Democracy in America will only die if we let it

Amelia Robinson is the Columbus Dispatch's opinion and community engagement editor.

"What's everyone doing for our last Independence Day?"

I suspect that question was at least in part written as morbid humor, but in the face of the political and culture wars threatening this country, I couldn't bring myself to laugh.

The "joke" was turned into a meme after being tweeted by playwright and former "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" showrunner Warren Leight following the train wreck Joe Biden-Donald Trump CNN debate.

Most of the more than 100 responses to his post on X (formerly Twitter) were bleak or sad:

• "Probably crying in anticipation for what’s to come."

• "Sitting in ash and rending my garments in grief."

• "Renewing my French passport… not that things are going any better over there."

• "Pretending, for my children’s sake, this isn’t happening."

• "Watching the movie 'Independence Day' but with the new ending where the aliens win."

Kingdoms come and kingdoms go

Leight's question should be taken as a wakeup call. I am not being hyperbolic. Democracy cannot now and never should be taken for granted.

The so-called American experiment can end. July 4, 2024 may very well have been our last Independence Day.

We the people — not a declaration against a tyrannical king written 248 years ago and signed by 56 men — are keeping this federal democratic republic together.

The nation was not perfect when it was founded, and it is not perfect now. Yet this nation and the more perfect union our founders sought is worth fighting and dying for.

There is no time for crying, rending garments, planning an exit strategy — literally or hypothetically — hiding one's head in the sand or waiting for a hero like Will Smith in "Independence Day."

The dire state of politics on nearly every level notwithstanding, we are not powerless.

Apathy and cynicism should be feared

I love this nation and what it is supposed to be.

We the people have the power to secure the perfect union our flawed founders wrote about even though they could not possibly imagine the beautiful nuance of we the people.

Be apathetic, be cynical. But disconnecting is akin to laying on the tracks and waiting for the train to hit you. The collision can be avoided.

Our democracy only dies if we acquiesce and let it.

The rights we enjoy are not guaranteed and they were not free. They come with responsibility. You have the civic responsibility to speak up, assemble, petition the government for a redress of grievances...

At the very least, those of us who can must seek out truthful information and vote.

Fear is not insurmountable

The biggest things we have to fear are apathy and cynicism, but I get it, Americans are afraid and uncertain.

The annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears found that 60% of Americans are afraid or very afraid of corrupt government officials and nearly 58% fear economic or financial collapse.

Those fears outdate either former President Trump, a convicted felon charged with encouraging the 2021 deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, or President Biden who performed horribly at the June 27 debate.

Biden has since been trying to convince voters, the media and members of his own party that he is capable of leading the nation.

This is a low point in American history but far from the first low point America has faced.

Since before the Revolutionary War to after the COVID-19 pandemic, America and its people have survived periods of oppression, subjugation, enslavement, displacement, discrimination, famine, plague, war and near economic annihilation.

Our finale has been kept at bay.

If we the people remain all in for what we can be, this nation will survive the 2024 general election and the recent Independence Day won't be our last Independence Day.

"Not going to vanish without a fight," one person wrote in response to Leight's question.

"Not going quietly into that good night," another added.

Amelia Robinson is the Columbus Dispatch's opinion and community engagement editor.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Worried the US will end? Voters aren't powerless in the 2024 election.