All the historical episodes we have studied this semester show that the voices of citizens come to matter if institutions and social groups are in place to hear and rebroadcast and amplify those voices, to affiliate with those citizens, to coordinate together. An elaborated social web, already in place or under construction, made up of allies with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills that support speech, protest, social action over time. In the historical cases, when these things were in place, change happened, and when they were not, in the worst cases, isolated protestors were easily crushed.

Anyway, the social structures were the same in case after case. So all you need to know to judge the health of a democracy, or the hopes for one, is to see if these things are in place or people are going about the business of building them.

It that structural analysis is correct, then it seems pretty clear that our democracy is feeble right now. Walk up the somebody on the street corner, pay $25 for five minutes of time, explain what is needed--above--and ask if they have it. They'll very likely say no. Right?