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Heather Cox Richardson on Current Challenges to Our Democracy
Posted
May 7, 2026
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May 7, 2026
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4:23Now PlayingDavid Rubenstein: "Now, do you think democracy today is under greater challenge in our country than in previous, eras in our country?
Heather Cox Richardson (@heathercoxrichardson): "Yes, because of a long period in which we have concentrated power in a single executive and the, as we have done that we have also eroded the checks and the other checks and balances that we have had to protect us against that. And that is, we're in a different place now than we have been in, say, the Civil War, because we, in fact, have a Congress that does not seem to be interested in protecting its prerogatives and a Supreme Court that is actively working to concentrate power in a single person."
She also says of America, "What has made America different, I think, is our ideas. The idea that you are welcome here, if you are willing to be part of this society and work hard and contribute to the community, and that has meant that we continually renewed ourselves, is one of the fascinating, that when Ronald Reagan was leaving office, he made it a point that his final speech basically said, what I just said that in fact, we are constantly reinventing ourselves, and we are constantly, I think, drawing from our Puritan ancestors to critique where we have been and what we are doing. So we're one of the few countries that constantly complains about how we're not living up to what we should be doing. We're not living up to expectations and that ability to recreate ourselves every day, every moment, has made us able to embody the principles of our founders and to live things that people like Thomas Paine called for. We have the ability to begin the world anew."
SUNDAYAmerica's Book Club with Heather Cox Richardson 6pm ET on CSPAN
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