Protecting our democracy — it's a term that is being bandied about with growing frequency.

But what does it actually mean?

"Our democracy," on its face, sounds reasonable, like "our constitution" or "our rights" as citizens.  It seems inclusive, unifying, and based on a shared set of facts and beliefs.  In other words, the "our" is meant to signify "everyone" and that's good, right?

But in this case, the "our" specifically does not mean everyone.  It means only some, as in "this is ours and not yours."

The Romans called the Mediterranean Sea "Mare Nostra," or "Our Sea" to connote power and exclusivity.  The mafia is often referred to by its members as "Cosa Nostra," or "Our Thing," again to ensure a protective separateness from everything and everyone else.

Now, the organizations and people fetishizing "protect our democracy" mean it the same way the Romans really did and the mafia really do — "their democracy." 

"Democratia Nostra," indeed.

This trope is an intentional attempt to quell discussion and debate, to "other" (to use a woke term) people who question the idea, and to define anyone who does not subscribe to their statist, elitist, technocrat, oligarchical version of democracy as being a danger to the very idea of democracy itself.

Examples of this hypocritical — but strangely alluring — linguistic perversion abound.  From the "Protecting our Democracy Act," which would have essentially federalized elections, pushed by progressive Democrats, to countless "non-profit, non-partisan" groups started by those same totalitarian wokesters, the term can be found — and never falling under media judgment — throughout today's political landscape.

Like so many other tech companies (and their leaders — see Zuckerberg's Center for Tech and Civic Life), Microsoft has an effort called "Democracy Forward."  At a recent conference on digital campaign security, a member of the project, one Ethan Chumley, used a telling phrase when describing what Democracy Forward does: "supporting the institutions we think [emphasis added] are fundamental to a healthy democracy."

And what institutions are included?  Defending Digital Campaigns is one — a "non-aligned" organization funded by Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and others to, in theory, increase campaign data security.  Its board of directors includes former NSA and current DHS officials, former Romney presidential campaign manager Matt Rhoades, Hillary's campaign manager Robby Mook, and the chairman of a group called DigiDems — which itself in financially supported by the Democratic Party — and, of course, the law firm Perkins Coie of "Russiagate" fame (a perfect example of the D.C. swamp rabbit hole, by the way).

Democracy Forward also partners with NewsGuard, the organization that calls itself a media fact-checker and trustworthiness monitor that consistently places sites like The Federalist on its naughty list and The Guardian on its nice list.  NewsGuard also slammed outlets that tried to cover the Hunter Biden laptop scandal and announced in January a partnership with the American Federation of Teachers to combat misinformation in the classroom.

(For more information on the absolutely non-partisan, completely fair minded Microsoft effort, you can visit the website here.)

The group "Protect Democracy" was founded by a pair of Obama White House lawyers, one of whom during his college days help found "Law Students Against Alito."  He also claims to be non-partisan.  Here is how it defines "The Threat" to democracy on is website:

These global trends impacting the entire democratic world, when combined with our own governance structures and history of white supremacism, have resulted in an amplification of the power of an anti-democratic, illiberal, and bigoted faction in our society that has always existed.  That faction, first through Trump's presidency and now through the political party it has largely captured[.]

Non-partisan, indeed.  (If you want, you can check out the website here.)

Then there is Securing Our Digital Future, an effort of Foreign Policy magazine.  With a contributor list that reads like a parody of internationalism, the policies essentially espouse the idea of saving democracy by killing freedom.  One writer, Matt Masterson of the Stanford Internet Observatory (that's what it is actually called), states that the "onslaught of misinformation" that started in 2016 has caused people to mistrust institutions before noting that the 2020 election was the most secure in modern American history.  To continue to protect democracy, Masterson suggests, in part, the following:

Accountability for those who knowingly spread disinformation to achieve their political or financial goals.  Allies in democracy must identify, call out and collectively respond to adversaries' attempts to destroy democratic institutions. This can encompass political accountability at the ballot box, as well as professional accountability, such as the loss of a law license for using the court to further disinformation, or the loss of financial support by refusing to do business with those funding the attacks.

The term was recently employed by the New York Times when announcing the hiring of Ken Bensinger to report on "conservative" media and ideas and such.  Putting aside for the moment that he was the reporter who foisted the Fusion GPS Steele Dossier onto the public, the Times' own reasoning for the hire is telling:

Ken's new beat, filled as it is with people who reject mainstream narratives and question the institutions that hold up our democracy [emphasis added]. Understanding the way information is developed, circulated and absorbed on the right is vital at this precarious moment[.]

Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, MSNBC, AOC, CNN, Liz Cheney, etc., etc., ad infinitum have all used — may even be using it right now — the term "protect our democracy."  All of them, whether putatively right or left,  mean it the same way: their democracy.  But that is a democracy that, with apologies to the Washington Post, thrives in darkness and is protected by the prosperity and silence and loyalty of its members,  a political code of omertà that must be kept at all costs.

Our democracy, indeed.

Thomas Buckley is the former mayor of Lake Elsinore and a former newspaper reporter.  He is currently the operator of a small communications and planning consultancy and can be reached directly at planbuckley@gmail.com. You can read more of his work at:  https://thomas699.substack.com.

Image: JSMed via Pixabay, Pixabay License.