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It’s easy to take for granted the American way of life, government and democracy, but we must give more attention to growing threats to all three.

The biggest threat, of course, was Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol at the behest of a former president who not only had a plan with co-conspirators to stop the peaceful transfer of power, but nearly carried it out.

Now, one player in the plan, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, is close to gaining the speakership of the House of Representatives, the third most powerful office in the land.

Former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney told an audience in Minneapolis this week about the threat of making Jordan speaker: “If they were to decide that, there would no longer be any possible way to argue that a group of elected Republicans could be counted on to defend the Constitution,” Cheney said.

Think about that for a moment. A Republican is saying Republicans now in power in the House would likely not defend any of the core principles of the Constitution — the right to a fair trial, due process, freedom of speech or of the press, voting rights for Blacks and women. She’s saying none of it would be secure.

She also said former Speaker Kevin McCarthy got what he deserved. “Kevin McCarthy is absolutely unfit to be speaker,” she said, noting he voted with other Republicans against the lawful certification of Joe Biden as president.

The U.S. Supreme Court continues to be another threat. Long insulated from ethical scrutiny, investigative reports by journalists have come to show myriad conflicts of interest, especially among Justice Clarence Thomas, who finally recused himself from a case surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection, which his wife supported.

And while the court turned back voting rights for Blacks and other minorities, it finally will require Alabama to redraw gerrymandered Congressional districts that precluded Blacks from representation in Congress.

Republican-led states continue to make voting more difficult and cumbersome. And the Supreme Court narrowly defeated a push to take the power of deciding voting rights cases away from state courts, nearly leaving these gerrymandered legislatures to decide who could vote.

These are attacks on fundamental American values and solidified in the Constitution some two centuries ago.

The newest threats come from Ex-President Donald Trump against the institution of the judiciary itself. He has openly criticized and demonized judges in the various trials he faces, but most recently attacked the clerk of Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who had previously warned

Trump and his lawyers from verbally attacking the judiciary.

Trump posted a lie on social media about the clerk along with a photo. The judge responded angrily: “Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I will not tolerate them under any circumstances.” He ordered Trump to delete the post and he did.

But it’s another attack on a pillar of our democracy — and independent judiciary.

We take Liz Cheney’s words to heart and so should we all. The Constitution will have no defenders in a Republican majority lead by Jordan and fed by Trump. There is an organized movement to destroy the ideal that “all men are created equal,” the founding principle of our country. We ignore it at our peril.

— Mankato Free Press