Are we at risk of losing our democratic form of government?

Looking at Zakaria's list, should one be concerned?

- The rule of law. One doesn't have to look far, or low, to find examples of judicial lawlessness. SCOTUS on the 1st Amendment, SCONJ on election laws, for just two examples. We no longer operate under a rule of law.

-A tradition of free speech. Gone. "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech." Yet Congress has done just that. And SCOTUS has upheld it (see "The Rule of Law").

- The concept of a loyal opposition. Died under the Clintons. For the Democrats there is absolutely nothing but winning. Look at all their electoral abuses in 2000, not just in Florida but elsewhere. All signs are that this is but the beginning. And look how Hillary readily engaged in treason just to advance her agenda. (Speculation: Would not the election of a President Hillary signal the end of fair elections? Elections at all? A temporary emergency becomes permanent. Such has happened before.)

- A private sector. Dying. Overtaxed and overregulated, with increasing demands for the government to supply the services. Look at the medical sector, for example.

- The development of a middle class used to making independent decisions. ...and living with the results. Slowly dying. And becoming ever more accustomed to living within increasingly more constraining laws. Look, for example, at how meekly gun owners allow increasing restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms. (Read the 2nd Amendment, see "The Rule of Law.") Or look at how the schools no longer teach independent thinking.

"Democratic governments without these underpinnings tend to go off the rails." Is the US on its way to going off the rails? These things happen slowly, in steps. We have seen it before:

"You see," my colleague went on, "one doesn't see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for the one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don't want to act, or even to talk, alone; you don't want to "go out of your way to make trouble." Why not? - Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.

"Uncertainty is a very important factor, and, instead of decreasing as time goes on, it grows. Outside, in the streets, in the general community, "everyone is happy. One hears no protest, and certainly sees none. You know, in --- or --- there will be slogans against the government painted on walls and fences; in ---, outside the great cities, perhaps, there is not even this. In the university community, in your own community, you speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, "It's not so bad" or "You're seeing things" or "You're an alarmist."

And part of "going off the rails" is the establishment of a professional ruling class. As a FReeper pointed out in an earlier discussion along this topic, we already have such a professional ruling class, one that is abusing the rules to preserve the power held by its members, as shown by this district map.

Again: "Democratic governments without these underpinnings tend to go off the rails." Is the US on its way to going off the rails? Or are things not so bad, I'm seeing things, I'm an alarmist?