The Democracy Chainsaw Massacre

We’re not even a year into the second Pumpkinhead presidency and you already want to Scream. You Saw it coming and you’ve considered whether you should Get Out of the country (or at least root for the Canadian team in the World Series) as you witness Frankenstein’s re-animated political Psycho—along with the nonstop Creepshow from the Right of the Living Dead—orchestrate The Vanishing of our democratic norms. Are we as Hellbound as we feel? Will the constant Howling that has turned the news cycle into a Nightmare on Overwhelm Street from Dusk to Dawn ever offer us the respite of a Quiet Place? Or is that quiet we hear coming from the Silence of the Lambs who have long ignored The Omen and think this will all pass without a political Exorcism? It turns out you’re not the only who’s noticed an American Werewolf trying to turn our democracy into the Don of the Dead. The NYT Editorial Board (Gift Article) has a handy, if scary, horror-card. Are We Losing Our Democracy? “Countries that slide from democracy toward autocracy tend to follow similar patterns. To measure what is happening in the United States, the Times editorial board has compiled a list of 12 markers of democratic erosion, with help from scholars who have studied this phenomenon. The sobering reality is that the United States has regressed, to different degrees, on all 12.” (This Halloween, I thought about dressing up as the Constitution, but I was afraid no one would recognize me…)

+ Maybe I’ll just wear my NextDraft Pro Democracy hoodie. It’s a pretty unique look these days.