Left’s anti-democracy and the new threats to America

OPINION:

The 21st anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks comes at a turning point for America with new threats, and a deteriorating relationship between our government and the people. 
 
The 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks coincided roughly with the appearance of popular unrest across the Middle East known as the Arab Spring. For the first time in the region’s history, popular mobilizations in the region gave rise to democratically elected governments. The term “illiberal democracy,” popularized by Fareed Zakaria in 1997, came into focus as the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists take power. 
 
The focus on democracy in a region with no local tradition of liberalism raised the question of what kind of governance structure best serves the people, culture, and context of its Arab states.
 
That question is of consequence to America because we have pushed democracy in the region for two decades. More than $8 trillion later and tens of thousands of lives lost, there is little to show for our efforts to recreate the region in America’s likeness. It may be relevant again as we examine the state of our democracy today.
 
America’s failed experiment with democracy in the Middle East illuminated its democratic failures at home. The warped incentives of Washington brought about a loss in accountability for and transparency into what our government does. On Halloween 2019, Sen. Rand Paul held a hearing on the “rise of zombies,” which found that in that year alone, the government “spent over $300 billion on nearly 1,000 different programs that have not been reauthorized.” 
 
A similar lack of accountability for how we spent 20 years fighting terrorism overseas is apparent in the lack of discussion surrounding crises and challenges America experienced recently. In 2020, a virus reached our shores, and our government has failed to conduct a meaningful investigation into how that came to be. 
 
In 2022, a new question can be raised: can our self-proclaimed scions of liberalism, the Left, be entrusted to protect democracy or address the needs of the American people?
 
One year ago, commenting on the 20-year anniversary of the War on Terrorism, I noted the ways in which the Biden administration reframed “terrorism” and “extremism” to target the American public. Earlier this month, he delivered a speech in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia in which he described those who disagree with his politics as “an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” 
 
As disturbing and divisive as this rhetoric is, it is consistent for this president and his administration. Just a week prior, he casually called Trump supporters “semi-fascists,” not acknowledging how offensive these remarks are to those who lost family members at the hands of fascists in Europe.
 
Over the past 20 months, the Biden administration has targeted parents at school board meetings as “terrorists” and has punished those who disagree with its policies, including policies that conflict with the latest public health and medical guidance. This is especially the case with the punitive actions taken by the Department of Defense toward service members who refuse to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on the grounds of religious freedom. 
 
It also includes co-opting institutions of government and education to indoctrinate and punish any deviance from their orthodoxy while perpetuating hatred and intolerance. “Woke” ideology today is not only promoting an inaccurate and selective characterization of reality and history but is also feeding anti-Semitism, as, is the case with a new ethnic studies curriculum being pushed into the California public school system. 
 
The FBI raid of a former president one month ago — an event unprecedented in America’s history and which rightly invited concern from a range of former government officials of different parties — elevates this concern to a new level. What is our government doing? And who is answering questions the American people have?
 
The actions of the current administration have so far faced no meaningful Congressional oversight. The very institutions meant to serve as forums for asking questions have shut out conversations on these topics, and reckless foreign policy decisions. 

Indeed, last month coincided with the one-year anniversary of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which left our allies behind at great risk while admitting thousands of unvetted young men illegally to enter the United States. 
 
One year later, the American people have no answers. This is mainly because our institutions have not focused on prioritizing the needed conversations on these issues. The blame falls on the current administration but also on Congress as well, whose first job is to give voice to the concerns of the people. 
 
The American people have heard little regarding the Biden administration’s negotiations with Iran, its strategy for ending the Ukraine war, or other policy decisions made on the taxpayer’s dime. 
 
Just as its institutions appear fragile, so too do America’s streets and neighborhoods. That a foreign adversary’s operatives can threaten American citizens and former U.S. government officials on American soil and even brazenly brag about it on American college campuses is unthinkable. 

Today, politicians and writers can be attacked in broad daylight in public settings, and assailants can be released within hours.

Critical to keeping ourselves safe is our ability to ask questions and hold honest and fact-based conversations about the threats we face. This openness and honesty of conversation and information also happen to be a cornerstone of a functioning democracy. One fact critics cannot deny is that the Biden administration has been less than open to answering questions.

Today, urgent questions remain unasked while the administration punishes some Americans for speaking out. The tragedy today, on the 21st anniversary of one of the deadliest attacks on our soil, is that we are not only discouraged from asking the questions necessary to keep ourselves safe but are punished for doing so.