Politicians and media personalities have developed a new religion. Their god is Our Democracy — they even say it with capital letters — and they are His high priests. The enemies of their god are everywhere, and they are called Dangers to Our Democracy.
As with any god, there are questions you may not ask and opinions you may not hold about Our Democracy. You may not suspect that the "Our" in His Holy Name refers to the high priests themselves, and not the people from which the word democracy is derived. You may not question whether Our Democracy has such great value, since it is limited to choosing between John McCain with a red tie and John McCain with a blue tie, and you may not opine that the anointed ones of Our Democracy may be as tyrannical as any autocrat. Most of all, you must never suggest that perhaps we should worship other gods, such as Liberty, The Republic, or Minding Our Own Business. Such an opinion is a Danger to Our Democracy.
As I said, Our Democracy is a beleaguered god, and His enemies are everywhere. The chiefest of these is the demon Disinformation and his minion, Misinformation. They must be driven from the domain of Our Democracy, say the priests of that god. Their greatest sin is that they dare express doubt of the Word of Our Democracy, as spoken by its priests. Here are some of their heresies:
Heady stuff, to be sure. Arguable, certainly. But worth discussing? Not according to the high priests of Our Democracy. According to them, these heresies are themselves among the Dangers, and none of the high priests, hearing them spoken, may allow these words to be passed to another; the speaker of heresy must be cancelled, banned, and suffered to speak no more.
The high priests of Our Democracy never reflect on the name of their god. It comes from an ancient tongue, and means "rule by the people"; it means that the opinions of the people influence the laws and the representation the people will share. If they did so reflect, they might come to believe that the people are the true Body of their god, and that as the people who hold these heresies are among those who comprise Our Democracy, their heresy and the word of the high priests are joined together in the Voice of their god. Dissent, then, argument, and even error would be seen to be not a Danger to Our Democracy, but critical to the god's Health. Such a realization seems far away, however.
The high priests remain vigilant and secure in the hope that one day the heresies against Our Democracy may be defeated, and heaven and earth will be one, resounding for all eternity with the word of Our Democracy as spoken by His Priests.