How Democracies Die: Is America Threatened ?

This colloquy will address the American context of democracy, human nature and the drive for power, the crisis of competing ideologies and the dangers inherent in the present American moral and political mood. 

Has the election of 2016 put America at a political-moral crossroad ?  Can America’s gift of freedom and democracy continue into the future ?

This colloquy will be held in four sessions:

First:  The American cultural and political context of democracy will be examined including the rule of law, the theories and nature of human nature, religion and capitalism.

Second:  We will discuss how human nature in America displays the human drive for power, political character, political evil and the good life.

Third:  We will examine how the crisis in western and American belief and policy systems is reflected in competing ideologies.

Fourth:  The dangers in, (and how dangerous are), the current political parties, business leaders, the present American moral and political mood, and Donald Trump.

Throughout we will ask the question–Is America developing a form of authoritarianism and fascism which is a threat to democracy?

Ron Lesko is a retired Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, State University of New York 

  ▼ Reading

EJ Dionne, Our Divided Political Heart.

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt,  How Democracies Die.

How Democracies Die – Colloquy Outline