“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction,” President Ronald Reagan said at the Annual Convention of Kiwanis International on July 6, 1987. “It has to be fought for and defended by each generation.”
As our country heads toward America 250, or Freedom 250, it has never been at greater risk since the days of the Civil War. According to the evidence, the threats come from those who govern, as well as the governed, as well as propaganda from authoritarian countries.
Back when I was a defense contractor, Freedom House had one of the most respected measures of freedom in the world and still does for many. Their assessment of what has happened in the last two years has led the United States to have the biggest drop in freedom among any country still rated as free.
Here’s what the 2026 Freedom House report reads:
“In the United States, the decline in freedom stemmed from a combination of long-term patterns and recent developments. There was an intensification of chronic partisan gridlock and dysfunction in Congress, including a funding impasse that culminated in the longest government shutdown in US history. The growing legislative paralysis was accompanied by a parallel escalation in the executive branch’s assertions of unilateral authority.
“Separately, a multiyear rise in threats and reprisals for political speech as well as government efforts to punish nonviolent expression by non-citizens produced a chilling effect on personal expression more broadly. The new presidential administration also disregarded conflicts of interest and weakened both anti-corruption safeguards and enforcement practices.
“As a result of these factors, the country’s score declined by 3 points, for a net loss of 12 points over the last 20 years — more than any other country rated Free during the same period, except for Nauru and Bulgaria.”
The other half of the problem comes from the governed. A recent poll shows an increased disdain for democracy. “Fewer, too, see democracy as a key element of the U.S.’s identity. Only about half of Americans under 30 believe this, compared with 81% of those 60 and older,” writes The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey.
Some of this is fanned by propaganda flames from authoritarian nations like Russia and China, who would prefer an ally in charge than someone who would support true freedom, an inspiration to the oppressed people of both communist regimes. Or they’d like us to be attacking each other.
I had a speaker from one of these countries tell my students how this person’s job involves making memes. These would be shared by mostly unwitting American dupes.
There are also smug elites who lecture us that “America is not a democracy, but a republic,” then twist the meaning of that to promote some undemocratic behavior. You can see these in efforts to overturn referenda, limit voting and political participation, even keeping policy details away from the American people… the “We the People” that the Constitution’s preamble begins with.
We need an electorate educated enough to know that the Constitution is made up of a separation of powers and checks and balances, not upon conferring one-party rule or an unrestrained chief executive. We didn’t just rebel against an absolute monarchy but an elected parliament that imposed one-party rule in policy and squelched any dissenting voices, which our Founders battled.
Perhaps some young Americans are dismayed with democracy, not as a value, but because they’ve been told that this recent version politics is how democracy is supposed to be.
John A. Tures is Professor of Political Science and Coordinator of the Political Science Program at LaGrange College, in LaGrange, Georgia. His first book, “Branded”, is available on Amazon. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu.