A a democracy can be dying long before it is dead. Democracy is fragile and often disappointing. It leaves political outcomes open to influence by the human motives that have always shaped every other political institution for millennia, e.g., self-interest, self-identity, status, fear, tribe loyalty, biases, moral values, greed, etc.
One of democracy's virtues is that it does not require people to believe that their rulers are virtuous or well-meaning. Imperfectly, democracy is designed to allow for reactionary public responses when their rulers are too corrupt, cruel or authoritarian. When that happens, democratic systems then imperfectly try to divide power, expose misconduct, protect criticism and people's rights, and allow peaceful correction. But when democracy-protective mechanisms fail, special interest money always tries hard to overwhelm the public interest. Unless stopped by the public, that inevitably moves government toward some form of authoritarianism usually accompanied by a lot of bigotry and corruption often amounting to kleptocracy.
But when a democracy is robust and functioning well, it provides the tools the public needs to fight back against a bad elite. That's better than just leaving people to simply hope that a better elite will govern well in the future.
Democracy should be judged as an ongoing contest between private power and public control. It's not a one-time system that accurately discovers and serves the public interest or general welfare. Democracy is sick and dying when its protective institutions weaken too much.
Right now, our democracy is sick and dying. Weak campaign-finance and disclosure rules make it hard to impossible to know who is financing special interest political influence and power. Polarized or captured media reduce the public’s ability to assess competing claims on the basis of evidence and good faith sound reasoning about the evidence. Extreme inequality converts economic power into durable political power. Partisan election administration, gerrymandering, voter suppression, and barriers to voting reduce accountability of elected politicians. A politicized or corrupt civil service and judiciary undermine neutral enforcement, corrupting the rule of law, leading to tyranny. Falsely claims emergency powers and unitary executive power allows for corrupt retaliation against opposition and corrupt special interest patronage.
Conversely, democracy is more resilient where institutions make political influence visible, diffuse concentrated power, protect independent information, and give citizens multiple ways to organize.
American democracy's current status
Right now, Trump and elite MAGA demagoguery constantly tell us they are serving democracy, us and our interests. They are lying about all of that. Evidence in the public record makes clear that they are anti-democracy authoritarians (tyrants), profoundly corrupt, and actively attacking and taking away our rights and protections. Like the reality of human-caused global warming, an assertion that MAGA tyranny and corruption is a real, deadly threat to democracy and our rights is no longer rationally debatable.
Of course, it will always be irrationally debated by some. But that does not change the underlying reality of what MAGA actually is and does. So why do people support or vote for Trump and MAGA politicians? Apparently, most sincerely believe MAGA's demagoguery and lies about how awful and evil the political opposition is, and/or how wonderful MAGA is. The demagoguery targets and manipulates people's self-interest, self-identity, status, fears, tribe loyalty, etc. Other than the power of social media to poison millions of minds, there's nothing new in MAGA's tactics compared to earlier tyrannies.
It might be honorable, but can it defend itself?
How to judge what people want
How can our democracy be saved? Maybe it can't. But if it still can, would looking to majority public opinion on a some major issues make a meaningful difference? Maybe.
What do most Americans say they want? Polls say that most want less corruption in government, less special interest power, solid border control, control of cost of living, stable jobs that provide reasonable incomes, defense and maintenance of democracy, with free and fair elections, clean air and water with reasonable environmental protections, universal background checks and extreme-risk (“red flag”) in gun safety laws, legal abortion access in most cases, paid family and medical leave, and government power to negotiate drug prices.
The only issues where MAGA has delivered is border control. All the other issues most Americans say they want are either not happening or are worsening under MAGA tactics and policies. And for border control, MAGA border policy has imposed serious rule-of-law and democratic costs. MAGA border policy treats statutory limits, due process, and court orders as obstacles to be evaded. The high costs that arguably outweigh gains. In other words, border control could have been done more humanely, with less damage, probably at lower cost. Simply put, MAGA border policy by illegal, indiscriminate, or court-defying methods is anti-rule-of-law, which is anti-democracy.
Q1: Given how powerful and mind-poisoning demagoguery coupled with social media is, can democracy and the rule of law deliver well enough to enough people to sustain itself, or has the human species reached a tipping point where democracy and a principled rule of law is no longer possible to withstand authoritarianism and corruption of politics?
Q2: Other than border control, is it reasonable to characterize Trump and MAGA politics and policy as generally failing on major policies or working against them, to deliver what most Americans say they want? What is evidence that characterization is more false than true?
Q3: For border control, is it reasonable to characterize Trump and MAGA politics and policy as causing more damage to democracy and the rule of law than necessary? What is evidence that characterization is more false than true?
Some info sources:
Americans See Health Care Costs, Deficit, Inflation as Big Problems Facing the Nation -- Share of those who say illegal immigration is a very big problem has dropped since the start of Trump’s second term
2026: The public’s priorities and expectations -- The American public’s priorities for the government in 2026 span a wide variety of issues from economic and personal finance issues to policy areas like health care and immigration to concerns about how well Washington is functioning.
More Americans Think U.S. Doing Too Little on Environment -- Majorities rate environmental quality negatively and say it is getting worse
To reduce gun violence, the public supports several gun control measures -- Most adults remain in favor of universal background checks, red flag laws, and semi-automatic rifle bans.
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