Who Has the Power?

Democracy rarely dies with tanks in the streets. It changes quietly — through small, procedural shifts that feel ordinary. Authority inches away from the public. Oversight softens. Decisions once rooted in consent are reframed as efficiency or necessity. Nothing sounds alarming. Yet the balance of power slowly tilts.

Across the United States, the question is no longer academic. Who controls elections? Who defines the limits of protest? Who decides which institutions deserve trust? These are structural questions about where power actually lives.

Elections matter. But democracy depends just as much on what happens between them — transparency, independent institutions, and the freedom to question authority without fear. When those weaken, systems can keep operating while their substance drains away.

Since President Trump returned to office, these pressures have sharpened. Executive authority is asserted more openly, often framed as necessity rather than exception. Congress has struggled to function as a consistent check. Oversight is fragmented. Election administration and certification are again political flashpoints.

Public protest is increasingly described as disorder. Journalism faces renewed pressure when it challenges official narratives.

None of this alone marks collapse. Together, it raises a harder question: are decisions shaping public life still anchored in public consent? Democracy does not vanish overnight. It erodes when citizens grow accustomed to having less voice, less visibility, and fewer meaningful limits on power.

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