‘Divided we fall’: Americans discuss concerns for democracy

There’s been a lot of attention paid to the issues of polarization and the negativity of politics in the public square, particularly in this election, but lately, some of our leaders have begun to talk about democracy itself under threat. We had America speaks. We wanted to better understand what people mean when they say and talk about their concerns about American democracy, and so we asked them, it’s the kind of conversation you’ll hear only on straight arrow news. So let’s get right to it. I don’t think there’s a session I’ve been more afraid of conducting than this one, because I’m afraid of the answer. How many of you, by show of hands, believe that our democracy in this country is under serious, significant threat. Raise your hands if you believe that be the case, and actually do it physically. Okay? That’s 246-810-1214, of you, and some of you raising your hands twice, 14 out of 19. And that itself is scary. Give me a sense to tell me why you think the democracy is under threat or not. Chandler, I’m going to start with you
well, because instead of bringing us together, we seem like they’re trying to separate us, to find weaknesses and to use those weaknesses against all of us. So yes, that’s why. I mean, I’m sure a lot of people might disagree, but I think that people like Trump, they using that to separate us instead of United
parent. Do you think it’s under threat? And why
I do? I’ve never, in my whole life, I’m in my 60s, and I’ve never distrusted elections, the security and the integrity of our election system, and I do now.
Ryan from Illinois,
yeah, there. There’s stuff on both sides that I don’t think is great. I don’t want anybody who’s not a US citizen being able to vote. But at the same time, I do see people on the Republican side of things doing things that really creep me out with the different voting stuff they’re trying to do. So not happy with that either.
Kevin, do you think our democracy is under threat? And why? Yes,
I do. Trump denied he lost the election because his brand is winning. He, if he, if he admits he lost, he it would ruin his brand, and it’s destroyed the entire country, but making half of it think that the elections are fake, and there’s no going back from that. Wilbur,
no, I don’t think democracy is a democracy is a threat. I mean, we all still get a vote. I think my vote’s counted. I’m more concerned with the direction of America. That scares me more than the threat that democracy is being taken away. Janice
from Alabama.
I see it on both sides as well. There’s things that concern me, particularly when we talk about ideas like packing the Supreme Court or getting rid of the filibuster, or, again, some of the election integrity. I feel like going back through even Stacey Abrams and Hillary Clinton and people before Trump, there were people complaining that elections were stolen, and now it’s kind of been normalized, and that is concerning. Steve from
Wisconsin, yeah, I
am very afraid, in a lot of ways the most, the biggest part of it is that the way that the Democrats kind of frame Trump as the biggest threat to democracy, when I see them as being as much, if not worse, already having done things that are dictatorial, authoritarian, and going through all the covid stuff, and just the way the silencing, the canceling, and the way the media controls the Democrat narrative, it’s like, that is it’s like, it’s like a propaganda machine for our government in a way that’s just not fair, and we need to cut spending, and we don’t have any politicians on either side that are willing to take that on, and so Trump is the target. But yet, I see that both sides, neither one, has a moral high ground. Frankly, good
to know that you all can follow directions. That is the longest single sentence I have ever heard. I
didn’t stop talking. I kept on going.
Okay, let’s have a discussion. Wilbur, how old are you? 64 is anyone here older than 64 okay, I’ve never said that. I am subtle. You’re the old guy on this earth longer than anyone else. You take a look at where we stand, and you’re one of the few people in this group that said democracy is not under threat, right?
You’ve been around a long time, yes, and I, I voted Republican my whole life, except I voted for Ross Perot and it. It’s not a joke. He would have been the best president we could have ever had warned us about NAFTA, because I believe that I also voted for Obama twice. I door knocked a pretty redneck area I wouldn’t even normally go into white redneck area for Barack Obama. Got laughed at, which was fine. Voted for him twice. Have a black son.
How does this answer this question? Well, I was
getting there. Sorry. But anyway, I’m sorry. Go ahead.
What was the question I want? You’ve been around for a long time, right? We see more polarized, we see more divided, we see more angry. And the issues don’t seem to be solved, and yet you don’t have a concern that we’re in trouble.
Well, I think the nation’s in trouble, but not from a democracy standpoint. To me, it’s more we’re not rich anymore. Our nation’s in severe debt, and we’ve allowed over 10 million people here that probably aren’t all contributing to society. Our country can’t survive like this. I’ve got children and grandchildren, and I’m scared to death for him. How
do you respond to that?
I feel the same way I’m afraid for future generations. Just you know, even for my own safety, because I’m so close to the border, I’m always feeling like I’m watching over my back, wondering, you know, if these illegal immigrants are going to be, you know, harboring in my area. So I’m always concerned about
it. Mark, you lose sleep at night over the situation of the country, absolutely.
I just texted you a moment ago. You know, my opinion is, you know, if you look at some other world governments through history, they they were beaten by dividing and conquering. And I think the way we are right now, we are leaving ourselves vulnerable to another attack from a country that doesn’t want to see us succeed.
Janice, your reaction to this conversation,
I have to, I have to agree with what Mark said. And one of the things that struck me earlier, when we were talking about different issues with immigration was nobody mentioned the idea that there’s the possibility that terrorists are coming across our border, and yet that is a strong possibility that that’s happened, that, I mean, some they’ve caught, but there may be some we didn’t catch, and that does concern me, again, from a democracy standpoint, that we’re so divided that we can’t even agree on something that really impacts national security. So I’m
going to ask you all as a group, and I want to understand why. How many of you actually lose sleep that you find yourself that concerned about what’s happening in America right now? Raise your hands physically if you’re that concerned. So Kevin, why? Please explain. And then Kelly,
mostly because nothing’s going to get done unless the filibuster gets removed. No party’s ever going to get 60 votes in the next 20 years, probably unless there’s a major political realignment. So we’re just going to continue living in the state that we’re living in right now, forever, uh, until the filibuster gets removed, which I hope happens, but I don’t really see it happening. So the idea that we’re going to be stuck in this state with the problems that we have forever until that happens is incredibly concerning, because no legislation can pass.
Well, I lose sleep over the fact that, as Mark said, united we stand, divided we fall. And it’s both sides, I think, are guilty of it, both sides. You have candidates attacking the other supporters on each side, and it’s not just Trump, it’s not just Harris, it’s both sides doing it. You can’t say it’s, oh, it’s only Trump or it’s only Harris. They both do it. You know, we’re called names if you if you support a candidate, and you might do it for your own personal reasons. So it’s not like you can even have an opinion. So that’s where I’ve lose my sleep because I’ve had discussions with family, and you lose friendships over it. And it’s there’s got to be a better
way. You’re from California, your state seems to disagree with itself. Why don’t do you lose sleep over the situation in the country?
You’re speaking with me? Yes, yeah, I don’t physically lose sleep. I feel like I lose sleep because of safety concerns, of just going about my daily life. I’ve got little kids. I work from home. I work remote hybrid, but I’m in and out. I’m, you know, I feel like it just like a daily I’m always feel like I have to, you know, you know, keep my wits about me, just in general. Yeah. Janice,
I just was going to say, I guess what concerns me the most is that we have very serious issues that we’re facing, and we have two very unserious candidates in addressing them, they just don’t seem to be hitting the notes that people want to hear about the problems that they’re
facing. What’s different about this segment is that they usually focus on what’s happening right now today in America, but this time, I asked our participants to look into their crystal balls and predict the future and whether things would be better or worse than they are right now. What they had to say is quite surprising and in some cases alarming. Let’s listen. How many of you believe that the next generation of Americans is going to be better off than you? Raise your hands if you think the next generation is going to be better. I see one, two hands, three hands, four hands, only four of you. There are 18 of you on this zoom, and only four think it’s going to be better. Why? For those of you who think it’s going to be worse, anyone jump in and inflate,
inflate inflation, first and foremost, I don’t, I definitely don’t think we’re going to go back to what it used to be in all gas prices, houses, property and stuff. I definitely feel like inflation and whether we’re blaming the presidents or we blaming on the pandemic either, either or, you know, that has definitely taken over, and definitely has people buying a lot less than five or six years ago,
somebody else.
The thing I see the generational impact already. I have one child that has small children that they’re struggling to pay their bills. I have another child that would like to buy a house and cannot afford to in this market, and they make good money, both of them,
somebody else. I’m not
having children because of it that they’re not affordable. Late stage capitalism is destroying the country. Everything’s unaffordable. Wages have been risen in any real way since the 70s. It’s just not going to be affordable at all. Plus climate change is
destroyed, President, it’s not affordable because inflation, which is something the federal reserve and our politicians have told us a 2% inflation target is good. 2% inflation target over 10 years means you lose 20% of your purchasing power. How is that good for us? But yet, that’s their target, that’s their goal, to tell us that 2% losing purchasing power inflation is good for us.
That’s the only way capitalism works. Is constantly work. We need more of a
Federal Reserve, the Federal Scandinavian, manipulating capitalism, manipulating markets. Capitalism means free markets. We do not have a free market today in any way, shape or form, with the regulate regulatory and tax environment and with the way the Federal Reserve manages money, we do not have free markets. None of
you guys,
you don’t realize that Kevin, you and Steve completely disagree, but neither of you are hearing each other.
But I was still lucky him. If I needed to. Okay,
Kevin, that’s what I’m talking about. Kevin’s going to be hugged by Steve.
That’s okay, not really
part of my computer screen. Why do you not think the next generation is going to be better off than you? Darlene from Massachusetts, tell me what? Yeah,
education, my children, their children, be able to get into a college. It’s getting hotter and hotter depending on what race you are. If you’re an immigrant, the average middle class family. Holly has a chance to to get into college. Now it’s getting hotter and hotter.
Somebody else you can put your hand up. I want to understand why this pessimism. Because this is concerning to me. Mark, go ahead and then Karen,
national security for me. I mean, I see, you know, things that are going on in foreign countries right now. I mean, if we think that Putin is ever going to be our friend, that’s a laugh. That’s a joke. You know, I’ve got two sons that are of military age. I’ve got a 21 year old and a 19 year old. And you know, my concern is, what is going to happen with them having to go if they’re if there’s another, like draft situation or something like that. You know, I don’t want to see my sons being killed because we have to take and defend ourselves.
Karen, please explain.
I feel like we’re no longer respected like we once were, and I feel like there is going to be a major war, and it’s just a matter of time. I don’t I worry about that for my kids.
Lila, you’re one of the younger people here. Are you as pessimistic as some of the older people here? I.
I’m not, and the reason I’m not is we have a history of resilience in this country, and we’ve overcome a lot, even in the last 10 years. I mean, think about all of the things that we’ve overcome with covid and, you know, a hyperinflation. I’m not sticking my hand head in the sand and suggesting that there aren’t significant problems we face. But you know, I still believe in this shining city on the hill.
Ben, you came to this country probably for a better future. Are you getting in America what you expected to get when you arrived here
today, not at all I would say that. I mean, everyone here goes shopping, everyone here knows that the prizes that we’re getting stuff today is not what it used to be before. And that, I would say, is the biggest reason why I am concerned that the coming generations are not going to be nearly as good, much less better than we are currently, because the prices that go up hardly ever come down. And I would have to disagree with Lila and I think Ryan, when they talked about how they were the most powerful in the world, and that has been from a place of having overcome some seemingly insurmountable challenges. I mean, resilience is one thing, but being resilient doesn’t necessarily mean that the situation that you’re living in is significantly better. It just means that you’re strong enough to weather it, but it could be better, and it’s not getting better. I
think that there’s a lot of uneducated citizens and consumers about certain topics that make them feel more pessimistic. That’s, that’s my feeling. I my belief, personally, is that I’m going to be fine no matter what. I don’t I go for the greater good and try and see, you know, what other people are going to have to suffer, not me, because I’m very privileged that whatever happened, I assume a lot of people on this call, it’s not really going to affect one way or another, but I think there’s a lot of information out there that is trying to scare people into thinking that things are worse than they actually are.
Anyone want to react to that?
That’s what always happens with inflation. Price inflation is always greater than wage inflation. Wage inflation is always behind. Rarely ever catches up. It’s what’s caused this. This, this wealth gap that’s going on for decades and decades, where the wealthier seem to take more and the poor the lower income people never catch up, because wage inflation never keeps up with price inflation. This is an inflation issue. This comes down to a fundamental crisis of what our politicians are not willing to face, which is having to cut spending and not solving this on the backs of taxpayers or billionaires. It’s a spending problem never be corrected. Well,
I was, I think that one impacts the other. I mean, for example, we are not considered to be in a military ready status right now. And you look at countries like China that are definitely fuel standing up their military to be stronger than ours. And if it gets to a point where we get into a serious conflict with some other superpower, the fact that we have so much entitlement spending, so much debt spending, really puts us in a bind to be able to spend to defend ourselves. And that does concern our political future as
a great way to bring this conversation almost to a close. I want each of you to assume that the politicians who run this country and the business people who run this country are watching this discussion right now. You get two sentences to tell them what you want them to know what you want them to do or what you need them to understand about your life or the life of the country. It’s all up to you what direction you want to go in, but what would you want the people who run America to say or do or understand or appreciate, Mark, I’m going to start with you
two sentences. Okay, number one, put your differences aside, and let’s get the job done and stop with all the division in the country.
Karen, you’re next.
I agree with Mark. What Mark said, We need to stop the rhetoric. We need to all dial it down. We need to be little more respectful of each other. Quit saying the opposite side is threatened to democracy. And I would also say, if both candidates were here, I would like to see this country get back to its Judeo Christian values and principles. I know it’s not popular, and I may not get asked to be on this again, but this nation was a nation under God, and we were different. We were resilient, but we had the Almighty as the fountain. Yeah, I know I can see smiles already. I think that’s my biggest concern. Is not economic or political, it’s moral, the moral decline of this country,
I would say. Parents on this broadcast, you get a chance to say whatever you want to say, thank you, Janice,
but to both parties respect the Constitution and its framework. It’s not a it’s not a goal post that can be moved at convenience and to again, like I said earlier, we need serious people to deal with serious problems. It’s not silly season. Nobody cares about crowd size or whatever. Those are things the American people don’t care about that doesn’t impact them. Lila,
to all the politicians listening, I would like you to stay out of my wallet. Stay out of my life. Stay out of my body. My wallet is not your piggy bank. Let me keep what I earn and decide how I spend it.
Matt, what would you tell the people who lead this country?
I would tell them that we need to have more transparency in government and everything that’s going on, and also that we need to go back to a time when truth and fact work, truth and fact.
Ben is the American dream still alive to you?
No, tell me I did not have to think twice about
that. I know how high those hopes were when I moved down here first, and I just don’t see myself being able to hold those hopes as high today, with the current situation, I don’t
does anything in the world make you want to move back to Kenya.
I’m good for now. I’m good for now.
I just don’t know how happy it is over there. I mean, I’m about to go with geography. You know,
you’re very welcome to pay a visit. I mean, I’m sure they would love to have you just have a quick tour, and there’s some lovely signs that you’d love to see. So yeah,
but what you’re saying, though, is the American dream that you had in your vision when you moved here, is it not possible? Is it not something that, do you think ever existed? Or is it changed? Or
I would say it has changed, not that it’s not possible. It probably is still possible. It’s just going to take a lot more effort, I think,
a lot more money, a lot more
money. And I was trying so hard not to use the term, but that is the reality. Sadly, that is the reality. I mean, I earn more than I did a couple years ago, and I’m still living basically the same quality of life. And it’s, it’s simply not adding up. So No, again, I would not say that the dream is, uh, I hold the dream as high as I did when I got in here recently.
Do you think you’ll be able to retire?
That remains to be seen. Right now. I’m leaning towards a no right now, but that remains to be seen.
Retire. It’s just a matter of what it’s going to look like.
What’s it gonna
it’s interesting that we should end this segment on on the American dream and the question of whether it’s still there. We began by talking about the threat to democracy, and yet we have ended much more on the economic threat rather than the political threat, and I think the two of them are intertwined, and I think it’s going to be part of the discussion that we have in the final 30 days, 35 days, of this campaign. And I really appreciate the fact that you were so respectful to each other in having this conversation because it’s important to have it. It’s important to listen, it’s important to speak, and most importantly, I think you’d all agree it is essential for our leaders, both in business and politics, not only to learn, but to act. So I thank you for this conversation, and guys, I will see you all down the down the trail. And this is been America speaks here on straight arrow news. Have a great day. You.