From Public Agenda: When Checks and Balances Strain: Why Many Americans Are Feeling Governed, Not Represented

By Dr Shellie M. Bowman Sr. 

As tensions persist among Congress, the Executive Branch, and the Supreme Court, many Americans are expressing something deeper than political frustration. They are expressing fear. Not fear of a particular party or president, but fear that the constitutional safeguards designed to protect them are no longer functioning as intended.

This fear has a name that carries historical weight. Tyranny.

To be clear, invoking tyranny is not an accusation of dictatorship, nor is it a claim that constitutional government has collapsed. From a public administration perspective, it is a signal. When large portions of the public believe power is being exercised without meaningful restraint, governance begins to feel coercive rather than protective.

That perception matters. In democratic systems, legitimacy is not sustained by legality alone. It is sustained by public confidence that power is constrained, accountable, and exercised in service of the people.

If you want to read the rest of the article go to read the article and look the archives of the previous articles Dr Shellie Bowman has written for The Public Agenda.

https://open.substack.com/pub/drshellieb/p/when-checks-and-balances-str…

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