When Democracy Failed Liberty

[Martin Hash]

In the history of American democracy; first, it was only men with property who could vote, and that worked out for liberty. Then there was a populous uprising in the early nineteenth century and voting was expanded to all free men, and that worked for liberty too for awhile until there was a civil war, after which all men were enfranchised and that kept working. In fact, liberty thrived in America, and though opportunity was unequally distributed, it was nonetheless successful for those who got some. Liberty was even buoyed after suffrage, and was still healthy through an Amendment to the Constitution lowered the voting age to 18 in the second half of the twentieth century. From then until the end of the millennium is considered by many to be MAGA. Liberty took a death blow on September 11, 2001 when the Fascists and the Communists leveraged those events into power. Eventually, liberty fought back through democracy and a president was elected by the populous against the elite’s wishes. It looked like liberty had a chance, but it was always on the defensive, and in the final buildup of fear, resentment & perversity by the Fascists and the Communists, that was the moment when democracy failed liberty.