Democracy Shouldn’t Work, Yet It Does

But Will It Survive?

by Doug Smith

August 19, 2026

When you think about it, democracy shouldn’t work. It goes against virtually all of human history. Throughout the millennia of time, humans have been ruled by kings, emperors, Caesars, pharaohs, chiefs, and dictators. Except for a few centuries when ancient Athens experimented with direct democracy, humanity was under someone’s thumb with no voice or way to escape. The best we could hope for was to have a benevolent overlord.

Our American experiment with representative democracy, begun 250 years ago, tested whether humans were capable of self-government, that is, if we could decide amongst ourselves what we as a nation should be and do. At the time, no other nation believed it could be done. Could we beat the odds? Could we curb our personal ambitions and learn to compromise with one another? Because that’s the only way this could work.

Well, our track record is mixed. We were able to hammer out many compromises over the years, until we couldn’t. The Civil War was one of those times. People in the South had the unalterable belief that they had the right to buy and sell other humans, while many in the North believed it was absolutely wrong. The compromises holding the country together at the time collapsed and we fought it out. After 750,000 lives lost, the North won, and chattel slavery was abolished.

We haven’t descended to open warfare over our differences since that time, although there have been many violent incidents with many causes. The center has held, and we have grown greater as a nation as we’ve seen the wisdom of welcoming more people into the circle of decision-making. We can point with pride to the times in our history when we’ve opened voting to women and Black Americans, although it shouldn’t have taken as long as it did.

But democracy is still just an experiment. Our Constitution is only as strong and durable as we collectively want it to be. Our question today is: will the bottomless ambitions of one man and his legions of sycophants and followers end American Democracy as we have known it?

There have always been those who would prefer to exclude more and more people from the decision-making circle. Even today, overt moves are being made to remove large numbers of registered voters because of their skin color or gender. The President, along with a supine Congress and an obedient Supreme Court, is working to restrict or intimidate hundreds of thousands of voters. The SAVE Act that Trump constantly touts is aimed at women. The Supreme Court ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is aimed at Black voters and their right to be represented in Congress.  The empty and baseless claims of “voter fraud” are lies targeted at his most gullible supporters, to persuade them to protest any election that does not turn out the way he wants.

These and other attacks on our democracy are growing and there is no automatic reset that we can rely on to set things right. The only way to reclaim democracy is to get involved personally. Every one of us who sees the danger must take action. We all must do more than simply cast our ballots.  For myself, I am donating time and money to candidates I believe in, and I have been out knocking on doors in our city to encourage my neighbors to vote for candidates who will improve their lives. We must rid ourselves of the notion that elections are a spectator sport. It used to be safe enough for some to do that, just sit back and watch things unfold, but not now.

Will our democracy survive? Or will it collapse from within? There are powerful forces working against democracy, including the Christian nationalists, whose Project 2025 is a blueprint for minority rule. The answer remains to be seen, but our American Democracy will depend on the willingness of ordinary people like us to get involved and to do all we can to protect and strengthen it.  Click https://www.blackhawkdemocrats.com/ to find ways you can get involved today!

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