“Of the people, by the people, for the people” — gone, but not forgotten.
By Ben Cable (Originally published on Substack)
Democracy in America, a bold and once-revolutionary experiment in self-governance, passed away in 2025. It was 249 years old. The cause of death was murder orchestrated, executed, and proudly broadcast by the 2025 Trump administration. It did not die peacefully; it was suffocated in plain sight, its cries for justice drowned out by chants of “law and order,” even as the law itself was shredded.
The fatal wounds were many. Repeated defiance of court orders undermined the last flickering hopes of checks and balances. Government watchdogs and oversight committees were stripped of power or disbanded entirely, as once-independent institutions fell like dominos under the weight of executive overreach. The Department of Justice became a hollow shell, its scales of justice tipped and broken. Truth itself became partisan, and facts became fungible.
Economically, what was once hailed as the world’s strongest and most resilient economy was brought to its knees. Suffocated by reckless tariffs, punitive taxes, and corporate handouts masquerading as stimulus, the economy crumbled under its own contradictions. The middle class, once the proud backbone of American society, was declared missing sometime in late 2024 and presumed dead shortly thereafter.
Democracy is survived only by the ultra-wealthy and politically immune oligarchs who now dine on what remains of the republic, and by the poor, voiceless, and forgotten, those left to bury the corpse of a system that once promised liberty and justice for all.
Its passing marks the end of an era and the beginning of something far more dangerous: a twilight masquerade of freedom, draped in the flag but empty at its core.
Memorial services will be held in whispers, in back rooms, and in encrypted messages — wherever the last true believers dare to gather.
Rest in power, Democracy. You were flawed, but you were ours.
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