A warning about populism and the weakening of the values that have sustained American democracy
14ymedio, Miami, Pedro Corzo, August 30, 2026 / A few days ago my friend Luis Fernández, a lawyer, a man of great talent and profound humanity, a lover of the greatness of this generous country, sent me a copy of a conversation he had with a longtime friend in which they both expressed concern about the future of the United States, while wondering if their grandchildren would have to learn the Chinese language, a recommendation that I do not rule out, but receive with great regret.
After reading it, I came to the conclusion that I share the considerations of the two friends. Even more so, when they allude to a comment attributed to President Ronald Reagan that “freedom may be lost in the next generation.” It gives me chills, as it is a prediction that warns of the probable end of the way of life that has led us to an imperfect, but more than satisfactory, state of well-being.
Luis, putting everything into the fire, recalls how the great empires of history disappeared by involving themselves in endless wars, internal conflicts, fiscal irresponsibility plus the weakening of their institutions, painful realities that threaten us.
I firmly believe that the average American citizen needs to become aware of what they have and what they could lose.
It is true that the United States is very different from the empires of the past. Its sense of solidarity, its comprehension of differences, and even its use of force, which does not consist in occupying the weakest but in promoting changes that favor better living conditions. It is different. Nevertheless, it is always a hegemonic power that clashes with other interests, it will incur injustices, and will reap enemies.
The chat between Luis Fernández and his friend was really interesting, and I pray that his preoccupations are never realized, but I firmly believe that the average American citizen must become aware of what he has and what he can lose, if he does not take an active and responsible role in public affairs.
I fear that the lack of attention to the nation’s traditional values, among which tolerance, respect for differences, individual freedom, and equal opportunities stand out—qualities we should all cultivate—is not being respected as it once was. In addition, there is a serious decline in respect for work and the pursuit of progress, qualities that made this country remarkable, attributes that have always kept it from Soviet-style purges and gulags. These factors inexorably lead to poor grandchildren because their grandparents were rich and had parasitic children.
The world is full of incompetent people with university degrees and the talent to make the noose with which they will be hanged.
Having finished commenting on my friend Luis’s conversation, I want to point out that I am also alarmed by the inclination of some sectors of American politics towards the most blatant populism, a characteristic that leads peoples to confrontation in all fields, that tears countries apart deeply, a situation about which Alexis de Tocqueville warned in his work “Democracy in America” when he wrote that the greatest danger for the future of the United States would not come from an external invasion, but from internal fractures and a new type of despotism.
I fear the extremes, whether right or left. At the time, I was alarmed—and still am—when New Yorkers elected Zohran Mamdani as mayor. I am equally troubled by the rise of factions within the Democratic Party that identify as socialists and I cannot comprehend how the most failed utopia in human history, despite its more than one hundred million deaths, countless frustrations, and disappointments, remains a viable electoral option because there are still a surplus of people who choose to be blind and deaf to reality, just as there are still those who deny that death camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, and many others existed and caused the deaths of millions of people.
However, we have to assume — as my mother always told me — that the worst blind and deaf people are those who choose to be so, and it seems the world is full of incompetent individuals with university degrees and the talent to make the noose with which they will be hanged. Lenin wrote this because publishing a document celebrating the centenary of the birth of the greatest executioner in the Americas, Fidel Castro, as the Democratic Socialists of America have done, means they remain tied to ideologies that destroy human dignity, proposals that even banana republics are leaving behind.
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