Democracy in America is under siege in 2025. The whole American political system is in trouble, perhaps as much trouble as it has been since the civil war. While it is fair to conclude that it is still stable and is far from being a failed state that is incapable of governing and cannot provide for the needs of its people –yet— it is not totally inconceivable that its current level of distress could escalate sharply and lead to a catastrophic failure of the political system. This would have disastrous consequences for American citizens and a reverberation that would be felt around the world.

What is wrong? Why is the democratic ideal and this almost 250-year-old political system in serious trouble now, despite the fact that the United States of America is still an enormously vibrant economy and a powerful global actor. After all, we have weathered slavery, a devastating civil war, fierce foreign wars, economic depressions and sharp ideological divisions before. What is unique about now? 

To begin, several authoritarian governments around the world armed with cyber technology have meddled in our politics and political culture and attempted to subvert our elections. Fortunately, they have not succeeded in the latter.

But as serious as these foreign attacks on our democracy may be, to quote Walt Kelly’s cartoon character Pogo, “We have met the enemy and them is us!

We’ve been let down by our failed civic education system and a lack of consistent and insightful media editorializing on how democracy works and why it is, to quote Churchill, “The worst government system ever invented, except for all the others.”

Our American democracy is under siege at home an indifferent public, by our too-polarized politics, by home-grown white supremacists and by demagogues with and without power who are willing to throw democratic institutions and protections to the wayside if they get in the way of their aims.  

We have too many loyal and well-meaning Americans who do not see themselves as against democracy but still look the other way when it is under attack. These Americans evidently do not realize that citizens must understand what democracy is, how it should function and value it to protect it. Without that public buy-in, democracy is not going to survive, much less prevail in the United States.

It’s time to understand the problem and get busy fixing it. If we lose our democracy, there is no guarantee that we’ll ever find it again.