Are we seeing the end of the Grand American Democracy Experiment?

When people come together as a community, they develop a society that reflects their beliefs and desires and a government that supports that society. We have set the foundation of our society as one that supports individual life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Founders recognized the importance of freedom of expression, freedom from oppression and freedom of association. They also recognized the need to support individual achievement and to reward industrious enterprise. Over time, these principles have been extended to more and more of our citizens. There have been many challenges in doing this, but our society today is a vast improvement over where we started and an example for every other society in the world with regard to those principles.

In addition, our Founders defined a revolutionary style of government to support that society. They codified basic freedoms that individuals could rely on and the novel concept of a government that is responsive to its citizens rather than one that controls them. It ensured the stability and security necessary to give individual and commercial enterprises economic footholds and growth possibilities. Over time, it has provided support for those experiencing emergency hardships, for the young and the elderly, and for the disadvantaged and disabled in our communities. Despite internal conflicts regarding the government’s roles and responsibilities, America has become a beacon of hope, security and strength.

Unfortunately, being a powerful and free nation has also spawned a MAGA movement that aims to transform America into something quite different from what our Founders envisioned — a society based on intolerance, hate, exclusion and isolation, and a government that attacks and controls individual freedoms, defines rights and opportunities based on fealty to an autocratic elite, controls thoughts and actions through intimidation and threats, and ensures its existence through “democratic” election reforms that limit society’s ability to enact change.

The outcome of this election will fundamentally change our society. The role of government will change from one that supports the positive development of our society to one that limits it. The country will continue to exist in a form only superficially resembling a democracy. The “Haves” will continue to have, the “Have Nots” will continue to have not. Policies that previously protected our freedoms, rights and responsibilities will be replaced by ones that punish dissent and expression, subjugate the vulnerable and weak, and endanger the independent. Rights will become dictated by religious minorities, by the powerful and by politics, not by the rule of law. The new ruling class will weaken the separation of powers and the checks and balances that are fundamental to the American model. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will become quaint relics of history that will be re-interpreted in the double-speak of authoritarianism cheered on by the willful ignorance of MAGA loyalists.

We will become an isolationist country, erecting political walls to keep the world from affecting us. In the spirit of avoiding war, we will eliminate political alliances with countries that we don’t need, and will develop foreign policy toward our adversaries echoing the appeasement of the 1930s or the mutual assured destruction model characteristic of the Cold War. We will maintain a strong military to discourage our enemies from directly attacking us but the readiness of that military will be honed by turning its activities inwards, controlling internal threats to the new societal norms and government structure.

Some believe that this challenge to the strength of our American democracy is no different from other tests that we have faced and that we will emerge stronger, as we did in the past when confronting issues like slavery, Reconstruction, continental expansion, imperialism and civil rights. However, addressing those challenges has taken decades or is a work in progress, and has usually involved armed conflict even when our society and government honored those quaint founding relics. This new government will have little respect for that antiquated model. Unless we work to counter the changes the MAGA movement will establish, whatever we end up with won’t be a democracy and will have little in common with our current society. It will be a daunting task.

Paul Atcheson lives in Longmont.