Photo by sibway - Getty Images
Woman with Megaphone
Our nation’s democracy continues to be tested by the Trump administration as the president continues to try to move America toward authoritarianism as witnessed in countries like Hungary and Turkey, for example. If America ever loses its democracy, it isn’t going to be by some violent revolution, it is going to be done by a series of rightwing actions that will chip away at our democracy. Victor Orban of Hungary seems to have written the playbook for moving a democracy to an authoritarian state.
On the optimistic side, another Eastern European country, Poland, was on a path to authoritarianism, but unlike Hungary, all the opposition parties worked together to defeat the ultra-right Polish government at the ballot box, putting Poland back in the democratic camp.
Steps to Become an Authoritarian State
First you get elected and then you decide that you don’t want to leave office. You use the power of your office to slowly crush anyone or any organization you view as your opposition. You weaken the courts which are supposed to be the biggest check on executive power, and you intimidate and threaten anyone or any institution that gets in your way. One of the main targets is the independent free press/media.
After the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the Trump loyalists have decided to try to criminalize one of the most important tenants of our democracy, free speech. First of all, there is absolutely no place for political violence and assassination in American politics or in any democracy. You use your speech, persuasion and the truth as your weapons in our political fights.
As you have seen with Trump, he has done a pretty good job of intimidating the major corporate media, especially if they need government approvals such as a favorable anti-trust ruling so they can proceed with a merger or acquisition. He is now even threatening to take the licenses away from television stations because their late-night comedians are critical of him.
George Orwell’s 1984 Speak
Trump is blaming the liberals for inflammatory speech that caused the death of Mr. Kirk. In reality, it is Trump who has been the one who has been quick to attack the left in the most vile and derisive terms. In a functioning democracy the other party is your opponent on the issue of the moment and not your sworn enemy who may actually be your ally on the next issue. In Trump’s usual distortions of the truth, he and his minions plan to go after anyone who says anything critical of Kirk. Our First Amendment protects free speech, and that speech may be disgusting and hateful but that is the speech the First Amendment was designed to protect from budding autocrats. Even rightwing Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz and talk show host Tucker Carlson are beginning to say this is going a bit too far.
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Ironically, as most of you know, it is the right that has been far more violent than the left. A study by the conservative CATO institute documents that right-wingers have been more than five times more likely to be responsible for politically motivated killings of Americans in the United States as compared to left-wingers.
So What Can We Do?
Photo by Blaine Schultz
Protesters - No Kings Day
People rally in Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee for the 'No Kings Day' protest on June 14, 2025
I’ve always been intrigued trying to understand what liberal, educated Germans were thinking and doing around 1937 as they were watching Hitler continue to amass more power. Many did try to resist in a variety of different ways, but unfortunately there were not enough people resisting before it was too late.
What we learned is that as long as we are a democracy we need to use our First Amendment rights to push back and non-violently resist as much as we can and as often as we can. We are a democracy, and the power of our citizens still reigns supreme.
The Shepherd Express has been pushing back and speaking truth to power for the past 43 years. Our work has now become more important than ever. The Shepherd is independently owned and not subsidized by grants from the government or, like radio and television, dependent on the government licensing for the use of our public airwaves. We are truly independent and not afraid to state the truth. We continue to do a print publication along with our comprehensive website, our informative daily newsletter and our vibrant social media, because research shows that print is still one of the most trusted and powerful means of communication.
Also, print publications like newspapers and news magazines have been shown to strengthen the fabric of a community. It is expensive to print tens of thousands of Shepherds each month, but we continue to print because it’s important for our community to have an honest, locally owned, and independent newsmagazine. We need publications like the Shepherd now more than ever. Research shows the damage a community suffers when their printed news publication goes out of business.
Print working along with its website, digital daily newsletters, and social media is the most effective way to communicate. The Shepherd Express reaches a wide and diverse audience of all ages, but it is not cheap to produce. We rely on the support from our advertisers and from our readers who have joined our support group, Friends of the Shepherd Express. We don’t charge for our publication like other news magazines, and we have no paywalls on our digital products because we don’t believe it is right to limit a person’s access to honest journalism because they don’t have the means to pay.
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