When the Founders wrote the Constitution that established our democratic government in 1789, they probably had doubts that it would survive 235 years.

But survive it has, even while being severely tested on many occasions. Despite many pitfalls, it has held and continued to evolve and to improve the lives of our citizens.

While the Civil War severely tested our strength, the elimination of slavery made this country a much better place. Likewise, the Voting Rights Act gave many more of our citizens a voice in our government, and the improvement of personal rights under the 14th Amendment has made life much more bearable for many disenfranchised people.

Lately, however, we are faced with the uncomfortable truth that our governmental institutions are no longer able to function in our best interest.

There are many reasons for this. But the one outstanding fact is that a democracy cannot function unless the parties, Democratic and Republican, are able to communicate and negotiate in a civil and respectful fashion to solve the many problems that confront us. Extreme political beliefs accompanied by no respect for the opposing opinion are a death knell for democracy. These feelings seep out of the political world into the general population and create an atmosphere of distrust, fear and even hatred of people with different opinions.

There is plenty of blame to go around, but the sad fact today is that the leadership of one of our major political parties is now actively and openly advocating for a shift to an authoritarian, dictatorial form of government.

The Republican Party is no longer the party that has played such a pivotal role in our history since the end of the Civil War. Gone are the traditional beliefs of small, non-intrusive government, strong defense capability, loyalty to our allies, religious and personal freedoms free of government intrusion and much more – all of which I fully support. Replacing them are a move to white Christian nationalism, isolationism and non-involvement with the rest of the world, an abandonment of our allies and a rejection of a fair immigration policy.

We tried this back in the 1930s; it resulted in World War II and millions of people dying. The head of today’s movement, Donald Trump, is not capable enough to pull this off on his own. He has a large group of people advising him, some held over from his first administration. They failed in their first attempt to take over on Jan. 6, 2021, but now they have a greater understanding of the frailty of our democracy and just how to succeed.

We can now add the Supreme Court, the supposed final defender of our democracy, to the list of partisan entities that are not willing to take a stand in its defense. Throughout history, any authoritarian form of government has only benefited the people in power. In order to stay in power, the leaders need to curtail the right to free speech and free press, submitting the military and police to their own control so they can quickly silence any dissent and gradually take control of the assets of the country for their own enrichment.

As for me, I have just one goal in the upcoming election. I did not risk my life for this country 50 years ago just to see a wannabe dictator destroy our democracy and the Constitution that supports it. In November, I will have just two requirements of the people I vote for: that they have a sincere desire to maintain our democracy and that they vow to do their job in a civil and respectful manner. I do not exclude some Republicans from these requirements; I know there are still some very fine people out there. If they are not strong enough to oppose this slide into chaos and anarchy, however, I will not support them.

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