I am increasingly worried about the state of our precious American democracy (and yes, I am aware that it is actually a constitutionally-limited democratic republic, but will use the term “democracy” here to simplify things) given the ongoing efforts by one of our two major political parties to dismantle its democratic foundation and push it in a progressively more authoritarian direction wherein they will be the ones wielding its vast governmental powers to reshape our nation as they see fit — a rather frightening prospect given the disturbing transformation this party has undergone in recent years.

There are many well known strategies which have typically been used to undermine democracies throughout the world as of late, and many have indeed crumbled at the hands of those hungry for power and willing to do whatever it takes to seize it. Here in America, it is difficult to see recent actions undertaken by this once “grand old party” such as those noted below as anything other than blaring warning signs.

The automatic and baseless rejection of any election losses, claiming them to have been “rigged,” “stolen,” and “due to widespread fraud,” followed by the continued and relentless promotion of such claims long after they have been thoroughly debunked.

The incessant spreading of this “big lie” to the point of inciting a violent insurrection aimed at blocking the certification of the actual election results in a desperate attempt to cling to power.

The pressuring of state officials to “find” more desired votes, the sending of fake electors to cast phony electoral votes, and threats to fire government officials unwilling to help overturn actual election results and replace them with others who will.

Widespread efforts to get loyal party members placed into critical positions in key state governments (including here in Pennsylvania, along with other “swing states”) so that they can then manipulate their election processes in future elections to ensure that their candidates get “elected,” even if this entails arbitrarily overturning actual election results on the basis of false claims of “fraud,”

This list just scratches the surface. Another factor fueling this anti-democracy push is the now activist and radical Supreme Court majority which has overturned settled law in a brazen attack on women’s rights, giving state governments the power to quash women’s freedom to make their own personal healthcare decisions. In addition, they are talking about “reconsidering” LGTBQ rights, as well as rights involving access to contraceptives. And they are starting to take a wrecking ball to the wall of separation between church and state, opening the gate for religion (well, actually just one particular religion) to more directly merge with government, giving religious extremists (and others favoring a more authoritarian and theocratic system over our messy democracy) fuller access to these levers of power and thus a golden opportunity to impose their view of how things should be on us all.

Is this the kind of America we really want to become? There are those actively working to lure us onto this dark path, hoping that enough will follow them just past the point of no return before awakening to the shattered ruins of our once great democracy now smoldering around us.

Many of you are probably familiar with the story of Benjamin Franklin’s response as he left the Constitutional Convention in 1787 when asked about the new kind of government finally decided upon: “A republic — if you can keep it.”

Can we? I sure hope so. We’ll see. So please let your voices be heard and vote this November and beyond as if our democracy and the rights of all of us depend upon it. Because they do.

Dale E. Buonocore is a Warren resident.