We complain that democracy is under assault from Donald Trump, but he's just a cog in a much larger worldwide machine that is tearing down democratic self-governance. Purely to enhance profits, the transnational corporate community literally works every day to more deeply intertwine our economic, social, and political systems with those of "business-friendly" authoritarian regimes around the world.

These American corporations are thus normalizing authoritarianism and helping silence those who speak out in favor of democracy. As a result, Freedom House notes, "Between 2005 and 2018, the share of Not Free countries rose [from 23 percent] to 26 percent, while the share of Free countries declined [from 46 percent] to 44 percent."

And when democracy fails, history tells us that war usually follows.

Read more here.

-Thom