The end of American democracy

There are a number of things that make me feel rather bleak about the future of American democracy. In no particular order:

1. Our president was not elected by a majority of voters
2. Only about 1/2 of eligible American citizens voted in the last presidential election.
3. Less than 1/4 of eligible citizens voted for our president
4. Our president is mediocre at best.
5. Our president’s father was a US president
6. Our president’s father was mediocre at best.
7. Our president, and his father, are both named George, (as in “King George III”, not as in “George Washington”).
8. Far too many Americans seem to have forgotten about King George III, making it difficult for them to see the similarities to George Bush Jr.
9. Churches are allowed to accumulate wealth in this country without paying taxes. They are allowed to accumulate wealth unchecked. With wealth comes power, and as the power of churches grow, our secular democracy is threatened.
10. Our president tells us that our enemies hate our freedom, then he goes and appoints a man connected with a variety of felonies, a man convicted of crimes that show a profound disrespect for our system of government, to create a domestic surveillance system that would make communist east germany at the height of the cold war utterly jealous.
11. Attacks on American soil have left Americans scared, and far to willing to trade their genuine freedom for a false sense of security.
12. Not only is our president undermining the civil service rules that were designed to prevent political patronage (read “buying votes on credit and then paying for them with tax dollars”), he is funneling tax dollars to religious organizations.
13. Certain republican controlled states are using dubious jim crow-like restrictions to keep minorities away from the polls.
14. People who are troubled by these events are still complaining about them, rather than contacting their elected representatives, much less organizing.
15. People who should be troubled by these events (read “just about everybody”), aren’t.

I have more reasons for pessimism, and some reasons for guarded optimism. Perhaps I’ll post more later.