Card 18: America On the Brink

America On the Brink

Our DEMOCRACY is under attack by this administration and Project 2025. They will not stop until we are no longer a democracy and become an autocracy. AUTOCRACY is a DICTATORSHIP that controls the country. It’s oppressive and bleak. What does this look like?

Under Dictatorships

• The government is led by a strongman ruler or a small group with unlimited authority.
• All government officials must be completely loyal to the leader(s). Project 2025 calls for replacing thousands of career civil servants with loyalists. This is currently underway.
• Elections may take place, but the results are rigged and controlled by the leader(s) through disinformation and lies. Some people are denied their right to vote. The infrastructure for this is currently being built.
• Free speech, especially if it opposes the government, is not tolerated. The press is censored or controlled by loyalists. Disapproved books are banned. This is happening right now.
• Violence and the law are used as political tools. Opponents of the leader(s), including the media, are harassed, targeted for revenge, and often imprisoned or killed. This is happening right now.
• Ethnic, religious, and gender minorities have fewer rights than favored groups and are often portrayed as threats (poisoning the blood…). Mass detention of minorities is widespread. Concentration camps are now being built, with more on the way.
• The government controls access to education and economic opportunities and may mandate religious beliefs. The structure for this is being put in place.

Our DEMOCRACY is under attack by this administration and Project 2025. They will not stop until we are no longer a democracy and become an autocracy. WHAT WILL WE LOSE if they succeed? Freedom and opportunity.

Our country is a Democratic Republic.

• We are governed by laws, not by any single person or group of people. This is known as the “rule of law.” Under the law, everyone is equal.
• All citizens, except for those convicted of felonies in some states, have the right to vote in free and fair elections and to participate in the governing processes.
• Our Constitution protects our rights, though work remains to restore and ensure some of our freedoms.
• We have the right to express ourselves freely through writing, art, music, and theater and even to speak out against the government or government authority and policies.
• The law is not a political tool used to oppress certain groups, silence free speech, or seek revenge on political opponents.
• We all have equal rights to education and economic opportunities and are free to worship (or not) as we choose. Minorities and minority religions are protected.
• Within the bounds of the law, we have the right to choose how and where we live and who we love. The government doesn’t make those decisions for us.

Call your Senators and Representatives at (202) 224-3121 to demand they STAND UP for our DEMOCRACY!