history of America regarding the threats to democracy. In Chapter 1 of the book, ‘Threats to Democracy’, they examine the meaning of democracy and the threats to democracy. The authors state that functioning democratic systems tend to share four key attributes: free and fair elections, the rule of law, legitimacy of the opposition, and integrity of rights. They then go on to explain the presence of four specific threats to democracy: political polarization, conflict over who belongs in the political community, high and growing economic inequality, and excessive executive power that leads to the destabilization of democracy. While Chapter 1 exhibits some of the authors' political biases, these biases are not detrimental to the topic of this chapter.

In Chapters 2 through 6, they examine these threats in American history: ‘Chapter 2—Polarization Wreaks Havoc in the 1790s’, ‘Chapter 3—Democratic Disintegration in the 1850s’, ‘Chapter 4—Backsliding in the 1890s’, ‘Chapter 5—Executive Aggrandizement in the 1930s’, and ‘Chapter 6—The Weaponized Presidency in the 1970s’. These chapters provide an excellent overview of the events in American history that posed threats to democracy.

In Chapter 7— ‘At All Costs, How the Four Threats Endanger Democracy’, they examine the extent and impacts of these four threats and four key attributes to American democracy.

Chapter 8— ‘Dangerous Convergence’, is the most disappointing chapter in this book. It is nothing more than a diatribe against Conservatives and Republican Party Leaders, placing the blame on them for the modern-day threats to democracy. It is based upon the premise that Progressives/Leftists and Democrat Party Leaders represent moderation and restraint in their approaches to the issues and concerns of modern America. The authors express a viewpoint that Democrats and Progressives have not stoked any political polarization, but they have only reacted to Republican and Conservatives stoking of political polarization. Very little is said of the Threats to Democracy by the Obama Administration (partly because the chicanery of the Obama Administration has only come to light about and after this book was written), and as this book was published in 2020, there is no examination of the threats that the Biden Administration to democracy.

In Chapter 9— ‘Putting Democracy First’, the authors continue this diatribe against Trump but then rise above it in the section on ‘Learning from the Past’. However, in the next section ‘Putting Democracy First’ they espouse that “equal representation of the states in the Senate” and the “Electoral College” are undemocratic without noting that both ideas contribute to democracy for all across America, as without them, politics would gravitate to densely populated areas leaving behind other areas of the country. Such gravitation was ultimately responsible for the Ancient Greek Athenian democratic state to collapse, as our Founding Fathers were aware of and tried to prevent this collapse by including these two ideas in the Constitution.

Therefore, I would suggest that the authors issue a new edition of this book that rewrites Chapters 8 and 9 with a more evenhanded approach through an examination of the threats to America by the Obama and Biden administrations. To do so, however, would require them to cast aside their political predilections and biases, which, given their tone in Chapters 8 and the beginning of Chapter 9, I do not expect will happen.

The authors note that these four threats have been present in America’s past, but not all four threats simultaneously, while in modern America, these four threats have arisen simultaneously and are threatening our democracy. They caution that the simultaneity of these threats is the basis for Civil Deconstruction that may lead to a Civil War.

The main issue I have with this book is when the authors look at modern America through the right lens of their eyeglasses, they see much of these threats in Conservatives and Republicans. However, when the authors look at modern America through the left lens of their eyeglasses, they seem a little short-sighted to these threats in Progressives and Democrats.

If you believe, as I do, that the Federalist policies of Alexander Hamilton are more like the policies of the Democrats of today, while the Republican policies of Thomas Jefferson are more like the policies of the Republicans of today, then their historical analysis shows that the Democratic party politics was responsible for most of the initiation of the threats to democracy, while the Republican party politics were often apathetic or supine in the face of these threats. This does not let the Republicans off the hook, as apathetic or supine in the face of wrongs is no excuse, and standing up for what is right and not allowing the wrong is the only proper course of action.

In my next Chirp on “03/04/24 Threats to Democracy – III”, I will examine some more of the critiques that I have of this book.

03/04/24 Threats to Democracy - III

In my previous Chirps on "11/08/23 Threats to Democracy" and “03/03/24 Threats to Democracy – II”, I discussed the current and historical threats to democracy in America. The first Chirp is my opinion about the threats to democracy in modern America, while the second Chirp is about the book Four Threats by Suzanne Mettler and Robert Liberman, in which the authors examine the history of America regarding the threats to democracy. This Chirp is about some critiques I have about the book and a current threat to democracy that the authors of this book have not considered.

In this book, they give no credence to the accusations that the modern  "Mainstream Media" and the  "Mainstream Cultural Media" have political predilections and biases that make it difficult, if not almost impossible, to have Conservatives and Republicans fairly represented in the mainstream media. This contributes to political polarization, as when Conservatives and Republicans believe that their voice is not being heard, they become frustrated and then angry. In addition, "The Three D's (Demonize, Denigrate, Disparage) of Modern Political Debate" are often utilized against Conservatives and Republicans, which belittles them. This is the main reason for the rise of alternative conservative media, rather than the threat of legitimacy of the opposition that the authors attribute to the rise of alternative conservative media. Recently, we have seen that the Conservative and Republican voices in the mainstream media are being censored or repressed, which further increases political polarization and the rise of alternative conservative media.

This mainstream media predilections and biases also gives rise to the differences in the electioneering between the Democrats and Republicans. Republicans and Conservatives must be more aggressive to get their message across in the mainstream media, which is demonstrated in the differences between Obama, Trump, and Biden electioneering. Obama utilizes a backhanded slap against his opponents, while Trump utilizes a forehand slap against his opponents. Obama has an elegant and debonair style of political fighting, while Trump has a crude and in-your-face style of political fighting, and Biden has adopted both types of slaps and styles. However, both types of slaps and styles from these presidents are politically polarizing.

The authors also attribute the rise of big money contributions of the rich and big business to Republicans as another threat to democracy in modern America. However, no mention is made of big money contributions of the rich and big business to Democrats, which has become greater than the contribution to Republicans per Open Secrets analysis of the 2022 election cycle, which is based on Federal Election Commission data.

I would also take issue with their utilization of economic inequality, as their analysis of economic inequalities is sophomoric, in some cases untrue, and betrays their lack of knowledge of basic economics. This analysis utilizes the perceived inequality in modern America without examining the underlying truths of the economic situation. Economic inequality can be a threat to democracy if the inequality is of the rich growing richer at the expense of the poor, as was true at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. However, in the middle of the 20th century, the abuses of the wealthy against the lower classes were abated by the enactment of laws to prevent these abuses. Economic inequality in the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st century was a result of entrepreneurs providing goods and services at an affordable price to the middle and lower classes that generated wealth for those who succeeded in doing so, but it also elevated the living circumstances of the middle and lower classes. Technological creativity and innovation also contributed to this economic inequality, which led to explosive wealth generation for the creators and inventors of this technology, while at the same time, it bettered the lot of people in American society. The authors also do not account for the mobility of persons between economic classes that is prevalent in today’s America, which blunts the threat of economic inequality being a threat to democracy. These and other issues of economic inequality are best illuminated in an article by Thomas Sowell, “Using Statistics To Lie About Inequality”, which is based on his book “Wealth, Poverty and Politics”.

In modern America, this feeling of economic inequality is due to the loss of employment of previous lower-class labor-intensive jobs and the reduction of our middle-class industrial base employment due to foreign competition. However, perceptions often become a reality in the minds of people, and it is the perception of economic inequality that often drives this threat to democracy.

I believe that one of the modern threats to democracy is our poor and improper public education, as I have written in my articles on "Indoctrination versus Education", "Public Education", and “College and University Education”. We also have the problems of "Systemic Family, Education, and Faith Problems" that plague America. Much of these problems are a result of Progressivism, as I have written in my collected Chirps on "Progressivism and Progressives". These problems engender an electorate that can be easily swayed by undemocratic forces, especially unscrupulous politicians that are more concerned about power than democracy while professing their commitment to “Our Democracy”, as I have examined in my Chirps on “02/18/24 The Greatest Danger to Democracy” and "11/08/23 Threats to Democracy".

This lack of proper public education is the greatest threat to democracy in modern America. It is a threat in that modern education is producing a one-eyed man, blind in his right eye, which does not allow for the full consideration of the issues and concerns of the threats to democracy.

Consequently, the author's analysis of the causes of the modern American threats to democracy is deeply flawed and biased. It is a flaw and bias that is all too common in the intelligentsia in modern America, and it is a flaw and bias that is contributing to the threats to democracy in modern America. It is a flaw and bias based upon a lack of proportionality between Democrats and Republicans in modern America, where the Republican threats weigh heavily, and the Democrat threats are minimized or ignored. Based on my knowledge of history, chapters two through seven are a good analysis of the historical threats to democracy in America. While chapter one exhibits some flaws and biases, chapters eight and nine are not a worthy effort by the authors. As such, the author’s analysis in Chapters 8 and much of Chapter 9 is not helpful but hurtful to the cause of democracy in America.

03/05/24 Threats to Democracy - The Obama Presidency Scandals

You often hear that the Obama administration, whatever its other failings, has been “scandal-free.” However, this is a myth propagated by Obama supporters and by a complacent "Mainstream Media" and "Mainstream Cultural Media" that hears no evil, speaks no evil, and sees no evil about the Obama administration.

Some of the Obama administration scandals include the AP Phone Records Scandal, the Attack on the Benghazi Compound, Secretary of State Clinton's Email Server, DOJ and the New Black Panther Party Voter Intimidation, Fast and Furious Gun Walking, GSA Spending Spree, Hacking Data Breach, IRS Targeting Scandal, Trump’s Russian Collusion fabrication and FISA Warrants, Solyndra Subsidies, and the VA Waiting List Scandal. These, and other scandals and controversies, are outlined in the following articles:

• “Obama’s ‘Scandal-Free Administration’ Is a Myth” by Hans A. von Spakovsky of The Heritage Foundation
• “The Biggest Controversies of Barack Obama's Presidency” by Tom Murse of ThoughtCo
• “9 Controversies Obama Didn’t Mention When He Denied Any ‘Major Scandals’” by Fred Lucas of The Daily Signal

The question for this Chirp is, do these scandals rise to a level of a threat to democracy? Not all of them rise to this level, but some of them are threats to democracy. In the book Four Threats by Suzanne Mettler and Robert Liberman, the authors examine the four key attributes of democracy: free and fair elections, the rule of law, legitimacy of the opposition, and integrity of rights, and the four specific threats to democracy: political polarization, conflict over who belongs in the political community, high and growing economic inequality, and excessive executive power that leads to the destabilization of democracy.

We have learned that Attorney Generals Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan, and FBI Director James Comey, along with other prominent Obama Administration leaders, have been involved in activities that are threats to democracy, as I have Chirped on “03/03/24 Threats to Democracy – II”.

President Obama himself has also engaged in activities that are a threat to democracy, and more specifically, his utilization of Executive Actions and Executive Orders as a run-around against Congress. As President Obama announced at the beginning of his administration:

“I've got a pen, and I've got a phone, and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive action. I've got a pen to take executive actions where Congress won't. Where Congress isn't acting, I'll act on my own. I have got a pen and I got a phone. And that is all I need.”
 - President Barack Obama

President Obama did, indeed, use his pen and phone to bypass Congress and rule by executive fiat, which is a threat to democracy of the highest order. He expanded and enlarged on the predicates of executive aggrandization set by other presidents of the 20th century, but the breadth and depth of this bypassing of Congress exponentially increased in the Obama Administration, which continued in the Trump and Biden Administrations. He also had a disposition to not enforce the laws with which he disagreed, a violation of Article II of the Constitution, which requires that the President “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”. Consequently, President Obama tended to rule rather than lead America, as I examined in my article "To Be Rulers or to Be Leaders".

Thus, the actions of President Obama and his administration did pose a threat to democracy. Threats to democracy that continued and expanded into further actions by the Trump and Biden administrations based upon the Obama administration predicates.

03/06/24 Threats to Democracy - The Trump Presidency Scandals

President Trump continued the use of excessive executive powers through a multitude of executive orders, first by nullifying many of President Obama's executive orders and then by issuing his own executive orders. From the beginning of his administration, President Trump was at loggerheads with FBI Director James Comey, along with the entrenched leadership of the Intelligence community. This clashing extended to Attorney General Jeff Sessions when President Trump thought that he was not being proactive in protecting President Trump’s interests. This resulted in the scandals of the Firing of James Comey and forcing Jeff Sessions to resign. Some of the other scandals of the Trump administration were his Impeachment, the 2020 Election, the Russia Scandal, Travel Bans from Muslim Countries, the building of the Border Wall, the Resignation of Michael Flynn, Public Service and Private Gain, and Trump's Use of Twitter.

The question for this Chirp is, do these scandals rise to a level of a threat to democracy? Not all of them rise to this level, but some of them are threats to democracy. In the book Four Threats by Suzanne Mettler and Robert Liberman, the authors examine the four key attributes of democracy: free and fair elections, the rule of law, legitimacy of the opposition, and integrity of rights, and the four specific threats to democracy: political polarization, conflict over who belongs in the political community, high and growing economic inequality, and excessive executive power that leads to the destabilization of democracy.

There is also the question as to whether these scandals were actual scandals or fabricated scandals by President Trump’s political opponents, which I will address later in this Chirp. Some of these scandals were much ado about very little, and they were hyped by his political opposition and the "Mainstream Media" and "Mainstream Cultural Media", which were in almost unanimous opposition to the Presidency of Donald Trump. Part of the perception of these scandals is President Trump’s utilization of a forehand slap against his opponents and that he has a crude and in-your-face style of political fighting, which intensifies political polarization. However, President Trump’s bark was often louder than his bite. That said, President Trump had a bite that posed threats to democracy. These bites were of the same manner and magnitude that President Obama and now President Biden posed in their threats to democracy.

What President Trump did was more of a threat to the political goals and policy agendas of Progressives/Leftists and Democrat Party Leaders. They regard President Trump and his MAGA supporters as an existential threat to their political power and the "Administrative state" that they utilize to exercise their power. As such, they believe that any and all tactics to stop President Trump were acceptable, which in itself are threats to democracy. This is demonstrated by the Congressional actions against President Trump during his administration:

The House and Senate spent about two and a half years investigating allegations that candidate Trump colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 Presidential election. Allegations that were fabricated by the Hillary Clinton Presidential campaign and supported by the FBI and Intelligence agencies even when they knew they were dubious allegations. The FBI even submitted false affidavits to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), also called the FISA Court, to obtain warrants against Trump campaign advisors and Trump Administration officers. Allegations that were later revealed to be fabricated and false by the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation and FBI actions for which special counsel John Durham slammed the FBI in his 2016 probe scrutinizing then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and its alleged ties to Russia. The conduct and statements of the Democrat House and Senate members during the Congressional investigations were inflammatory and reckless, which further polarized America.

As to the impeachments of President Trump, I have written an entire series of articles on "Impeachment" and why I thought that these impeachments were unwarranted. In bringing these impeachments against President Trump, Congress was engaging in a threat to democracy in trying to overturn an election and make Donald Trump ineligible to run for office again. By not utilizing "Justice and the Rule of Law in Non-Judicial Proceedings" in the impeachment process, they have besmirched the concepts of justice and posed a threat to democracy.

As I have written in my collected Chirps on "Insurrection Chirps", the events at the Capitol building on January 6th, 2001, were more of a ruckus and riot than an insurrection. While many of the actions by the people involved were unlawful, they were not attempting to overthrow the government of the United States. Yet Democrats and some Republicans portrayed them as insurrectionists for political gain.

Thus, while President Trump posed a threat to democracy, it was the same threats to democracy that was posed by President Obama. However, the threats to democracy of the Biden presidency exceed those of Presidents Obama and Trump, which I will examine in my next chapter.

03/07/24 Threats to Democracy - The Biden Presidency Scandals

America has seen many scandals during the Biden Administration. On the International stage, the Afghanistan withdrawal, the Ukrainian War, the recent terrorism in Israel, and the threatening actions of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, and on the National stage, the impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Americans and our economy, to the increase in crime in our streets, to illegal immigration on our southern border, to the loss of energy independence, to the supply chain problem, to gas price increases, to inflation, to a recession, to the Fentanyl drug addiction scourge, and to a host of other issues we have seen many scandals of the Biden Administration. We have also seen how the Biden Family was involved in corrupt dealings despite their and their supporters’ denials.

The question for this chirp is, do these scandals rise to a level of a threat to democracy? Not all of them rise to this level, but some of them are threats to democracy. In the book Four Threats by Suzanne Mettler and Robert Liberman, the authors examine the four key attributes of democracy: free and fair elections, the rule of law, legitimacy of the opposition, and integrity of rights, and the four specific threats to democracy: political polarization, conflict over who belongs in the political community, high and growing economic inequality, and excessive executive power that leads to the destabilization of democracy.

It is an unfortunate fact that much of the Biden Administration has been a threat to democracy. From the very first day of his office, he and his administration have taken actions or sided with Progressive forces that pose a threat to democracy. Many of these threats to democracy have been examined in my collected Chirps on "Despotism in America",  "The Weaponization of Government", "The Decline of Free Speech in America", and many more have been examined in other of my Chirps. He also ignored and did not enforce the laws with which he disagreed, a violation of Article II of the Constitution, which requires that the President “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”. Consequently, President Biden has acted as a ruler rather than a leader of America, as I examined in my article "To Be Rulers or to Be Leaders".

The Biden Administration and the Democrats have called into question the freeness and fairness of elections by all the irregularities of the 2020 Presidential election. They have impinged on the rule of law by taking extraordinary and excessive legal actions against their opponents. They continually question the legitimacy of the opposition by derisively labeling them MAGA Republicans or right-wing extremists (along with their supporter’s derogatory labels of Fascists and Nazis) and questioning their commitment to our democracy. They have also tried to implement many social policies that most Americans do not support through the use of Executive Orders or regulatory changes, which have not been authorized by Congressional legislation. They have also harmed the integrity of our rights by continually trying to restrict the First and Second Amendment rights of individuals and groups.

In these actions, they have engendered political polarization by pitting one group of Americans against another group of Americans. Their attempts to legalize illegal immigration with future voting rights for those who entered America illegally create conflicts over who belongs in the political community. Their economic and inflationary policies have resulted in higher and growing economic inequality. They have also exercised excessive executive powers through a multitude of executive orders and burdensome regulations without Congressional authorization.

Alas, in the Biden Administration, we have seen all the threats to democracy in all the four key attributes and four specific threats of democracy as examined in the book ‘Four Threats’. The threats to the four key attributes pose a danger to our "American Ideals and Ideas" and our "Freedoms, Liberties, Equalities, and Equal Justice for All", and the four specific threats are an assault on the body politic. The authors of ‘Four Threats’ note that these four specific threats have been present in America’s past, but not all four threats simultaneously, while in modern America, these four threats have arisen simultaneously and are threatening our democracy. They caution that the simultaneity of these threats is the basis for Civil Deconstruction that may lead to a Civil War.

Thus, the actions of President Biden and his administration pose an existential to democracy and America. A threat that is destabilizing America and leading us down the slippery slope of Civil Deconstruction that may lead to a Civil War.

03/08/24 Threats to Democracy - Getting Away With and Rewarded For It

One of the aggravating factors of the threats to democracy is that the officers in government who engage in actions that are a threat rarely suffer negative repercussions or legal consequences for their actions. Rarely does the government institute legal actions against its own officers, especially if they are acting on behalf of elected politicians’ wishes. Many times, their actions are not illegal by statute but are contrary to Constitutional principles and, therefore, not subject to legal proceedings. For those individuals or groups who have been harmed by their actions, it is legally difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to pursue a civil lawsuit against the government, especially if their actions were not illegal by statute (i.e., Unconstitutional actions). Consequently, legal consequences for their actions are rarely successful. There are sound reasons for making it difficult for an individual or group to pursue legal action against the government. However, it is possible and sometimes successful to sue the government for Unconstitutional actions, but it is rarely successful to sue for illegal actions as criminal actions are the purview of the judicial system of government.

Usually, the only time the government institutes legal actions against its officers is when a political uproar arises whenever their actions are discovered. Even then, the legal actions are mild, as there are political considerations that temper the government’s response. In today’s bitter hyper-partisan political environment, the actions that are a threat to democracy are often justified or vilified by the different sides of the issues, and just as often are defended or attacked by the utilization of "Torturous and Convoluted Reasoning", "Obfuscation, Smoke, and Mirrors",  "Euphemisms, Doublespeak, and Disingenuousness", and “The Perversion of the English Language”. Rarely does the public understand the legalities or constitutionality of the issue at hand, and they often support one side or the other based on their politics.

A more insidious aggravating factor is that the perpetrators of these threats to democracy feel no shame for their actions, as they believe that their actions are justified by saving “Our Democracy” or their commitment to “A Higher Loyalty” than to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and act within the law. All people who work in the government have no higher duty than adherence to the Constitution and the Law. It is also expected that all government officers act with virtue, character, and ethics, and they should feel shame when they do not do so. However, virtue, character, ethics, and shame in modern politics seem to have been relegated to "the ash heap of history".

Another aggravating factor is that many of the government officers that have engaged in these threats to democracy leave their government position for lucrative jobs in the media, higher education, or big business as a reward for saving “Our Democracy” or their commitment to “A Higher Loyalty”. Some have even written books (with hefty advances and royalties) to justify their actions. Thus, we have instituted a perverse reward system for those who have been a threat to democracy. A reward system that encourages other government officers to engage in threats to democracy with expectations that they will be rewarded for their actions.

It should be noted that this perverse reward system most often favors Democrat officers and Democrat Party Leaders while rarely favoring Republican officers or Republican Party Leaders, as the predilections of the media, higher education, and big business are to promote Democrat Party politics and Progressivism.

Consequently, we glide down the slippery slope of losing our democracy by these government officers’ actions. Threats to democracy by government officers which are destabilizing America and leading us down the slippery slope of Civil Deconstruction that may lead to a Civil War.

02/18/24 The Greatest Danger to Democracy

As I have written about in my Chirp on “02/16/24 A Slight of Hand”, the Biden Administration poses a threat to democracy in how they operate authoritatively and in secrecy:

“The greatest danger to democracy is not from outside sources but from insiders who operate authoritatively and secretly. Such has been the modus operandi throughout the Biden Administration, which makes them a great danger to our democracy, as I have Chirp on "11/08/23 Threats to Democracy".”.

But in a larger sense, the greatest danger to our democracy is an apathetic electorate not interested in our "American Ideals and Ideas", "Freedoms, Liberties, Equalities, and Equal Justice for All", and "Justice and The Rule of Law in America", but only concerned with getting their piece of the pie. We also have the problem of "The Three D's (Demonize, Denigrate, Disparage) of Modern Political Debate" utilized to engender fear of the opponent, and "Torturous and Convoluted Reasoning", "Obfuscation, Smoke, and Mirrors",  "Euphemisms, Doublespeak, and Disingenuousness", and “The Perversion of the English Language” to justify political agendas and policy goals that are threats to democracy. Adding into the mix of "The Biggest Falsehoods in America" only makes for more confusion in the minds of the electorate.

Much of this is made possible by improper or incomplete civics instructions in modern public education, as well as the "Mainstream Media", "Mainstream Cultural Media", "Social Media", "Big Tech", "Modern Big Business", and "Modern Education" support for policy positions that are counter to our "American Ideals and Ideas". There is also a dearth of knowledge amongst the American public on "Capitalism and Free Markets", as well as much mistaken knowledge on "Socialism". This leads to confusion and improper economic understanding as to the repercussions on governance based on this lack of or incorrect knowledge. Much of this misunderstanding has been brought forth by Progressivism, as I have explained in my collected Chirps on "Progressivism and Progressives", and is being led by Democrat Party Leaders and Progressives/Leftists in modern America. Despite their cries of saving “Our Democracy”, they operate in a manner that is antithetical to democracy, as I have Chirp on "01/11/22 Our Democracy" and as Rob Natelson has written in his article “‘Our Democracy’ = Their Oligarchy”.

Consequently, the greatest danger to democracy is an electorate that is unaware or unconcerned about how the government operates or the means that they utilize to obtain their political agendas and policy goals. Alas, there seems little hope that the American electorate can be awakened to this danger, considering the political and social forces that would prefer to keep them in darkness of this greatest danger to democracy.

03/09/24 Threats to Democracy - In Closing

In 20th century America, the rise of Progressivism and big government in the administrative state has gradually accumulated the threats to democracy so that the four key attributes of democracy: free and fair elections, the rule of law, legitimacy of the opposition, and integrity of rights, and the four specific threats to democracy: political polarization, conflict over who belongs in the political community, high and growing economic inequality, and excessive executive power that leads to the destabilization of democracy which have dangerously converged in the 21st century. In my collected Chirps on "Progressivism and Progressives", I have examined the meaning and history of Progressivism and its impacts on American Governance and Society.

As to the current immediate threats to democracy, we have a convergence of forces in America that are the prime instigators of these threats in the 21st century. These forces are, as I have written in the "Terminology" webpage, "Democrat Party Leaders", "Progressives/Leftists", the "Administrative state", "Big Tech", "Mainstream Cultural Media (MCM)“, "Mainstream Media (MSM)", "Modern Big Business (MBB)", "Modern Education", and "The Mainstream Information Conglomerate".

Accordingly, I have collected my Chirps on the "Threats to Democracy" into an article in the order in which they should be read. We should all read this article and weep for America if we do not correct this situation. Otherwise, as Abraham Lincoln has said, “We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth,” and we will see an end to democracy in America.