There were moments in my surprisingly long life when I feared that what passed for democracy in America would not survive. While our experiment in a government ‘of the people, for the people, and by the people’ had always been far from perfect, it was better than virtually all of the alternatives. The most concerning moments, at least in my memory, likely occurred during the ‘Cold War’ as the two super-powers glared at one another across fields of nuclear weaponry. When Soviet Communism, as expected (by me at least), faded as an explicit threat, they were replaced by another glimmer of concern when Islamic Terrorism reared its ugly head. But that proved more a tempest in a teapot.

Our external threats were peculiar in a way. A nuclear conflict between superpowers would have led to the mutual destruction of both civilizations. While not pleasant to contemplate, we would not have to learn Russian or sing The Internationale at the start of each school day. Internal threats were perhaps less ominous yet more likely to, in fact, end our experiment in democracy. There was that scare when Richard Nixon pushed the envelope (for the time) on dirty electoral tricks and then moved to politicize the Federal Government’s legal apparati (DOJ, IRA) to go after his ‘enemies.’ But his own party still had considerable integrity back in the 1970s and would have none of it.

I’m also overlooking those earlier moments in our history when democratic protocols were imperiled. Obviously we had a Civil War, in which even Abraham Lincoln ignored legal niceties like Habeus Corpus, at least during the early dark days. There were many moments during our rapid industrial growth at the end of the 19th century when local police or the national guard or even federal troops were called out to break labor and protect the interests the corporate elite, an abuse of power by contemporary perspectives. And there was Red Scare in the U.S. after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 when Americans were scooped up absent reasonable cause (mostly because they were foreigners with funny names), when apartheid in the South disenfrachised non-whites, when we used concentration camps to incarcerate Japanese-Americans during WWII for no other reason than their ethnicity, or when we trampled on civil rights of so many during the paranoia of the McCarthy period, just to name a few.

Let us face it, sustaining democracy and the rule of law can be a tenuous challenge, especially when threats (real or imagined) are present. It is always tempting to grasp at the certainty of authoritariansim and the comforting strength of the strong man when the world around us seems to be fraying at the seams. The post World War I era proved particularly fragile as the old monarchical order fell to be replaced at first by uncertain and often fractured democracies. Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Franco, the Japanese military rushed in to assert a patina of control and certainty in a seemingly unsteady world caught between the extremes of Fascism and Communism. And they did satisfy the public’s thirst for order, at least for a while.

Today, we face an anomolous situation. With the exception of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and several simmering civil wars on the Horn of Africa, there is general peace around the globe, as least by historical standards. The U.S. economy is doing well. Equity markets are up, as are wages. Unemployment is down to so-called ‘frictional’ levels, inflation seems to be abating, and our recovery from the COVID economic dispruptions appear to be coming in for a remarkably soft landing. We should be happy as a nation. And yet, I have never been so uncertain about the future of democracy in this country, as imperfect as it has been, than I am at present. What the f%#k is going on?

When you think about it, most of the old threats were external, or reactions to perceived external threats whether legitimate or not. Russia was never going to invade and subjugate America. The logistics against that were overwhelming though our fantasies ran wild on occasion. Remember the movie Red Dawn, which was released early in the Reagan years? It was about a sneak attack by the Russkies and the Cubans with all the action taking place in some remote part of Cornwall Kansas or wherever. The enemy troops suddenly drop out of the sky to take over this remote town (that no one would want in the first place) until a bunch of high school students begin to fight back.

Think about that for a moment. Somehow, Russia managed to do all the complex logistics, including troop and weapons relocation, to mount a secret attack on the U.S. without anyone noticing. This had to be the worst science fiction movie EVER but it was popular in theaters during the Reagan years. Just shoot me. The same is true of Islamic Fundamentalists. They could, if they were organized enough, be an irritant but they have not even been that except for a few spectacular acts (many in Europe which is closer to them). Even if the Islamic version of the American Evangelical religious movement were strong enough, our sophisticated technologies would limit any real damage they might do.

No, any real threat to America is inernal. We are the enemy. By that I’m suggesting that a substantial portion of the America people (25 to 35 perecnt) apparently support some form of strong man takeover of the country. While not a majority, that’s the same level of support the Nazi’s had before taking power and way more than the Bolsheviks had before the October revolutuon. These unhappy Americans would prefer an authoritarian regime reflecting their values with no acceptance of diversity of ideas nor any plurality of values and opinion. They reject the rule of law and the slow and inefficiant processes by which democratic rule operates.

Hell, an entire major political party has embraced the most ridiculous position of defending a former President who walked off with highly classisfied documents, sent armed thugs to overturn the constitutional processes for executing the transfer of power, and pushed and threatened and bullied top officials to overturn a legitimate election result. This once proud party is now suborning treason and refusing to denounce an apparent traitor (or at least resisting the legal systems attempts at determing guilt or innocence). There leaders spend their time trying to scare the pants off the public (what happened to governing?).

But that is just the tip of the iceberg as they say. What worries many are what is going on in the background to prepare for a White House held by Trump or Desantis or some other right-wing wanna-be authoritarian. If the current GOP front runners prevail, 2025 won’t be a repeat of 2021. Trump was clueless early in his administration about how to execute a coup, at least until he panicked when faced with defeat in 2020. At the start, while he appointing some whack jobs like Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, he also brought in adults who might be conservative but knew and (for the most part) respected the law. Before most of these were fired or pushed out, these adults spent much of their time trying to keep a pathological narcissist from irreparably harming the country. The anecdotes of what they had to do to keep the Donald from ultimate mischief are sometimes hilarious and, at the same time, frightening as hell.

The next time around will be different. They will be ready, no adults will be permitted in the room. They are not going to risk the loss of power to a legitimate expression of the will of the people as they did in 2020. They made that mistake once. It won’t happen again. If they can, there will not be another unfettered and free election.

A New York time piece recently overviewed the background work being done (assuming right-wing control of the WH again) to centralize most power in the oval office, get rid of the pesky civil service, impound funds for anything they don’t like (emasculating Congress), politicize fully the DOJ, take over the FBI, control the important independent agencies like the FTC and the Federal Reserve. They will do all this under a dubious interpretation of parts of Article II of the Constitution, the so-called ‘unitary executive’ clause which states that ‘The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States.’

Can some ambiguous words really be employed to mount an authoritarian coup? Five Justices would have to agree with an interpretation that once was endorsed by former Justice Scalia. Can anyone say with confidence they are not close on SCOTUS? If that fails, there is always the Reischtag ploy used by the Nazis where you create a crisis and use that emergency to grab ultimate power. Look at how they are ramping up the border ‘crisis.’

If Trump (or a Trump look-a-like gets executive power again, they will be better prepared. They are working on such a coup right now. Some 65 right wing groups under the aegis of the conservative Heritage Foundation are doing preliminary ground work and preparatory planning. This effort is known as Project 2025. Some key potential players already have been recognized. There is Jeffrey Clark, one of the few senior DOJ officials to overtly support Trump’s attempt to overthrow the legitimate 2020 election. And there is Russell Vought, a former Director of OMB.

The impulse tpoward oligarchic or dicatorial or even theocratic rule is rooted in an intense dislike and outright repudiation of things like ‘equality before the law, free speech, academic freedom, a legitimate market-based economy (as opposed to a manipulated one), any form of diversity or demographic plurality, and anything smarting of the will of the people.‘ They also are attracted to a utopian (or dystopian) vision based on patriarchy and an taliban-form of extreme Christianity. They want a hierarchical society headed by those deemed fit to rule with meek subserviance from all followers. When they say ‘the good old days’ they are thinking back to a feudal society of lords and serfs, a world found in the ‘old south’ before federal power insisted on voting rights for all in the 1960s.

On a personal note, it has struck me that I would be among the first to be dealt with if all this were to come to pass. So called intellectuals (I do a passable job of faking it on occassion) are usually enemy number 1. Such people think for themselves, a trait that cannot be tolerated in any authoritarian regime. Remember the Nazi book burning, or Mao’s ‘cultural revolution’ or what Desantis is doing in Florida right now. Also, I have no problem identifying as a ‘soft socialist,’ which now includes anyone who cares about vulnerable families or even working stiffs. But I am old, and ready to buy the farm, so I don’t care about my fate. It is the loss of a great historical experiment that strikes me as the tragedy.

Obviously, a lot has to fall into place for this nightmare scenario to happen. But here is what worries me. Hitler grabbed power in part because the industrialists thought he would be useful to them. He would curb the trade unions and spend millions of deutsche marks on munitions and infrastructure development like the Autobahn. That is, he promised them that they could get even richer than they already were.

We already have an extraordinary concentration of wealth in this country. Some five digital giants [Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta] have a combined market capitalization of over $8 trillion, a sum that exceeds the the GDP of all nations EXCEPT THE U.S. AND CHINA. Their top managers make up to $50 million annually plus stock options, private jets, and all sorts of benefits. The men behind these giants have net asset sheets of $100 billion or even more. And that is not enough. There is no such thing as enough. They want more.

Democracy, I believe, depends upon a blance in society where power and resources are distributed with reasonable fairness. Since 1980, we have been going in the wrong direction. The top 1 percent has seen their share of the pie go from less than 10 percent to almost one-quarter … what we might call a tectonic shift. We have a few at the top making enormous sums and aggregating immense power to themselves. On the other hand, you have the small people (working stiffs) like Hollywood screen writers who have seen their pay fall recently by some 23%. Actors (not the big stars) average $26,000 … a non-living wage. No wonder there is a strike in the movie and streaming industries. It is a microcsom for America writ large … a new feudal society is in the making.

A quick thought experiment. What might happen if there were a wakening among the public as to the extreme degree that our society has become hyper-unequal. What if the Democratic Party successfully tapped the underlying hostility associated with this awareness of exploitation, as was done in the progressive era and during the great depression. Perhaps a modern day FDR or Bernie Sanders would catch the imagination of the voters. Would those who have reaped so much recently willingly share a bit of it? Would they give up the incredible power they have accumulated? Or would they return to instinct and protect what they have, using the base fears of white nationalism and extreme evangelicism to vault to a position of unfettered and unchallenged political power to match their economic power?

Remember this! Many of the intellectuals and cultural elite in early 1930s Germany said it could never happen to them. They were too sophisticated. They were too educated. That clown Hiter was a buffoon and would soon be gone. Famous last words.