Premature Democratization
Democracy is over too quickly in the United States.
Premature Democratization (or “PD” as it is known among Constitutional Framers and Philosophers) is a real condition. Democracy is over too quickly in the United States. Terribly sorry about that -it’s never happened before. Can I call you again?
Any meaningful form of democracy requires an educated, informed, and engaged society.
The framers of the original U.S. Constitution were white, male, generally well-educated, and enjoyed accumulated wealth. Together, they aspired for something greater than replacing a system predicated on aristocracy, wealth, and power with another oligarchical system. They looked to historical precedent such as the Magna Carta, parliamentary governance, and philosophers Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau to shape and evolve their vision for the governance of the United States as they authored the Constitution.
The framers thought that this new nation was ready for self-governance through democracy (well, almost ready). Considering that they were immersed and sequestered in philosophical discussions about founding and forming the nation, they may have had an over-inflated sense of the average citizen’s understanding and enthusiasm for self-governance.
Nevertheless, they were pragmatic. Now and then, they had to leave the conference room when it was their turn to buy beer and snacks and bring them back for all to enjoy. Sometimes their passionate discussions about liberty and justice for all were interrupted when one or more of the slaves they owned arrived to clean and tidy the room. Occasionally, pizza was delivered to the room, and they asked the delivery driver some pointed questions about voting, checks and balances, separation of powers, and bicameral legislatures. After such interactions with “regular people,” they quickly determined that instead of direct democracy (or “mob rule by cretins”), they implemented an intermediate step, a representative form of democracy.
Benjamin Franklin had serious doubts about our ancestors. When he was asked what form of government was being framed by the Constitutional Convention of 1787, he famously said, “A republic, if you can keep it.” The man had serious, and, as it turns out, well-founded concerns about the colonists' ability to self-govern.
“A republic, if you can keep it.” —Benjamin Franklin
Here, some underinformed zealots may attempt to misdirect and argue semantics that the United States is a Republic, not a democracy. This is readily dispelled by Constitutional Law Professor Lawrence Lessig.
(Professor Lessig’s article: https://lessig.medium.com/the-united-states-is-not-a-democracy-it-is-a-republic-54e8036c781c).
Back to my original statement: “Any meaningful form of democracy requires an educated, informed, and engaged society.” These are the three pillars that are necessary to support any societal attempt at self-governance: education, fact and evidence-based information, and civic engagement. This is because such a society will have the patience to be deliberate in planning and policy. Deliberation, a competition of ideas, helps to evolve a nation toward “A more perfect union”.
While I’m not sure what a “more perfect Union “ might be, I do believe it is a place embodied in the dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King, John Lennon, Sojourner Truth, Ida Wells, Susan B. Anthony, and Carl Sagan. Dreams of equality and justice. Peaceful cooperation and competition with other nations predicated on benevolence and strength.
We must recognize that patience is now in very short supply. Dr. King Jr. spoke of the “Fierce urgency of now” almost 62 years ago.
Reagan and the GOP began the “Trickle Down” economic fraud 45 years ago, shifting wealth from workers to the already wealthy, the lack of patience combined with growing wealth inequality, greater financial uncertainty for families, shrinking opportunities for the next generations of workers, and little to no upward mobility, this means there is little to zero societal patience that remains.
The lack of societal patience is understandable; however, it represents a significant impediment in returning the United States to a path toward democracy, justice, and equality, essentially, “A more perfect Union”. While those viewed as the “Founding Fathers” of the United States enjoyed wealth, they did not imagine a future where:
- Extreme wealth would be concentrated in the hands of a few.
- Despite extreme wealth, those few would harbor insatiable greed and use their accumulated wealth to erode and destroy a system that had already provided them with millions and billions.
- While authoring a durable framework for the United States government the Framers did not portend a document like the Lewis Powell memorandum to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1971, which provided a comprehensive plan for billionaires to use to attack an imperfect representative democracy to transform it into a plutocracy where a handful of billionaires are the actual government (and those we elect are simply a shadow).
- The Framers did not foresee an individual who used his experience in destroying affordable higher education in California as a building block for shifting massive amounts of wealth from workers to the billionaire class while espousing so-called free-market nonsense. While the Framers did not trust the collective wisdom of the voters, they probably did not believe a future society could be so dense as to not recognize Reagan/Bush/Trump/GOP trickle-down as criminal economic fraud. (Note: In the unlikely event you are reading this article AND you do believe in trickle-down economics, please send money. I will use the funds to be a “job-creator” and you’ll be much better off in the long run!)
A small portion of this extreme wealth concentration has been used to successfully subvert the government and overwhelm representative democracy. (When I say a small portion, if you have accumulated $5 billion and, as an example, you would like to change the outcome of a U.S. Senate race, you could write a $10 million check to a Political Action Committee or PAC, and dramatically change the outcome of the race. And after the check clears, you still have $4.99 billion remaining -the $10 million “donation” is, effectively, a rounding error).
Consider Elon Musk. Musk reportedly contributed nearly $300 million to the criminal elect Trump. In one example, in April 2025, SpaceX was granted a $5.9 billion contract with the Federal government. If you consider the $300 million to be an “investment” for every $1 Musk sent to Trump, we, the taxpayers, provided Musk with $20. How many of you would be willing to invest $10,000 and get back $200,000 in just a few months? And this doesn’t even account for Musk’s assets at risk. Congressional investigators estimated that as of January 20, 2025, Elon Musk and his companies—including Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and xAI—were exposed to at least $2.37 billion in potential legal liability from federal investigations, litigation, and regulatory actions. This means every $1 sent to Trump potentially returned $27.57 when you consider multiple investigations and significant financial fines. Your $10,000 investment would be worth over $275,000. Not a bad return on investment for three months.
So while the worst American President of the 20th Century, Ronald Reagan, was telling you to be big mad at a “Cadillac-driving Welfare Queen,” a disgusting racist trope from the mind of Bonzo’s co-star, it was purposeful. He wanted the “Moral Majority”, which became the “Tea Party”, which became MAGA, to look at those most vulnerable in our society and be angry. Because then you are distracted from Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Marian Adelson, Peter Thiel, and Timothy Mellon.
The loss of societal patience is a major impediment to the incremental strengthening of democracy. Former AG Merrick Garland should have pursued every Member of Congress and State/Local governments who participated with Trump in election denial, obstruction of justice, ignoring subpoenas from the House Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, and acting as accessories after the fact in support of the criminal Trump. Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment exists for the purpose of removing anyone who is participating in an insurrection or coup against the system.
Governance in a democracy should be based on a competition of ideas evolving toward an optimal implementation for all people, whether you have a numbered account in the Cayman Islands or are paying for ramen with food stamps. It’s generally slow and deliberative.
Authoritarianism is not deliberative. Authoritarianism is a tyrant, a self-appointed king (a watery tart -my homage to Monty Python), or a racist narcissist sociopath waking up in the middle of the night to tweet or shart an “Executive Order” such as:
Tell Texas to draw new district maps to gain additional GOP House seats (regardless of the principles of “No Taxation without Representation).
I don’t like these economic statistics. Fire the non-partisan economist (instead of policies strengthening the economy and addressing the root cause).
We’re going to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it.
We’re going to impose tariffs on our trade partners. Get my tariff dart board.
Forget about what Congress has legally appropriated; let’s impound the funds and destroy societal protections (while also destroying foundational Constitutional concepts of co-equal branches of government).
With the notable corruption of the Supreme Court exemplified by Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, and the lifetime appointments to the court affected by the criminal Trump, while State and Federal courts may offer some temporary relief from the illegal, unconstitutional, corrupt, and intentional cruel acts of the Trump administration, we can consider the Judicial branch, in its present form, to have been successfully subverted by the billionaire class, whether by Harlan Crow providing luxurious gifts and travel to Thomas, or Barre Seid dropping a billion dollars into the Marble Trust (managed by Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo).
Our current Congress, controlled by a GOP majority, does not offer any potential remedy. This is because every GOP House Representative and GOP Senator is so frightened of the criminal elect they continue to act as Trump’s co-conspirators, accessories after the fact, and Election Deniers. They may quietly whisper their displeasure or discomfort with Trump, the destruction of the rule of law, and the unconstitutional actions of Trump. Nevertheless, when they vote to confirm incompetents, alcoholics, sociopaths, and sycophants of Trump, they are complicit in every continuing illegal act by the Administration. When there was a 20th-century attempt to conquer and turn all of Europe into a fascist wonderland, many members of the underground resistance were ordinary people who exhibited tremendous courage, often confronting torture, imprisonment, or death. In contrast, GOP Members of Congress have sworn an Oath of Office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Despite their Oath, they are so frightened of a corrupt, narcissistic, incompetent 79-year-old felon, they march lockstep with him for fear of a Trump tweet or shart (whatever his middle-of-the-night messages are called on his “social” networking platform).
GOP weakness combined with a corrupted Supreme Court, means we must have the courage of the 20th century underground resistance to challenge every GOP Member of Congress at every opportunity to remember their Oath and to stop their betrayal of office. Ask them to find the courage to lead and represent constituents, not continue to act as an accessory to the Trump Administration’s criminality or the whim of a billionaire donor. Frame your questions and comments based on facts and evidence.
Speak truth to power -even if your voice shakes. Write “Letters to the Editor” for your local newspapers. Your profound courage will inspire others. We must defend those most vulnerable to the actions of this criminal cabal. We must do all we can to fill any vacant seat in Congress with individuals who dare to defend the rule of law (regardless of political party).
Regardless of political party, we must build and support a wave of individuals who possess the courage to put the United States back on the rails toward justice, democracy, and equality for our future and generations yet to come.
If we are to cure the condition of Premature Democratization, we must stop romanticizing a past that never delivered democracy, equality, and justice for all, and start building a future that does.
This is not a time for neutrality, for decorum (looking at you here, Susan Collins and the entire traditional wing of the Democratic Party), or for waiting patiently while certain billionaires buy all three branches of government and shred the Constitution.
This is a time for unapologetic civic courage, for organized resistance, for relentless truth-telling, and radical accountability.
The Republic is not gone yet—but it is rapidly dying under the weight of cowardice, complicity, greed, and corruption. If we are to keep the Republic, as Franklin dared us to, we must earn it every single day, with actions that unite us, reject authoritarianism, and demand justice, equality, and democracy for all.
“Indivisible, we are invincible.” -Cory Booker
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