If there's one current issue that likely will make the history books, it may be this:  How is the pledge of America as the land  of liberty, with freedom and justice for all, surviving the nation's wide political divide? Can we  keep a republic, as Benjamin Franklin once put it?  Or will  our form of government change to authoritarianism, dictatorship, or other forms less free?    
  
These questions form the back-drop for a lot of today's news, and to get some answers and opinions, we talked with an expert in American politics. We also spoke with some people who've been in public life in South Florida for a long time. And we talked with some of you, the people.

"I see hope for us, especially with the younger generation learning, and going forward," Tara Jenner, Republican State Committeewoman from Lee County, said.

"I'm worried, but not as pessimistic as some, because the courts are pushing back," Dave Aronberg, a life-long Democrat, said. "Even some Trump-appointed judges  have done so." Aronberg is a former state senator and former state attorney for Palm Beach County. He now has his own law firm in that county.

Linda Penniman said she is independent - No Party Affiliation.   She's on the Naples City Council.

"We're watching Democracy go right out the window, in my opinion," Penniman said.   

Bethany Bowra is an assistant professor in political science at Florida Gulf Coast University.   Her specialty is American politics.

"I feel  not great, but good about the system.," Prof. Bowra said. "I think there's a lot that worries me about the system, and a lot of that comes from our faith in the system. Because it saddens me to see  my students kind of lacking that faith in these institutions."

We asked our experts about President Donald Trump trying to expand presidential power like never before. They pointed out:   The era of the strong president  started 90 yeas ago under liberal Democrat Franklin Roosevelt.  Most presidents of both parties have pushed the boundaries ever since.  

 Congress, the legislative branch in our system of checks and balances, gets the blame, even from a Republican.

"I think sometimes congress has to put on its big boy pants and do their job," Jenner said. "Because if they don't, if there's a vacuum, it's going to be filled by a strong personality."

Lately some would argue that strong personality is President Trump, who has sent the national guard and the military into big cities to fight crime and hel[p with immigration enforcement.
  
Democrat Aronberg said it's a perfect time for Democrats to flip the script on the president.

"We are going to resolve this problem by funding the police," Aronberg recommended as the message from the Democratic Party. "No need for the military, we are going to fund the police."

What about claims of loss of freedom of expression?  As we've seen, people can protest  nationwide, while others counter-protest. So are you feeling  free?

"The last five years have been rough," Dan Jones, a Lee County resident, said. "But we are clawing our way back to our liberties. It's upsetting some people because the restoration of law and order disrupts the desire for globalism, which really has to remove America to happen."

"I think that fascism is existing in the federal and state governments," Ryder Marshall, a 19-year-old FGCU political science student, said. "And we can't do anything except fight back, as democracy wants us to fight back.   Which is with protests."

Some people believe that polarization -  our massive political divide - may be the root cause of our concerns, and possibly the hardest to resolve.

Certainly the nation has faced stark differences and conflict before. People from what had been one country killed each other by the hundreds of thousands in the Civil War.

The 1960's brought political assassinations, and riots in big cities as African-Americans demanded civil rights and justice. The Vietnam War brought massive protests across the country in the 1960's and early '70's.

The nation survived those traumas.   But as January 6, 2021, showed:   Violence can fill  our current  divide.   Is there any way to bring people back together?

"Hopefully at some point in time, we are going to say: this hasn't been fun," Linda Penniman said. "Why stay on a path that is not fun?      I have lost a relationship with my  sister, I have friends that I can no longer  talk politics with.  This is a big price to pay for having a two-party system, as bifurcated as badly as they are." 

Dave Aronberg said he believes his party can stop what he calls a move to undemocratic principles.

"And that's where the Democratic Party has to decide:  does it want to make noise, or win elections," Aronberg said. "You can't do anything if you don't win elections.    I don't want to put too much pressure on my party, but  the future of our country depends on us getting it right!" 

Here are some other thoughts about the future.  

"We're going to have a great country," Republican Jenner said. "Again, it's all a matter of knowing what your rights are and what the government limitations are.  If you don't know what those two things are, you will give up your rights inadvertently, and the government invariably will take it." 

"But when it come to democracy, it's all a facade," Ben Leskanoc, a 23-year-old FGCU student said. "It keeps us complacent." We asked who is behind this? "The one percent.  The people who control the governments world-wide," he said.

Linda Penniman said she believes it may take a national or world-wide crisis to bring America back together. She explained the crisis could be caused by global warming. Perhaps famine, or rising ocean levels that flood coastlines, and wipe out big cities and small.

"So there will come at some point in time, I think, a common enemy, where we are all going to have to pull together," Penniman said. "It's sad. Sad that it would take something like that. Hopefully not."

We turned to Prof. Bowra for her thoughts.

"We have the longest-running constitution in world history," she said. "So something has worked.  Whether it will continue to, I think it will.   But obviously things can change."

Mike Walcher is a reporter with WGCU News. He also teaches Journalism at Florida Gulf Coast University.