Throughout the 2020 campaign season, the mainstream media relentlessly pushed the narrative that President Donald Trump and the GOP agenda were a “threat to democracy” while Joe Biden and his Democratic colleagues were the bulwark against this so-called existential danger to the future of the republic.

However, almost three years into the Biden administration, the vast majority of Americans have changed their minds and now believe that the Biden administration and the Democratic Party represent the most pressing menace to individual freedom and fundamental liberties.

According to a recent poll by Rasmussen Reports, 72 percent of likely voters are concerned that the federal government is devolving into a “tyrannical government that engages in mass surveillance, censorship, ideological indoctrination, and targeting of political opponents,” aka a “police state.”

Somewhat surprisingly, this concern crosses party lines, as 76 percent of likely Republican voters expressed fear that the United States is becoming a “police state” alongside 67 percent of likely Democratic voters.

When it comes to which party is responsible for the nation’s slide into authoritarianism, 48 percent of likely voters blame Democrats while 41 percent point the finger at the GOP.

Based on a small sample of the scores of egregious actions of the Biden administration, it makes total sense that most Americans believe the Democrats are responsible for the nation’s decline from a constitutional republic on the road to despotism.

Mass Surveillance

In 2021, Biden’s Department of Justice used the FBI to surveil and investigate parents in what Attorney General Merrick Garland called “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.” In reality, these ordinary parents were simply expressing their opposition to pandemic-era education policies and the insertion of critical race theory into the curriculum.

Censorship

In 2021, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki admitted that the Biden administration was “in regular touch with the social media platforms,” “flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation,” and was imploring Facebook and other social media platforms “to move more quickly to remove harmful violative posts.” Among the posts the administration wanted Facebook and other social media platforms to remove were posts regarding the Hunter Biden laptop story and those questioning the efficacy of masking mandates, COVID-19 vaccines, among others.

Ideological Indoctrination

As mentioned above, the Biden administration, and Democrats in general, have gone to great lengths to cement their iron grip on the nation’s public schools. Apart from targeting parents who disagree with what is happening in public school classrooms, the Biden administration has also been caught red-handed pushing an ideological agenda, namely the implementation of critical race theory and transgenderism, throughout the nation’s public schools. As Biden put it, “They are all our children. They are not somebody else’s children. They’re like yours when they’re in the classroom.”

Targeting of Political Opponents

When it comes to targeting political opponents, which is an essential component to the formation of a police state, the Biden administration has provided ample examples. However, no example of this despicable practice shines brighter than the Biden administration’s incessant targeting of Biden’s likely 2024 potential opponent: former President Donald Trump. To date, the Biden administration has launched a series of investigations, with dozens of felony charges already filed, in what can only be described as the political kneecapping of the GOP frontrunner for the 2024 presidential nomination.

Regrettably, at least for those of us who seek to maintain the values of separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, and the like, the Biden administration has run roughshod over these sacrosanct constitutional principles.

The good news is that it isn’t too late to undo the damage that has been done. However, the bad news is once these precedents have been set and the breaches of these sacred institutions has been completed, history shows that it is difficult to put the police state genie back in the bottle, where it belongs.

Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is editorial director with The Heartland Institute.

Image: RawPixel.com.