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Ray Marcano, a longtime journalist, is the former national president of the Society of Professional Journalists, a two-time Pulitzer juror, and a Fulbright fellow. He is a frequent Columbus Dispatch contributor.
Democracy, the grand American experiment in which the people ruled through their elected representatives, died on Nov. 6, 2024. It was 248 years old.
The cause of death included partisanship, authoritarianism and a population that, by and large, cared so little about its future that it elected an insurrectionist as its new president.
The election ushered in an unchecked era of presidential power brought on by a spineless U.S. Supreme Court that ruled Donald Trump can do whatever he likes to whomever he wants, so long as he cloaks his actions as an “official” presidential duty.
“Pity,” said the ghost of Thomas Jefferson, one of the country’s Founding Fathers. “We have a new truth that is self-evident. We ourselves are to blame for killing Democracy.”
James Madison also lamented, “I once said, ‘Knowledge will forever govern ignorance.’ Was I wrong. Look at all of the people who voted for a man who has vowed to lay waste to the Constitution and pines for generals like the ones who served Hitler.”
Democracy was born on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when the Second Continental Congress unanimously approved the Declaration of Independence, the document that set the country on the course of democratic pride by breaking away from its overseer, England.
At the time of the declaration’s signing, John Adams, a Founding Father and future president, said, “I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet through all the gloom I see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means.”
He said the day should be commemorated as “the Day of Deliverance.”
In the modern world, “deliverance” became “indifference.” Voters ignored Alexander Hamilton’s warning about a demagogue grabbing power and inciting violence. The caution went unheeded.
Almost from the beginning, there were challenges that threatened to fray, even dismantle Democracy.
Jefferson and Adams faced off in the election of 1800, an ugly affair in which both sides demonized the other through hateful rhetoric and backroom dealings designed to steal the election. (Sound familiar?)
Riots in big cities — New York City (1863, 1977), Los Angeles (1992) and Cincinnati (2001) all challenged the rule of law and threatened to descend society into chaos.
Abroad, Germany might have conquered the world if the United States did not intervene in WWII.
Today, as countries including Italy, Hungary and Finland fall to extremists, others looked to the unwavering and solid longevity of a grand American ideal. Democracy was healthy in the most stable country in the world, and that gave people hope.
But Democracy fell ill on Jan. 6, 2021, when a deluded Trump revved up his supporters with fraudulent election lies. Thousands stormed the Capitol building, 140 were injured and five were killed.
