The Death of Democracy

America was built on bold promises and buried truths. In The Death of Democracy, veteran and Catholic Joshua Clark confronts the darker chapters of American history with courage, clarity, and conviction. Drawing from his twenty years of military service, his deep Christian faith, and his experience as a father and husband, Clark offers an unflinching exploration of how our nation's foundation was laid on stolen Indigenous lands, the brutal labor of enslaved Africans, and the forced annexation of sovereign islands like Hawaii.
This is not a book about shame, it is a call to conscience. With insight, wit, and moral urgency, Clark dissects myths like Manifest Destiny, religious exceptionalism, and "equal opportunity for all, " exposing the hypocrisies in a system that continues to deny reparations, dignity, and due process to the most vulnerable. He asks: What does it mean to love your country...not blindly, but truthfully?From the boarding schools that erased Native cultures to modern immigration policies that criminalize hope, Clark invites readers on a journey of historical reckoning and spiritual reflection.
Along the way, he reminds us that patriotism is not silence, but speech; not comfort, but courage. Backed by research and delivered with the voice of a soldier-turned-family man, this book is a rallying cry for Americans of faith and conscience to seek justice, not someday, but now. For readers of Howard Zinn, Bryan Stevenson, and Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Cost of Silence is a necessary book for an uncertain time.