Based on your research, what are the biggest threats to democracy the U.S. faces? What can be done to resolve these threats? Back up your arguments with relevant supporting evidence.

Background on the topic: As discussed in chapters 1 and 2, the framers of the Constitution established the United States as a democratic republic – a democratic system of government where ultimate power rests in the hands of the people, but government authority is entrusted to elected representatives. For over two centuries the United States served as an enduring symbol of the stability of democratic institutions. For a time, it even seemed that democracy was destined to be the final stage in government. After the Cold War concluded, many former communist states adopted democracy. Yet in the decades since, political scientists have chronicled steady democratic backsliding– an eroding of democratic characteristics of a political system, including free and fair elections, equality before the law, and the protection of individual rights and liberties. According to a recent report by Freedom House – a non-profit organization that tracks and rates freedoms by country – as of 2021 global freedom has declined for a 15th consecutive year. Among the democracies, it has rated lower is the United States. The report found that: