It's a Threat to Democracy!

Before I decided to withdraw from the dumpster fire corner of the internet known as Facebook, I posted a last stand where I shared some of my political views with my “friends” there. Immediately I was set upon by outraged opponents. Each of them parroted the same phrase, in separate comments: my opinions were “dangerous to democracy.” These ideas I was sharing, these political opinions held by me, some lady they used to know from the PTA in a different state was going to personally take down freedom.

Now that I’ve flagged it for you, you will see phrases like this everywhere. Threats to Democracy!! Our taxpayer supported commentators at NPR recently shared an international poll that pinned down some of these perceived threats: “the first ones you would probably predict, yes, these probably are big threats - economic inequality, limits on free speech, unfair elections and social media. But 44% of those surveyed said another threat to democracy worldwide is the influence of the United States. That ranked higher than the influence of China or Russia.”

Headlining this poll was the note that the U.S. and China are seen internationally as “the main threats to world peace”.

Excuse me while I fight off a bad case of eye-rolling.

Ponder with me why the international community is lumping the greatest beacon of freedom in the history of the world in a category with the murderous psychopaths of Chinese communist regimes...And they are both “threats to democracy.”

So, it seems like the people polled have zero understanding of what actually is “democracy.” To an average person in times past, it would have reference to the political structure based on fair representation. If, however, we are talking about the U.S.A. (a constitutional republic with elected leaders) and China (a socialist nation run by a single powerful party without any free elections whatsoever) as BOTH being the biggest threats to “democracy'' then we are no longer talking about political structure. We must be talking about something else.

To these digital defenders looking to keep their “democracy” safe, there is no longer a political standard of freedom worth defending related to the human rights of people outlined in the Bill of Rights. If this were the standard, then any action abusing those rights, especially freedom of speech, freedom of the belief (religion), freedom to assemble and freedom to publish unpopular ideas (press) should be the target of their scorn. Instead they have pulled a full reverse. The speech, the belief, the assembling, and the published ideas are now the enemy.

If I could summarize their position in a meme it would go something like this:

Everybody: Living in a world full of people living in various degrees of freedom, including people living in perverse countries where women and religious and ethnic minorities suffer daily.

The Amazing USA: Exists

Everybody: IT’S A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!!

When we take a minute to think about where this phrase is actually coming from, it’s probably from people who don’t like losing power. They couldn’t come out and say that President Trump and his supporters who want him to make changes in the Washington D.C. were dangerous to the existing revolving doors, lobbying players, international schemers, banksters, and others who counted on things running a certain way so they could keep getting what they had coming to them. They couldn’t complain because that would be admitting their corruption. The elite need The People to think it is Them that are under attack. This deception, like all narcissistic manipulations, deflects from their true insecurity.

What these elite actually see is being threatened is their personally preferred political outcome. This is probably why President Trump, with his nationalist policies, and the CCR, with it’s single-minded ambition, are lumped together. Like toddlers who aren’t getting their way, the world is now unfair.

The brilliant Dr. Ben Carson points out in his book, America the Beautiful,

“America got off to an auspicious start centuries ago because its citizens were unwilling to be herded like sheep by an elite group of ‘leaders.’ They were driven instead by a desire to take ownership of their own fate and establish a nation created by them and for them. Their self-determination and celebration of freedom to control their own lives helped birth our great nation….

“Will we once again rebel for positive change?... Will we settle for being herded by our leaders’ understanding of what is best for us? Or will ‘we the people’ once again rally together, educating ourselves as to the best possible solutions for a way forward, communicating to our leaders our collective desires, and demonstrating that we truly are a nation that rebels for positive change?”

We do not need to be herded by the elites. We don’t need to be instructed on what to think. We don’t need to be silenced if we think something different. And we certainly don’t need to parrot their catchphrases. We the People are not going to be in any trouble from educating ourselves and discussing the way forward.

I give us all permission to put up a red flag anytime we are told our opinions are dangerous. We have a robust country here. She has survived thus far, getting stretched and pummeled by the very forces of evil. And yet she continues to grow in the right direction. We don’t need to be silenced for her sake. The best way forward, like Dr. Carson says, is to rebel against the negative, and keep pushing us all toward what is right and good.

To those worried souls on the Book of Faces, I gently reminded them that Our Democracy can handle some lady like me giving out her opinions about the election. It was actually designed for that. Opinions never have, and never will be, an actual threat to democracy.