The V-Dem classification is worth taking seriously on its own terms, but there's a narrower question this raises: what obligations does a citizen of a constitutional republic have when institutions are under pressure, and where do those obligations come from?
The Founders did not assume civic participation would sustain itself through ordinary political incentives. They built a system that assumed an informed, engaged citizenry as a precondition — not a product — of republican government. On that point, the article's emphasis on direct civic action over electoral strategy is consistent with the republic's actual architecture. The Serbian blanket example and the union organizer's "small ask" both describe how civic capacity is built from the ground up, which is closer to the town-meeting tradition than to campaign mechanics. Where the article is less precise is in treating "authoritarianism" as a sufficient analytical frame for American institutions that were specifically designed with separated powers, federalism, and judicial review to resist executive overreach — tools that remain formally intact and whose use or disuse is itself a civic act. The strength or weakness of those structural safeguards is the more specific question citizens and their representatives need to be answering right now.
This paragraph: "It’s those asks — to show up, to take on a job, to be in charge of something — that make people feel connected and invested and eventually take on more consequential risk and responsibility." At 76 I'm disinclined to get in a physical confrontation with ICE. However, our city has a very large refugee population whose SNAP benefits are not being renewed when they apply. I am canvassing a local farmers market on the weekends with a community group and collecting donated produce that is immediately turned around and distributed for free to apartment complexes that house numerous refugees. I also help teach English through a World Relief ESL program to refugees. I'd rather love and support them than get tear-gassed by ICE. I'm leaving that to the young zealous ones - I was one of those myself during Vietnam and Civil Rights. "To everything there is a season ..."
“That small, manageable task gave their peers into a window into the movement It led them to started giving money, like money or baked goods, and ultimately brought them to stand on the protest line themselves.”
I am doing the death cleaning. I cleaned my closet and am awaiting the pick up truck later this month. I am wearing the LPGA golf cap, back when the bill was curled. I like that. A flat broad cap looks goofy. I apologize. Al I want is a real government. I’ll even take algae. Alright, here is the game. How many maga can spell algae? Bahahahaha. None.
The V-Dem classification is worth taking seriously on its own terms, but there's a narrower question this raises: what obligations does a citizen of a constitutional republic have when institutions are under pressure, and where do those obligations come from?
The Founders did not assume civic participation would sustain itself through ordinary political incentives. They built a system that assumed an informed, engaged citizenry as a precondition — not a product — of republican government. On that point, the article's emphasis on direct civic action over electoral strategy is consistent with the republic's actual architecture. The Serbian blanket example and the union organizer's "small ask" both describe how civic capacity is built from the ground up, which is closer to the town-meeting tradition than to campaign mechanics. Where the article is less precise is in treating "authoritarianism" as a sufficient analytical frame for American institutions that were specifically designed with separated powers, federalism, and judicial review to resist executive overreach — tools that remain formally intact and whose use or disuse is itself a civic act. The strength or weakness of those structural safeguards is the more specific question citizens and their representatives need to be answering right now.
This paragraph: "It’s those asks — to show up, to take on a job, to be in charge of something — that make people feel connected and invested and eventually take on more consequential risk and responsibility." At 76 I'm disinclined to get in a physical confrontation with ICE. However, our city has a very large refugee population whose SNAP benefits are not being renewed when they apply. I am canvassing a local farmers market on the weekends with a community group and collecting donated produce that is immediately turned around and distributed for free to apartment complexes that house numerous refugees. I also help teach English through a World Relief ESL program to refugees. I'd rather love and support them than get tear-gassed by ICE. I'm leaving that to the young zealous ones - I was one of those myself during Vietnam and Civil Rights. "To everything there is a season ..."
Edit recommendation:
“That small, manageable task gave their peers into a window into the movement It led them to started giving money, like money or baked goods, and ultimately brought them to stand on the protest line themselves.”
I am doing the death cleaning. I cleaned my closet and am awaiting the pick up truck later this month. I am wearing the LPGA golf cap, back when the bill was curled. I like that. A flat broad cap looks goofy. I apologize. Al I want is a real government. I’ll even take algae. Alright, here is the game. How many maga can spell algae? Bahahahaha. None.