The East German state police agency, the Stasi, was granted virtually unlimited power to monitor and spy on the lives of their citizens with the objective of maintaining absolute control over all aspects of the personal and professional lives of its people. The Stasi was renowned for being highly proficient and effective in its ability to subjugate East Germany's citizens.

I recently watched a German-made political movie, The Lives of Others, which was released back in 2006. Every American should take the opportunity to watch this movie, for it portrayed the destructive consequences for the people and a society living under what was formally an all-powerful East German police state.

This movie is a warning to Americans about the dire consequences of increasing the powers of the state. Too many Americans take for granted the continued blessings of our great American system, instituted by the Founding Fathers, based on the premise that man can rule himself.

As responsible citizens, we must always keep in mind that millions of Americans over the years have worked and fought tirelessly so all of us can live in freedom. Freedom can be won, as the American Revolution and subsequent Founding demonstrated; however, we must remain constantly vigilant. Threats to our democratic way of life must always be vigorously challenged.

We must acknowledge that we have an increasingly radicalized and left-leaning Big-Government Democratic Party relentlessly driven to assume power by any means possible. The Democrats' host of twenty-plus presidential candidates is campaigning on platforms dedicated to imposing on our country socialist political agendas of various types.

Most alarming, the majority of policies advocated by Democrats involves the federal government becoming more involved in an increasingly pervasive way in our lives. Underlying their support of the Green New Deal, identity politics, a socialist-style economy, government control of health care, open borders, and attacks on the First and Second Amendments all add up to a substantial loss of our personal freedoms.

These policies involve moving daily decision-making from an individual to a government imposing ever increasing numbers of laws to regulate behavior. Creating new government rules and regulations brings along mechanisms for compliance and enforcement and an increased stratification of society between an elite that rules and masses that must obey the rules. This will grow the power of a larger and permanent Washington administrative bureaucracy.

More government means less accountability, unsustainable levels of spending, inefficient and inadequate delivery of basic services, inadequate economic growth, an increasingly stratified society offering fewer choices for people on a daily basis, and an inevitably increasing level of official corruption. This accurately describes what occurred under the Obama administration.

What makes the Democrats especially dangerous these days is that they are highly united in their attempt to impose in an increasingly totalitarian fashion their progressive and socialist agenda by any means possible. They often use the tactics of overtly attempting to silence and eliminate conservative opposition and practicing the policy of personal destruction of their opponents.

It reached a point where, seemingly, an alliance of "Deep State" federal bureaucracy players, including high-ranking members of the Obama administration consisting of the DOJ, the FBI, and the CIA, united with Hillary Clinton to participate in a comprehensive campaign to rig the outcome of the 2016 election in her favor.

Gone are the days of Democrats attempting to win voters in the court of public opinion with a free, open, and honest debate of ideas and policies. With the complicit support of a Democratic Party–aligned mainstream media plus academia, the entertainment industry, and much of Big Tech, including the most important players such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon, traditional democratic practices, including the free and open exchange of ideas, transparency, and open debate on policies and the proper direction for our country, are rapidly disappearing from our political landscape.

Journalism is dead with the mainstream media predominantly invested in promoting progressive politics and deeply aligned with the Democratic Party. It is difficult to determine the long-term damage to this country, given a mainstream media morphed into the active working partner of the Democratic Party, which increasingly resorts to fake news to gain political advantage for the other side.

It is an American citizen's fundamental duty to be well enough informed about the leading issues of the day so that when it is time to enter the voting booth, an informed decision can be made. How can this happen in today's political environment? Are the lies becoming the truth and the truth becoming the lies for an increasing number of Americans due to the media's extensive and influence and bias?

In 2016, Americans voted for the government to become more reflective of traditional American values and most importantly break the monopoly of politicians and a Washington entrenched permanent bureaucracy mired in a system dedicated to maintaining their own power.

The Trump-supporter continues to believe that the ultimate outcome of his election in 2016 and re-election in 2020 will be a better future for all of us. If our elected officials in Congress continue not to respond to the strong messages directed their way that political changes are required and support for the Trump agenda is necessary to fix our country, our future is in serious peril. The Trump agenda may be our very last chance to ensure the ultimate well-being of our country and our continued ability to live free in a functioning democracy.

K.S. Guardiola blogs at Set the Record — Right! @ rightquestions.blog.