The Erickson Report for September 30 to October 13, Page 1: The Threat

There have been any number of times when I have been distressed or depressed by the road our country, our society, our future, is on. At times I have been angry or frustrated - and yes, sometimes hopeful.

But now I am none of those things. I am frightened.

I am frightened because, as I said last time, our democracy is at risk. Quite literally. Our ability to govern ourselves, to have a government, to quote a line I'm sure you know, "of the people, by the people, for the people" is under serious threat.

There are two if you will categories of this threat which can be hard to disentangle because they overlap so much.  

One is attacks on voting, involving not just short term manipulation and suppression in search of immediate gain but a long term, on-going attack on the very concept of voting as a means of governing.

The other is an intensifying wave of attacks on our rights and civil liberties, specifically the ability to dissent from official stands and doctrines, to publicly question the status quo, to publicly seek change and justice. Attacks intended to delegitimize the notion of opposition, to make us afraid of raising our voices above the sort of private whispers found under the sorts of governments President Tweetie-pie so admires and wishes to emulate.

You may think all that is overstated, but I intend to prove my argument.