The five myths that cripple American democracy

Modern demagogues do not operate by inventing complete fantasies: they operate by weaponising core, evident truths.

- Ahmed Bouzid, Tribune News Service

A woman holds a sign reading 'Racism is the original American pandemic' during a rally to mark Juneteenth, in San Francisco.

(Tribune News Service)

Their most potent narratives begin with real wounds - neglect, inequality, corruption, contempt, cultural anxiety - and then twist those wounds into myths that serve only to concentrate power and disable collective action. These myths are seductive precisely because they feel familiar, timely, and even self-evident. They speak to the lived experience of a public that is ignored, is overburdened, is misrepresented, and is denounced by some as a collection of "deplorables." But the purpose of these myths is and has never been to diagnose. It is and has always been to divert, deflect, distract, and ultimately to deflate and disarm.One of the most enduring of these myths is that of "The Silent Majority." It begins with an easily demonstrable fact: most people are unheard. They work long hours and toil heads down, but lack political access and see little evidence that anyone in public office takes their needs seriously. Yet instead of empowering this majority, the myth turns their dispossession into a flattering identity. They are told they are the country's moral core, the salt of the earth, the true but muted centre of national life. The result is a sort of immobilisation: the majority remains "silent" because the myth tells them their silence is their core virtue, the secret to their strength: they don't complain; they just work hard and do their best. Demagogues then step forward to speak on their behalf, converting public frustration into private authority while the actual silence of the public persists, deepened, encouraged, and normalised. A democracy that requires engagement - real participation, real voice - finds itself ruled instead by cynical, self-serving, manipulative ventriloquists.