It is becoming more apparent as a nation we have too little natural resistance against dictatorship.  The take over of the major balancing components of our democratic government is nearly complete.  The controlling political party is hard wired to compliance to a President having checked their souls at the door of Congress.  The other political party is simply stunned and reduced to talking about how bad it is, which of course has little to no impact on the ruling authoritarians who are actually proud to be members of their own little wealthy club. We now know that spirit of this administration, and knowing that, writing about the take down of democracy  generates nothing but useless knowledge about the details of a cascading destruction.  Squatting on your skis when you see an avalanche forming is not a good idea.   There is apparently no shame to be had from this administration. 

We as individuals need connections more vital than either of the two political parties can offer.   This country needs to decide now if ever it wants to be a free democracy governed by a public rule of law again. We could call our work a coalition of care and sanity working toward something like the ‘Free Democracy Movement’ or even more simply, ‘Democracy Again’.  Call it what you like but we must connect under a secular covenant (a democratic values platform respecting religious freedom) to protect  the freedoms that a democratic form of tolerance brings to religion, speech, individual health, community congregation.  The political parties that need our votes can come to us for with committed values for our votes.  We need a community, imperfect as all human community is, but a community willing to assure us that we may  live our conscience in our sacrosanct  bodies in a democracy built over the forged consensus of tolerant mutuality.  Good in this case is not too much to ask.  I, as a writer and advocate,  have said enough , written enough, and read enough about this situation we are in.  How about we design a counter coalition composed of connections committed to less than one page of critical governing values?  A new Declaration of Democracy so to speak.  How would that work?  Are there a few paragraphs of essential values, comprehensively understandable that could connect and commit more than  50 % of this nation.  Here is our first draft of a healthy democracies core virtues:

A Healthy Democracy is committed to:

1. Speaking Truth: Truth contains the facts, but is more than the facts. Lies contain facts but are smoke disguised as truth. For Democracy to work, the truth must be told.
2. Living with ‘Hard World Reality’: We live immersed in and on the discipline of science. Science denial is an illness. Science is far from the whole reality, but it is the foundation of our survival. A true democracy needs science to serve as a secular commonweal in any culture that respects religious plurality.
3. Respect and Reverence: Respect and reverence for safety and dignity of humanity must inform all democratic priorities. The disparagement of human beings is the ultimate insult to both democratic principles and spirit. 
4. Next Generation Priorities: Nurturance, Vocation, and whole hearted Mentoring are birthrights of every citizen born in a democracy. The next generation’s opportunities to thrive must become the central values and first priorities of the public life and laws of a democracy.

Start with something like this and the rest will take care of itself. Any feedback or thoughts to this Project website regarding the virtues essential to a democracy would be appreciated. Somewhere are the first steps to the next good thing. Good is not being buried in bitterness either in reading or thoughts.