How will we know when we have lost our democracy?

That’s the title of an essay by Steven Levitsky, Lucan Way, and Daniel Ziblatt, three political scientists who study how democracies come to an end.

They point out that for over a decade after the authoritarian Hugo Chavez seized power in Venezuela, most Venezuelans still believed they lived in a democracy.  In Hungary, in India, in Turkey, and I would add Israel, most of the citizens think they are living in a democracy.  There are legislatures and political parties and elections, so how do you tell?

According to the three authors, there’s a simple test.  What is the cost of opposing the government?  In a true democracy, you don’t get punished for opposing the people in power.  Now ask yourself, if you oppose Trump or his appointees or his policies, will you be punished?

I don’t think we have reached an authoritarian state yet.  On June 14 millions of people will demonstrate against King Trump.  On the other hand, look at our universities.  Look at students who demonstrated for Palestine.  Look at law firms that represented liberal causes.  Look at Republican members of Congress.  There is a lot of fear right now.

Fight it.  Don’t succumb.  We are moving in the wrong direction, but we can still derail the authoritarian train.