​” There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide” – James Adams. If the average empire fails at 250 years and America is 248 years old, could we say that the death of democracy was something foreseeable and the uprise in authoritarian form of government was bound to happen anyways? In Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt ‘s” How Democracies Die” they dive into a series of sequential circumstances that could lead to the demise of a democracy and even point out things within our own country that are eerily similar. When we think of death, you think instant, but in the instance of democracies die through the weakening of democratic norms. In America there are a ton of warning bells going on, the main ones are the erasure of Judicial division, freedom of expression and the press, and freedom of association (unification of the American people)​ 

The first amendment “Freedom of speech/ expression” is the pinnacle of American democracy and is always the first to go when an authoritarian form of governance is rising. We see this more with our current republican administration, the speaker of the house is banning certain news outlets and not allowing certain questions to be asked. Also, there is a massive banning of books in the education system specifically books regarding authoritarian forms of government coming into power and Americas dark history regarding minority groups. Levitsky and Ziblatt even critique the current Trump administration in “How Democracies Die” calling Trump’s problematic tendencies to discredit the media and other political rivals stating “Gatekeeping” democracy as the best way to protect it, the willingness to overthrow the checks and balances in the United States makes the party particularly dangerous and is over a telltale sign we are at least moving in the direction of authoritarian system.  

In the 2024 presidential race, President Trump stated if they “vote for him, the country will be fixed, they will never have to vote again”. American democracy was created with a series of checks and balances and 3 branches of government to make sure things were always kept fair. When one fills, for example, the House of Representatives with one party and that party tends to be extremist leaning, then you have a problem. If then said party decides to bankrupt the American people putting them in a state of constant cognitive dissonance and then use a minority group as a scapegoat for the problems, you have a repeat of history, and your state is doomed. This is something currently happening in the United States, Trump administration is referring to immigrants as “animals” blaming them for all of America’s problems and creating a divide amongst ethnic groups. This technique is the first step of authoritarianism known as “divide and rule” and then comes “blaming an “other”/outsider”, Textbook example of how to build your authoritarian dreamhouse. 

Finally, one of the most dangerous methods is losing faith in the system itself because it becomes so corrupt that you don’t trust the people in the office. The entire point of the United States was political and religious freedom; America is supposed to be the prime example of what a hypothetical perfect and accepting state looks like. When you allow someone to take office and ruin the image of a fair and free state, which is the foundation of this country, it creates not only distrust within, but also other countries begin questioning the legitimacy of your country and the people in it. This is especially dangerous as it isolates both the people and the country from the world and the world from them; A perfect example would be the banning of Tik Tok. One of the most unbiased forms of media in my opinion without an American Ceo and politicians want to get rid of it because for the first time in forever it shows the American people what’s going on in other corners of the world, things like war crimes and political unrest. These things all contribute to people losing faith in their government and turning a blind eye to real issues because they no longer trust in the government to do what they promise. 

So, how do we stop authoritarianism from taking over our country and ruining democracy? Levitsky and Ziblatt say by uniting and not allowing political extremist to even have a platform or “gatekeeping”, by keeping them away from politics all together we can stop the destruction of democracy. Another way is to be pro-democratic and voting in favor of the rights for everyone, even if those things don’t affect you. Lastly, by noticing the signs that were discussed in this post, we can all do our due diligence and keep democracy safe.