The third tyranny is the most dangerous of all, because it wraps itself in moral certainty. The Founders knew the theocrats very well. State churches with mandatory tithes. Clergy meddling in lawmaking. Religious authorities insisting they spoke for God and therefore couldn't be questioned. Ben Franklin fled Massachusetts as a teenager to escape compulsory church attendance and taxes that funded the clergy. Jefferson and Adams spent years fighting off efforts to inject Christianity into our government. They were explicit, repeatedly arguing that religious rule destroys freedom of conscience and poisons democracy. Do you agree with the separation of church and state?

Today, the mask is off. A sitting vice president can stand on a stage and declare, "By the grace of God we will always be a Christian nation." That isn't faith; it's Christian nationalism. It's theocratic rule by another name. Rightwing Christian leaders now openly argue that their particular church's doctrine should override the Constitution. They demand control over our schools, courts, and bodies. They want public money for their religious institutions and the religious laws they dictate enforced by the state. Do you support passing a constitutional amendment that makes the US a theocratic Christian nation?

And all three tyrannies are now working together. A would-be king who demands loyalty. A billionaire class that bankrolls him. A religious movement that sanctifies his power and declares him "chosen" by their god. This alliance has toppled democracies before. We've watched it happen in real time in Russia, Hungary, Turkey, and beyond, and it always starts the same way. A strongman rises to power and brings along with him the oligarchs. He hands off power to theocrats in exchange for institutional church support. Elections are hollowed out and courts captured by big money. And finally, as he bleeds the country dry, dissent gets criminalized. We are not immune. We never were. Has Donald Trump become what our forefathers warned us about?

So, what do we do? We do what the Founders did. We remember the importance of democracy. We teach real history and real civics. We tell the truth about why this country was founded and who it was founded to resist. We make sure the next generation understands that freedom is fragile and must be defended. We resist. In the streets, in town halls, at school board meetings, and at city councils. We call Congress at 202-224-3121 and keep calling. We make it impossible for them to pretend we consent to oligarchy, theocracy, or a wannabe king's gilded rule. And we reform. We get money out of politics. We overturn Citizens United. We make voting a right, not a privilege that can be stripped away. We break the grip of billionaires and corporations on our democracy and make them pay their fair share to maintain our republic rather than just running up our national debt. Is American democracy worth fighting for?