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A very wise University of Maine professor shared with me how autocrats come to power. First, they find a way to be legitimately elected. Then they neutralize the referees. Finally, they change the rules.
This scenario appears to be what is transforming our democracy towards an authoritarian form of government. Our president was legitimately elected. He has appointed judges and regulators who support his agenda and the overriding power of the executive branch. And now he is attempting to change long-established rules and policies that have protected our democracy against the executive branch seizing excessive power over our country.
The most recent example of this frightening trend are the attacks on our cherished First Amendment freedoms to criticize government officials and express unpopular points of view. The Federal Communications Commission commissioner, appointed by President Donald Trump, and the networks, which have been sued by Trump, are capitulating to pressure from his administration that has gone so far as to suggest that FCC licenses be pulled from media outlets that do not report on Trump favorably.
All Americans should fear that our 250-year history of democracy, founded on our First Amendment free speech freedoms and the separation of powers, is in free fall.
Berney Kubetz
Hampden
