Today is Independence Day in USA – the 250th since the original one in 1776.

In 1776, Independence Day was about the USA becoming independent from the UK, and no longer be under the rule of the British King. Reading American history books, this is when Democracy was introduced in the US, often ignoring the fact that slavery was still ongoing, and that generally only property-owning/tax-paying white men could vote (for a more nuanced look, see the timeline of voting in the US).

Since the bírth of USA, a lot of things have happened – there was a large land purchase, a civil war, another large land purchase, an invasion, an annexation (later abandoned), numerous wars, Civil Rights Acts increasing democracy, and a number of other things. Looking at the situation 20 years ago, most would say that the US was a robust democratic country with some glaring flaws, especially related to race – but even in this area, the country was improving.

There were some democratic problems like the lack of voting for congress for Washington DC and Porto Rico and for convicted felons, even after they had served their time.

But all in all things looked good, and we expected it to improve.

That was twenty years ago though. Now, the situation is much different.

Trump, the GOP and the current US Supreme Court has dismantled the railguards of democracy, nearly killed the Civil Right Acts, removing bodily autonomy from women, and making partisan decision allowing the GOP to gerrymander and disfranchise people. Now, I can best describe the US as a near-totalitarian kleptography where one party is enriching itself, and trying to keep in power by all means. And this doesn’t even begin to address how the rampant bigotry and oppression of marginalized groups.

I hope the midway election can change this, but in order for this to happen, the voters must vote out the GOP every way the can, in every position – the GOP has shown that they can use every position available to create mayhem, oppress people and disrupt democracy.