American Democracy's Imminent Demise: We Are Turning Against Truth and Reason

If you look real closely you can see the dreaded four horsemen galloping across the country sowing lies, hate, toxic ideology, and conspiracies.

These harbingers of disaster for democracy are riding roughshod over Congress and the rest of the country.

Congress is so polarized it's almost ceased working entirely. Just look at the process for confirming a Supreme Court justice. It no longer matters if the nominee is not fully qualified. That metric has been replaced with partisan poison.

The roots of the confirmation process's decline trace back to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell's refusal to allow President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland, to even get a hearing.

After that the kid gloves came off and the confirmation process has been an exercise in chaos. It's now nothing more than a circus where the two parties take turns grandstanding on grievances.

I suspect that after judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is confirmed it may become impossible to get any future appointments - unless one party is in complete control of the Senate and the presidency.

As we witness the steady decline of justice in the lower courts another deadly dynamic is shaping our lives - the advent of extremism in politics and our private lives.

Millions of Americans have been seduced by wild conspiracy theories that fly in the face of truth.

A recent poll showed that 22 percent of Americans believe in QAnon - a conspiracy themed group that has blossomed during Trump's turbulent regime.

Toss in extreme right and left media platforms that provide echo chambers for fixed ideological minds, and you have a recipe for disaster.

States are now seen as Blue or Red. This growing separation is just one of the terrible transformations we're experiencing. 

We're becoming two Americas. Talk about civil war is common on far-right platforms like InfoWars and Steve Bannon's War Room pod cast.

Sadly, I don't see how we turn this country around from the current gridlock and outright hatred against minorities.

The nation's long vaunted values have slipped under the slime of extremism. Somehow, we're going to have to reclaim the high ground of a functioning democracy the world can confidently follow.