Well, we are again finding something that so-called liberals and so-called conservatives seem to agree on. And both Democrats and Republicans. American democracy, like the American republic before it, has ended. According to voices on many different sides.

As people who are not lovers of “democracy” we here at TPOL probably are not shedding enough tears over this “untimely” end. Sorry, folks. But the only reason we are sorrowful and worried is that throughout history, the end of democracy has not allowed a new republic to emerge. The pattern is fairly common: democracy dies and mobs rule and chaos descends, allowing the rise of even more brutal and more powerful tyrants and warlords. Sometimes, the mob/chaos phase is bypassed, and we go straight to really nasty dictator.

Of course, the regressives (“liberal” and “left”) have long claimed that Republicans and The Donald destroyed democracy – even while accusing (and now indicting) him and allies of formenting and leading an “insurrection” to destroy American democracy. No one, of course, understands the mental dissonance of believing that they want to destroy a system that has already been destroyed. The justification of the regressive’s propaganda efforts is clear, of course: to terrify people and convince them that the modern Democratic Party can save them – so vote for Democrats and make these States single-party regimes.

On the other hand, the tories (“conservative” and “right”) now claim that the indictment and arrest of The Donald – and many others, including attorneys – is the “end of democracy.” Some have pointed out that we already have endured both mobocracy (BLM, Occupy, Anifa, and regressive/Woke control and destruction of States and cities) and chaos (see above list and double down). Of course, it hasn’t been as much of a priority for them: they are spending more time collaborating with their so-called political opponents to make China and Russia even greater enemies and speed Ukraine on to “victory.” Again, the reason for this is obvious, if slightly different. They want to mobilize their base and sway the “independents” into voting for them, claiming that they will prevent Democratic goals of one-party rule.

So which group of government-goons is right? We can argue both ways.

But a second question looms and should be answered: Does it matter?

We argue that it really doesn’t. Historical models and types have their limits. Perhaps democracy in these Fifty States died quite a while ago – a hollowed-out shell filled with… ugh. A wolf in a rotted wolf skin? Certainly, we here at TPOL continue to believe and argue that the old Republic is dead. Even though both of these groups try constantly to dig up the body and either reanimate it or drive another couple of wooden stakes into it “just to make sure.” But the vast majority of Democrats and Republicans – especially their leadership – believe we were, should be, or are republics, either as a national government or State or local governments.

This brings us full circle: is American democracy dead? By whose hand? And does it matter?

To put it another way: how far down the “Roman Road” are the Fifty States and the American people. (Religious pun intended: we don’t believe the usual denominational claim of a “Roman Road to Salvation” is valid. Neither do we believe that the claims that either The Donald or Uncle Joe – and their followers, handlers, etc. – are true. As with the corrupt (or dead) Roman Republic, the SPQR, we have gone from a republic with limited government and liberty (for many if not all) and passed through democracy and mobocracy. We can argue that we have even passed through what Rome had in the later 1st Century BC and earlier 1st Century AD: the Principate with its one-man rule and massive, powerful bureaucracy. To put it another way: the mob is ruling the streets, figuratively.

Yes, like the Republic, American democracy is effectively dead. By the acts of the old parties, the politicians, the bureaucrats, the judges, and especially the people. Not just acts, but their failure to act when needed to uphold liberty, the rule of law, and principles that were once at least the ideals of Americans.

And the threat of tyranny is growing. So the details do not seem to matter: let them scream at each other and at us and keep our heads clear. But the process does matter – if we value liberty, peace, and prosperity. If we as individuals, working together voluntarily, fail to take action, the slide into ever-more-oppressive tyranny is inevitable.

But it is not foreordained. We can change.