We are rapidly ripening for fascism. This American writer leaves us with no illusions about ourselves." -- Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.